by Fiona Field
‘You’ve had a lousy twenty-four hours. Get your strength up for a couple of days, here with Maddy,’ Mike had said. He hadn’t even allowed her to go with him to check out the house. ‘No point in upsetting yourself when you’re already feeling a bit fragile.’
She tried to argue that he’d had an equally awful time but Mike wouldn’t hear of it. So she was stuck here, on the sofa, wondering how bad the house might be, her imagination going into overdrive, and with nothing to do to take her mind off it. Meanwhile she could hear Maddy bustling about upstairs, changing the sheets on the double bed after Jenna’s stay and moving Rose’s cot into Nathan’s room so the twins could be fitted into the other room.
‘It’s a bit unfair making Nathan and Rose share, isn’t it?’ Susie had protested.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Maddy. ‘It’s only for a couple of days. Just till we get you fixed up.’
And Susie’s offer of help to make up the beds had been soundly rebuffed.
‘You’re done in,’ Maddy had said. ‘You spent last night on a camp bed in a village hall, you can’t have had any sleep, so now I want you to put your feet up and take it easy.’
And, if Susie had been honest with herself, she was knackered and she didn’t have the strength to argue let alone do much more. So now she was waiting for a call from Mike with the news of what she could expect to find when she did go over to Springhill Road, and nothing much else to do except to wonder what the future might hold – and from her current perspective, it was a future that wasn’t looking very rosy. Redundancy, lack of employment, lack of credit rating and now this. More than their fair share, thought Susie, grimly.
‘Mum?’
Susie looked up. The twins were peering round the door.
‘Mum, can we have a word?’
‘Darlings, you don’t have to ask that, of course you can have a word.’
The pair sidled in. ‘Mum,’ began Ella, ‘about what we told you last night.’
‘About the money,’ added Katie.
‘And the pot.’
‘Shhh,’ said Susie. ‘I think we’ve all realised that, in the great scheme of things, it’s not that important. There are far worse things out there that we’ll have to contend with.’
‘But it is important,’ said Ella.
Katie nodded earnestly. ‘The thing is... are you going to tell Dad?’
Susie considered the request. ‘Ah.’
The two girls stared at her, their brows deeply furrowed, worry etched into every soft little line.
‘No,’ said Susie, coming to a decision. ‘No, I won’t.’ The twins sagged with relief. ‘But,’ she added. Her daughters straightened up again. ‘But, if you ever do anything like that ever again, he’ll be the first to know everything. Do I make myself clear?’
The pair nodded gravely.
‘No smoking, no dope, no stealing, no lying, no cheating... understand?’
Ella and Katie nodded again.
‘Come here,’ said Susie. She patted the sofa cushions on either side of her. The girls sat. ‘I’m not being mean and I don’t want to sound as if I am nagging, but you two are capable of so much, and smoking and taking drugs isn’t going to help you achieve anything. I know you hate your school, I know it’s been difficult for you but you should be able to rise above the kind of kids who think that underachievement is some kind of badge of honour. It isn’t.’
‘Suppose not,’ said Ella.
‘And there must be kids in the school who are brainy and get top marks.’
Katie shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
‘So why don’t you hang out with them? I don’t think, in your hearts, you want to end up with no qualifications, no prospects and no jobs. But if you hang around with the Alis of this world, smoking and doing drugs, you’ll be going the right way about it.’
Another shrug, another ‘maybe’. Then, ‘But the brainy kids aren’t popular.’
Susie thought about this. ‘I expect they are with each other.’
‘Suppose.’
‘Think about it,’ said Susie. ‘And we won’t be going back to our old house for a while so, if you want to make a break from your old gang, this is the perfect time to do it.’
She was aware of her daughters exchanging a look. She hoped the message had got home.
Chapter 50
Mike decided that, before he took the suitcase of kit back to Maddy’s house, he ought to speak to Rob about his summons to London; besides, it wasn’t much of a detour to go via the office. He strode across the open-plan workspace to his boss’s desk.
‘A word, if I may, Rob.’
‘Mike?’ Rob looked up from his computer screen and then at his watch. ‘You’re late.’
No enquiry after the health of his wife and daughters, he noticed. ‘I’ve been at my house, finding out how bad the damage is. And seeing as how I spent my entire weekend dealing with the floods and the problems of the folk in the Bavant valley, I think I can be allowed today off in lieu to deal with my own ones.’
‘I suppose,’ said Rob, grudgingly.
‘And I shall want tomorrow off too.’
Rob shook his head. ‘Much as I realise that being flooded is a challenge you feel you have to overcome—’
Mike interrupted. ‘Rob, being flooded isn’t a fucking challenge, it’s a nightmare. And I don’t need tomorrow off for that. I’m wanted at Defra.’
‘Defra?’
Mike nodded. ‘In London.’
‘I know where Defra is,’ Rob snapped. ‘And why do I only know about this now?’
‘Because I only took the call from the minister’s office in the last hour.’
‘The minister?’ Rob looked annoyed before he drew his diary across his desk and flicked it open. ‘Just as well I’m free tomorrow so I can come with you.’
‘No need, they didn’t ask for you.’
Rob’s lips tightened. ‘An oversight, probably.’
Mike shrugged. Much as it pained him to consider the idea, Rob might possibly be right – after all, he was his boss. Besides, Rob was already sore about not meeting the PM and it wouldn’t do to piss him off further about Defra. Mike might find his current job beneath his capabilities but it was a job and with everything else going on, he needed to keep it. He pulled out the scrap of paper from his pocket with Guy’s number on it. ‘OK – ring this chap. Guy Manning, he’s the PPS to the secretary of state.’
He went back to his desk and left Rob to make the call. Two minutes later he saw Rob beckoning him back.
‘I’ve given permission for you to go. I won’t be required.’
Mike kept his face impassive. No need to look smug, he told himself. ‘Good. Thank you.’
‘I want a full report on your return.’
‘Naturally.’
‘By the way, I wanted to check some budgetary figures for the emergency planning but I couldn’t find the files.’
‘Sorry. I took them with me at the weekend. Being new to the job, I wanted to be sure that I implemented all the correct procedures and so forth... Wasn’t sure I am sufficiently au fait with the job to want to rely on my memory.’ Which wasn’t completely true but it would suffice for the time being. His other reasons were not for sharing.
‘Fine,’ said Rob, although from his tone Mike could tell it patently wasn’t. ‘Where are they now?’
‘To be honest, I’m not sure. With all the worry about my family I clean forgot about them.’ Which was a lie, because he knew, full well, they were in his car. But he’d need them tomorrow for the meeting and, before that, he needed to extract a great deal of information out of them and... well, he still had to make up his mind about what to do about Rob’s dismissal of his report on the possibility of flooding in their administrative area. The truth was that Rob’s attitude had no bearing on what had happened; no way could anything have been done in time to avert the situation, but it was the principle that was important. The fact that Rob had treated his suggestions with such contempt. And
now such high-level people wanted his – his! – opinion he could make himself look brilliant simply by producing that report. But – and it was a giant but – if he did, he would automatically drop Rob right in it. Much as he loathed Rob it wasn’t in Mike’s psyche to behave like such a bastard. He was pretty sure that at some point there would be an inquiry into the reason for the devastating floods and while he wasn’t prepared to point the finger of blame at anyone, he wanted his own personal insurance policy just in case accusations got bandied about. He mightn’t be prepared to do the dirty but if the shit started to hit the fan he wanted his own position bombproofed. No, he’d remove the report from the file... but he’d tuck it away, for safe-keeping. Just in case.
‘I want them found,’ said Rob.
‘Of course. They’re probably at the pub. The bronze command team is still using it for the last of the clearing up. I’ll make sure they’re put somewhere safe till I can collect them. I’ll bring them in on Wednesday. OK?’
Rob looked placated. ‘And don’t forget that report on your meeting.’
*
The next evening, Mike got off the London train at Westbury station and made his way to the car park. He thought about ringing his wife but decided that it would be more fun to see her reaction face to face. He plipped his car key and saw the indicator lights flash in response. Two minutes later he was heading out of the car park and through the town centre.
‘You’re early,’ said Maddy when she opened her front door to him.
‘The meeting took less time than I thought. Where’s Susie?’
‘Don’t be cross with her but she popped into the mess to make sure nothing is going horribly wrong without her guiding hand. Seb tried to stop her but she said she’d worry about things if she didn’t. She promised only to be gone for an hour.’
‘And the twins?’
‘Up in their room. So,’ said Maddy, ‘what was it like to walk along the corridors of power?’
‘They had nicer paintings on the walls than we get in the council offices. And a minion served us tea and biscuits so I didn’t have to put coins in a machine.’
Maddy laughed. ‘Blimey – there’s posh.’ The doorbell rang. ‘That’ll be Susie.’
Mike felt ridiculously pleased that he’d be able to share his good news in a few seconds. He almost ran to the front door to let in his wife.
‘Hi, darling,’ she said, stepping inside. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘How was London?’ She undid her coat and hung it on the hall stand. ‘I’m gasping for a cuppa. Put the kettle on, there’s a love. Hi, Maddy. I trust the girls behaved while I was out?’
‘They were fine. Don’t worry about them, I want to hear about Mike’s trip.’
Mike moved to the kitchen. ‘London was interesting,’ he told them both.
‘Really?’ said Susie. ‘You never said that when you had that job at the MoD.’
He filled the kettle and flicked on the switch.
‘Maybe not, but... well... I assumed the minister just wanted to pick my brains.’
‘And?’ said Maddy.
‘Well, he did. But there was something else.’ He paused for effect.
‘For God’s sake,’ said Susie, ‘just spit it out, will you?’
‘It turned out to be a bit more than that. They offered me a consultancy post with a ridiculous annual retainer and a really generous sum for every day they actually employ me.’ He grinned inanely.
‘Employ you?’ said Susie.
‘It’s not such a mad idea. Other people have.’
‘I know, darling, I know. It’s just... it’s London. What about your current job? And the house?’
‘I don’t think either of those is going to be a problem.’
‘And,’ said Maddy, ‘if it’s not a rude question, what’s a “ridiculous” annual retainer?’
‘Just over a hundred k a year.’
Susie and Maddy looked at each other.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Maddy.
‘Shit a brick,’ said Susie.
‘It almost looks as if that dreadful flood might have done us a bit of a favour.’
Chapter 51
As Seb drove the family car into Ashton-cum-Bavant village, Maddy was assailed with flashbacks of events six months previously when she’d last been in the village. Then, the weather had been appalling; rain, gales, lowering cloud but now it was bright and clear. The trees were sporting the vibrant lush green of spring growth, the birds were singing, flowers bloomed... the perfect English idyll. And the floods were pretty much forgotten now, apart from the poor folks still battling with repairs, renovations and their insurance companies.
Maddy glanced across at Rollo’s grand mansion. And to think that she’d tried to protect Susie from hearing about his new place when she was facing having to live in Springhill Road and that awful house. Back then no one would have dreamed for a minute that she and Mike would end up as his neighbours and, despite the fact she was so thrilled that things had worked out for the Collinses, she couldn’t help feeling horribly envious. Would she and Seb ever be able to afford a place of their own in such a lovely location? All she could see for herself was a succession of endless quarters – some nicer than others, but never accommodation that anyone in their right mind would class as ‘wonderful’ or ‘desirable’ – and precious little opportunity to save for a deposit for a house because the kids’ boarding school fees would gobble up every last penny. She sighed. Maybe, despite everything, Susie and Mike were the lucky ones.
‘Which way now?’ asked Seb, breaking into her thoughts.
‘Next left,’ said Maddy.
Seb took the turn and the two of them peered at the names on the gates. This was, noted Maddy, the sort of village where houses had names, not numbers. And what houses... lovely half-timbered cottages with thatched roofs and proper country gardens – the sort which later would be filled with delphiniums and hollyhocks, lavender and stocks, the sort which foreign tourists oohed and aahed over as they passed through, brought here by their tour operators to see ‘the prettiest village in England’. These were houses which appeared on the property porn shows and which Maddy knew she could never aspire to live in.
‘Here,’ she said spotting Lower End in clear black lettering on a five-bar gate.
Seb swung their four-by-four into the wide gravel drive that swept up to a double garage. To the side was a two-storey house with dormers in the thatch and mullioned windows. The porch – also thatched – was adorned with bunting and pretty hanging baskets flanked each side. Maddy was green.
Nathan scrambled out of the car while Maddy unbuckled Rose and lifted her down to toddle after her brother. A sign stuck in a flower bed exhorted them to ‘Use the side gate’.
‘This way,’ said Maddy, grasping Rose by the hand and leading her along a path, through an ancient brick arch. She pushed open the wrought iron gate and stepped into the back garden.
Susie almost skipped across the lawn to meet them.
‘Sorry we’re a bit late,’ apologised Maddy.
‘Not at all, not at all,’ said Susie. ‘I’m so pleased you could make it. And that you agreed to come early so we could have a proper catch-up first.’
‘Wouldn’t have missed your house-warming for the world – or the catch-up. We’ve hardly seen each other for months.’ Maddy gazed at the immaculate lawn, the herbaceous border, the beautiful Victorian conservatory tacked onto the back of the house, the huge pond, the weeping willow... ‘Bit of a change from Springhill Road.’
Susie nodded. ‘God that place was grim. I tried to make the best of it but, frankly, it would have been no great loss to the world if the whole place had been swept away.’ She turned to Seb. ‘I think you’ll find Mike in the conservatory, making sure the bar is sorted for the barbecue. He could probably do with a hand.’
Seb didn’t need telling twice and strode across the lawn to find his old boss.
‘I bet the girls love it here,’ said Maddy, stil
l admiring the gardens.
‘They do. And they’re in the den with a stack of Peppa Pig DVDs for the little ones.’
‘Peppa Pig,’ yelled Nathan.
‘’Eppa,’ crowed Rose.
Maddy followed Susie into the house. The interior was as wonderful as the outside, filled with bright rugs, vases of lilies and elegant soft-furnishings.
‘Oh, Susie. I am trying hard to keep the green-eyed monster under control but I am failing miserably.’
Susie grinned. ‘We have been incredibly lucky.’
‘And that’s not a phrase you’d have said a year ago.’
‘No.’
They reached the den where Katie and Ella were marshalling Maddy’s two onto giant floor cushions in front of the big TV. Katie picked up the remote and instantly Nathan and Rose were in the thrall of Peppa.
‘You be good,’ said Maddy to her children, who didn’t even acknowledge their mother had spoken. ‘Come and find me if you need me,’ she told the girls. They nodded.
‘Guided tour?’ offered Susie.
‘Thought you’d never ask.’
Susie led Maddy towards the ancient, uneven, polished oak stairs.
‘How are they settling in at their new school?’
‘It’s a sea-change from Winterspring Comp. They’re a bit behind – mainly because they completely marked time when they were at the comp – but they’re trying really hard to catch up. I tell you something, those months made them realise how lucky they are to be getting such a good education. And they fit in to this new school. Before, they had the wrong accents, wrong ethos, wrong background. And they tried to make it better by hanging around with the wrong crowd – the kids who think smoking, underage drinking and the like is cool.’
