Underneath

by Andie M. Long

  Kids seated and eating, I’m about to sit down when the phone rings. I curse under my breath but pick up anyway. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hello Mrs Lawler, are you okay to have a quick word?’ It’s Mrs Sullivan.

  ‘Yes of course.’

  ‘It’s about the incident at school tonight. We are obviously going to have to look into it because it could have potentially been very serious.’

  My brow furrows. ‘I understand, and I’m so sorry. I was sure Mrs Baxter had seen me.’

  Bettina comes and hovers nearby.

  ‘You may have actually done us a favour. At least this time it was a mum from school and everything was alright. I just need you to tell me exactly what happened.’

  ‘Of course. Well it’s very simple really, Joe came out of class with Tyler and I took them both home. I’d made arrangements with his mother for Tyler to stay for tea.’

  ‘Hmm, well obviously security has got a little lax. We’ll be reviewing our procedure, and will be making sure Mrs Baxter or her assistant are standing at the doorway at home time to ensure each child is collected by a person they know, which is what should happen anyway.’

  ‘I should have made a point of telling Mrs Baxter I had them.’

  ‘Not at all. The teacher should have been paying more attention. The situation won’t arise again, but I do need you to pop in tomorrow to fill in an incident report.’

  ‘Of course. Is there anything else?’

  ‘Not at the moment Mrs Lawler. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  I put the phone down and exhale sharply.

  ‘I gather that was the school?’ Bettina says.

  ‘Yes, they’ve got to do some kind of report about the incident.’

  ‘Oh, well good. They can’t be letting kids go off with just anybody.’

  ‘Bettina,’ I say. ‘It was a mix up, and anyway it sounds like its Mrs Baxter who’s in trouble.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘For not paying attention to who’s collecting the kids. Anyway,’ I say as a thought occurs to me. ‘Why weren’t you at the school gates if you’d forgotten I was getting Tyler?’

  ‘I was running late. I’d had to get the bus from town and it took forever. By the time I’d got there, hardly any parents were around.’

  I’m starting to wish I’d just gone to the cinema myself. There was probably less drama in the movie. I turn as I hear keys jangling in the door. ‘Niall’s here,’ I smile. Bettina sits up straight and flicks her hair, putting a smile on her own face.

  ‘Oh, hi,’ Niall looks questioningly at Bettina as he walks into the room and then he sees Tyler. ‘I’m guessing you’re Bettina. Aren’t you supposed to be at the cinema?’

  ‘Hi, I am,’ she stands up and holds out her hand for Niall to shake, which he does. ‘Not for about another hour though.’

  I stand also. ‘I’ll serve the meal. Do you want to go and sit at the dining table?’

  As they do, I hear Joe saying, ‘This is my mate, Tyler.’

  ‘Well how do you do Tyler?’ replies Niall. ‘Are you two responsible for all this Lego mess?’

  ‘I’ll get them to clear it,’ says Bettina quickly, and heads towards a seat.

  ‘He’s only teasing,’ I say. ‘We can’t get Joe to pick anything up without nagging.’

  ‘Apart from swear words at school,’ Niall quips. ‘Those he picks up just fine.’

  Bettina giggles, a silly high girlish giggle that I’ve never heard her make before.

  We send the kids off to play. Niall sits next to me, as usual, and Bettina sits opposite. I feel like I do when I’m waiting in the doctors, wanting it to all be over quickly.

  ‘So, you’re a nurse?’ Bettina asks in her new girly tone.

  ‘A Charge Nurse, yes. Dead important I am,’ Niall winks, then turns and smiles at me. ‘I have to work hard so Lauren can go out and buy pretty bags and jewellery.’

  ‘Ha ha,’ I say, a bit miffed by his insensitivity about my business.

  Bettina lifts up her hand daintily. ‘I’m sorry for mentioning work things, but my wrists been hurting and ...’

  ‘I need to stop you there,’ I say. ‘Niall’s a Charge Nurse at a Psychiatric Unit for the Elderly. He only did a few weeks placement in General Nursing, so he’s hopeless unless you’ve gone bonkers.’

  Bettina flinches and I realise what I’ve said. Oh God, she was a psychiatric patient. Foot in mouth again, well done, Lauren. She can tell I’m about to say something but gives me a warning with her eyes, she doesn’t want Niall to know. I’ve told him anyway, but maybe he wasn’t listening at the time. Right now he certainly seems to have no idea what’s going on as he reaches to turn on the TV.

  ‘Excuse me, ladies. I don’t mean to be rude switching on the TV at mealtime, but I’m going out soon and haven’t managed to catch up with the news yet.’

  I raise an eyebrow. He puts it on every bloody night and never says its rude then. Hypocrite.

  ‘Where are you off to Niall?’ asks Bettina.

  ‘A leaving do at the Chantry,’ I state, speaking louder so it reaches Niall’s ears. ‘Which he needs to be at in about thirty minutes.’

  He turns around to me. ‘I can answer for myself you know. Actually I have to pass the cinema to get there,’ he says looking at Bettina. ‘Do you want a lift?’

  ‘That’d be awesome,’ she says.

  Awesome?

  When they’ve gone I catch up on eBay. The kids are great, and with the provision of some junk food, they keep themselves occupied with the toys in Joe’s bedroom. The evening passes quickly. Bettina picks Tyler up at nine-thirty and takes him home in a taxi, saying she had a nice time. Niall arrives home not much later at ten. He’s not one for staying at a do. He likes his own company and barely drinks, so he does the pleasantries and as soon as the booze starts flowing and tongues start loosening he leaves them to it. He says he doesn’t mind hearing the gossip about what his colleagues have been up to, but would hate to witness any of it. I begin to tell him about the drama of the afternoon, but he stops me. ‘Bettina told me in the car. Messed up there didn’t you? Nearly gave the poor woman a heart attack.’

  ‘She’s the one who forgot,’ my voice gets higher.

  Niall walks into the kitchen and sticks the kettle on. He grabs a mug out of the shiny red kitchen cabinet and plonks a tea bag in it.

  ‘For someone who didn’t want much to do with her, you are certainly very involved.’

  ‘You were the one who told me I was being stupid, so I decided to make an effort. She seems okay, bit paranoid about her husband though.’

  ‘She seemed fine to me. Her husband sounds like a complete knob.’

  ‘Yes,’ I sigh, ‘it would appear so. Tyler and Joe are getting on like a house on fire.’

  ‘Owww, speaking of houses…’ Niall picks up a Lego window that he’s stood on in bare feet.

  ‘What do you tell Joe all the time?’ I mock. ‘Should’ve had your slippers on.’

  ‘Go and fetch ‘em for me, I’m knackered,’ he states, fishing the tea bag out of his cup, where no doubt I’ll find it down the side of, rather than inside, the bin liner tomorrow; a pet peeve of mine.

  I huff but fetch them anyway. When I come back from the hallway he’s sat in the lounge, cuppa in hand, and the television is on.

  I stand in the doorway. He’s transfixed by the pixellations.

  ‘Night then.’

  ‘Night, Love.’

  Another sigh escapes me as I leave the room.

  I get my pj’s on, check Joe is settled and get into bed. I check my Inbox through my phone. There’s a private message from Monique;

  Ring me, asap.

  I pick up the house phone and call her. ‘Is everything okay? Did you have a good time?’

  ‘The film was great, and you missed out on my fabulous company which is a sin in my book,’ she says. ‘Anyway I need to talk to you about Loser Liz.’
/>   ‘Mon,’ I say, shocked. ‘That’s a bit blunt, even for you.’

  ‘Yeah, well after tonight I’ve a new name for her – Besotted Bettina’.

  I laugh. ‘Yeah she was a bit taken with Niall.’

  ‘Not with Niall, with you.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I know we couldn’t talk while the movie was on, but every other bit of conversation was about you. When you met Niall, how long you’d been married, were you happy, had you ever cheated, did Niall resent the fact you didn’t work, how long had I known you? It went on and on. I asked her what the twenty questions was about and she said she was trying to fill in the years she hadn’t known you. She was worried about seeming nosey and didn’t want to ask you directly, but it was so weird, Lo. She was going on about the grief you’d caused her today, and how she was sure you hadn’t meant it, but it really upset her. She was asking if you’d ever done anything to upset me.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s nothing more than getting all the gossip on me from my best mate, and she was really shaken up this afternoon. With what she told us about her husband, it doesn’t surprise me. Honestly, don’t sweat it.’

  ‘Well I don’t like her, she’s odd. Sorry for putting on you like this, but please don’t bring her for coffee or anything again.’

  ‘You feel that strongly about it?’

  ‘There’s something very off about her, Lo. You need to watch her.‘

  ‘Okay, okay.’ I say.

  ‘I’m only going on cos I love ya.’

  ‘I know hun, love ya too, BFF,’ I say. ‘Sleep tight.’

  ‘I certainly shall. I shall be thinking about Ryan Reynolds in that film.’

  ‘You saddo.’ I laugh and put the phone down.

  I lie back in bed and think about what she’s said. What else would Bettina talk about? She had nothing much in common with Monique apart from myself? Monique has such a strong personality I don’t think she realises sometimes how difficult it is for others to converse with her. She doesn’t really have any other friends than me. I also think that maybe I pushed Bettina into going out tonight. I should have just driven her and Tyler home. After what happened with Danny she must feel so insecure about everything, and she’s only been around me for a couple of weeks, which isn’t really long enough to trust anybody. I still have to see Bettina, she’s Tyler’s mum, so I resolve I’ll just meet up with them separately for a while.

  Saturday morning rolls around. I get up and head to the kitchen while Niall takes Joe to his swimming lesson. I’m pleased we have no pre-arranged plans for the weekend and that when they get back we can just chill and have some family time. It’s a lovely day, and I decide that instead of taking Joe car booting, I’ll make a picnic. There’s a large park within a twenty minute drive of the house we can go to. I prepare the food, sit at the table and boot up Niall’s laptop to check my eBay account. Out of the forty items I’ve listed, nineteen of them have sold overnight. I look, staggered by what I’m seeing. Three different bidders have bought several items each, and they’ve all paid by Paypal, so the money is in my account already. I leave positive feedback, praising them for being prompt payers, and then make my way upstairs to prepare their purchases for sending. The local Post Office is open on a Saturday morning, so I’ll be able to get them sent quickly. I like to be punctual in posting, in order to maintain my one hundred per cent feedback rating. Hopefully I might get some regular customers. If that happens, I can up my game and regularly look for items, rather than just visiting the odd charity shop or car boot. I feel really energised and positive.

  The guys get back from swimming and Joe is in a strop. ‘He must be tired after his late night with Tyler,’ says Niall.

  ‘I’ve packed a picnic for us,’ I say. ‘Do you want to get the bikes out and we’ll go to Rother Valley?’

  ‘Are you joking, Love? We’ve just come back from swimming. He’s in a right mood and I just want to have a sit down. I’ve been working all week.’

  ‘I thought it’d be nice for us to have some family time.’

  ‘What’s this then? Are we not a family now?’

  ‘You know what I mean; going out, having fun.’

  ‘Well, let’s compromise. We’ll have the picnic in the garden and I’ll kick a football around with Joe for a bit. He’ll like that.’

  ‘You can do that,’ I say, thinking about the dwindling stock on my eBay account. I’m going to have lunch and go to the car boot this afternoon.’

  ‘Oh, Joe’ll enjoy that.’

  ‘I’m not taking Joe, he’s tired, remember? I’m going on my own.’

  ‘Here we go.’

  I walk into the kitchen before I throttle him.

  I eat lunch, and gather my boot stuff together. I take three fold up cotton bags that fit inside each other and a small handbag with lots of loose change. I’ve learnt that people doing car boots never have change and always run out of carrier bags before the end. As I go to get in the car I see a shadow cross the concrete. I turn quickly with my keys turned out, ready to stab in self-defence.

  ‘Hey steady on. Gosh, you haven’t changed one bit, Lauren,’ says Danny Southwell.

  Chapter 6

  I back up against the car. I see the same lad I knew from school, only now he has lines on his face, grey flecks in his hair and stubble. He’s small for a man, only about an inch taller than my five feet seven, but as he stands wide-legged, with his hands in his pockets, his demeanour makes me wary.

  ‘What are you doing here? Do I need to shout for my husband?’

  He grins. ‘You look like I’m about to kill ya, Lauren, mate. Calm down, I’m here about Bet.’ His eyes focus on my face. ‘Gosh you really haven’t changed much since school. It’s weird us being older, innit? I still feel about fifteen.’

  My jaw is clenched and my shoulders are fixed. I feel like I cannot move. Is Danny here to hurt me or for a school reunion? ‘How did you know where I live?’

  He clasps his hands tightly. ‘After the police accused me of kidnapping my son, I rang her mother. She said you’ve been a good friend to her. A little digging on the internet got me your address, so I thought I’d come and see what the score was.’

  ‘Have you any idea how psycho that sounds?’

  ‘Lauren, I’m not without resources now and seriously, an eight year old could find out where you live on the internet these days. Anyway,’ he nods towards the house, ‘nice looking place you’ve got. How ya been doin’ all these years?’

  I feel myself start to loosen as memory takes over and I’m back just talking to Danny from school. He has a small scar on his lip which I know is from where he fell off his skateboard in Year Seven, and he has the tiniest hint of acne scars. I’d always had a soft spot for him at school, he was a loveable rogue. Not that our paths crossed often, but he’d been in a few of my classes.

  I straighten up and move nearer to speak to him. ‘I’m alright, Danny. Yesterday was a misunderstanding. She’d forgotten I was picking the kids up. What did the police say?’

  ‘They rang and said they were on their way round to check out the house and I had to stay there until they arrived. Not long after that call, they phoned back to say he’d been found. How the dozy cow managed to lose him at school I don’t know.’

  ‘Like I said, it was a misunderstanding.’

  ‘Bet’s mother said, but I’ve got a right to know what’s going on. He’s my son too.’

  ‘Yes, and I don’t mean to be funny,’ I state, ‘but I don’t think Bettina would like you round here. I know you have visitation rights over Tyler, but that’s just at the weekend isn’t it? She was so frightened yesterday—’

  ‘That’s what I want to talk to ya about. I wanna know what she’s been saying about me, which is probably a load of crap. I can tell with how her mother talks to me that she doesn’t exactly get the truth.’ Danny runs his hands through his hair, his face looks pained.

  ‘Look, I’m trying
to be a friend to her, so I don’t want to know the ins and outs of your marriage. I’d rather not be involved.’

  ‘Well, you see, that’s the problem,’ says Danny. ‘Like it or not you are involved.’

  My forehead creases. ‘How?’

  ‘Why did she say she came back to Sheffield?’

  ‘To be near her mum.’

  ‘Well she’s lying. She came to Sheffield for you.’ He points his finger at me.

  ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ I’m starting to get exasperated and check my watch. If he doesn’t go soon it won’t be worth me going to the car boot, and I really need more stock now I’ve sold so much stuff.

  ‘Has Bettina told you she was having some problems? Had to see a psychiatrist?’

  I look at him and remain silent. I’m divulging nothing. I look back at my house. Niall and Joe haven’t noticed that I’m still here. I wonder how long I’d lay dead for before they discovered me, probably not until the evening meal didn’t turn up, or maybe not if they gorged on chocolate and bits from the fridge. Perhaps it might get to Monday morning when they had no clean shirts for school and work. I think I must be accidentally putting on Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak rather than my jacket when I leave the house.

  ‘Lauren, listen to me. Just hear me out and then I’ll be getting off.’

  I look back at him. ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘When Bettina left our school she was mad at you. She thought you’d dissed her, left her to the clutches of Jodie and the gang. Her mother pulled her out of school after they’d waited for her one night and threatened to do things to her with a broom they’d had in their hands. I saw them and broke it up, but it was the final straw for her mother. Bet was grateful to me and showed me in more ways than one; that’s how she ended up pregnant,’ he looks at me, smiling, but he doesn’t find it reflected back.