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‘As I’ve said to you before, there are no builders on the estate now, just sparkies and plumbers doing their thing, so no, I haven’t.’
She wasn’t sure she believed him but she could hear the stirrings of annoyance in his voice and so she backed off.
‘I went for lunch with Les on Tuesday,’ she said. She thought he might have asked about it during the week, but he’d been in too much of a strop to initiate that sort of conversation.
‘Oh yeah. She okay?’
Something shot into her brain and shot straight out again before she could register what it was. Something unsaid, something that didn’t make sense. Beyond annoying.
‘You wouldn’t recognise her. She’s had hair extensions, lip fillers, Botox, she’s about five stone lighter than when you saw her last and…’ a dramatic pause to secure his full attention, ‘she’s left Morton.’
‘Has she?’ Bruce speared a pea. He didn’t miss a beat.
‘You don’t sound very surprised.’
He dropped a hard note of laughter. ‘Well, I’m not, are you?’
‘Yes, very.’
‘It’s been on the cards for years, hasn’t it?’
‘She didn’t even tell him, just moved out of the house. She’s renting somewhere apparently.’
‘Oh yeah? Where?’
Shay gave her brain a squeeze for the answer to that. ‘I don’t think she actually said.’
‘Wise. If you don’t know you can’t tell Morton if he asks.’
Morton. It was something to do with Morton. Something small but significant.She gave herself a mental shake; it would come back to her if it was important.
‘Yes, I suppose so. Les said that when he realises she really isn’t coming back, I’ll be his first port of call and I’m dreading it because I don’t know what to say to him.’
That derisive laugh again. ‘Well, if you don’t know anything you can’t tell him anything can you? Has she left him for someone else?’
‘No, not at all. She just upped and left and sounded very happy to be by herself.’ Shay recalled the line about Rampant Rabbits. ‘I hope she’s okay, because she seemed… different. There were… too many changes to get my head around in one sitting, if I’m being totally frank.’
Bruce’s fork clattered onto the plate. ‘Well, that was nice, cheers.’ He got up still chewing, his chair scraping across the tiles.
‘Don’t you want a coffee or anything?’ Shay was only half-finished.
‘There’s a match just starting on Sky, that okay?’ he said, wiping his mouth with his fingers.
‘Yeah, course, you go and watch it and unwind. I’ll clearyour plate away,’ she replied, and with permission granted, he was off to their lounge, like a kid rushing to meet his pals.
Shay lifted up another chunk of steak to her lips and then put it down again. She wasn’t that hungry really. She’d only cooked it so they could eat something together, talk, break down the barriers which he’d put up against her in the past week. And what was it about Morton that was buzzing around in her head like a fly refusing to be caught?
Chapter 11
Shay had an unexpected visitor the next day; well not entirely unexpected because it was only a matter of time before someone from Lesley’s family got in touch, but she presumed it would be her husband before her son. She was just trawling the internet for more information about neighbour disputes when there was a thud on the door of debt-collector proportions. Through the frosted glass, she could see a gargantuan bright orange figure and edged forward down the hallway with caution.
‘Hello,’ she called tentatively.
A face pressed up against the glass, a dear face she recognised. ‘It’s me, Auntie Shay.’
Little Mort. Although when Shay opened the door, she thought what a ridiculous misnomer that was and she must get out of the habit of saying it. It had been a long while since she’d seen him last and he’d changed almost as much as his mother had. There was nothing of the boy left about him now; Little Mort was every inch a man, a powerfully built one at that and she marvelled that they even made high-vis vests in his size. He wasn’t carrying an inch ofpuppy fat any more, he was pure lean muscle. What hadn’t changed that much was his face; he had his mum’s smiley mouth – pre lip-inflation – and his dad’s thick, wild hair and kind brown eyes.
‘Hello love, come in,’ she said.
