Please Forgive Me

by Melissa Hill

  Suzanne jumped up at their arrival. ‘Dad, there’s a disco on at the community centre tomorrow night and I really want to go but Mum says I have to ask you,’ she said without preamble. Leonie couldn’t help but wonder why Andrea had suddenly shifted this decision onto Adam, when usually he only ever had the tiniest say in what his daughter should or shouldn’t do.

  ‘Honey, Leonie and I just got here,’ Adam replied brusquely. ‘Let’s talk about it later, OK?’

  ‘Fine!’ Giving her dad one of her vintage ‘looks’, Suzanne turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

  Andrea seemed to be having difficulty in keeping the smirk from her face. ‘Would anyone like coffee?’

  ‘I’d love one thanks Andi,’ Adam replied, dropping their bags on the ground.

  ‘Tea for me please if you don’t mind,’ Leonie said pleasantly.

  ‘I’m afraid we don’t drink that in this house,’ Andrea replied in a grave tone that made Leonie feel like she’d asked for a line of coke.

  ‘No problem,’ she said shrugging, ‘coffee is fine.’

  ‘Hey, Hugo my man – how are you doing?’ Adam greeted, sitting down at the kitchen table alongside Suzanne’s half-brother. ‘You’ve got so big since the last time I saw you. How’s school?’

  ‘Fine,’ the little boy said, eyeing Adam rather warily. As Suzanne usually went to his place, Adam didn’t visit the house very often so the child probably didn’t know him very well, Leonie mused. He was a cute little thing, she thought watching him continue with his drawing, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

  ‘Hello there,’ she said, going over to join them. She sat down at the table and picked up one of the drawings. ‘Wow, these are really great drawings, is this you?’

  ‘Yep,’ the little boy nodded happily, before pointing out another stick-thin character, this one with bizarre pink-coloured hair, and a sullen-looking face. ‘This is Thuzanne.’

  Leonie tried to stifle a chuckle. ‘That’s a lovely one of your sister,’ she told him. ‘You’re very good at drawing, aren’t you?’

  Hugo nodded again and smiled shyly.

  ‘He’s going to be a world famous artist when he grows up aren’t you, darling?’ Andrea cooed, coming over with a tray of coffee and biscuits.

  ‘Speaking of world famous, how’s Suzanne getting on with those guitar lessons?’ Adam asked her.

  ‘Oh, she gave that up yonks ago,’ she replied airily. ‘You know Suze, can’t get her to do anything she doesn’t want to.’

  I sure do, Leonie thought inwardly but just as quickly she remembered something. ‘But the full course of lessons was paid for upfront, wasn’t it?’ she queried, recalling the exact amount very well, as at the time the cheque had put her and Adam’s account temporarily in the red.

  ‘Yes, but what can you do?’ Andrea replied with a casual shrug. ‘These things happen.’

  ‘These things happen?’ Her blatantly dismissive manner made Leonie’s blood boil. The cheek of it, when those lessons had cost an absolute fortune! As did the dance classes and the tennis coaching and any other random hobby that Suzanne got it into her head she wanted to try!

  Beneath the table Adam laid a gentle hand on her thigh, hoping to calm her down. She’d really had enough of this woman’s bloodsucking attitude and was sick to the teeth of her bleeding Adam dry. God knows she didn’t begrudge Suzanne her child support but this was taking the mickey.

  But whatever her feelings towards Andrea, she wouldn’t dream of expressing them here and especially not in front of the child.

  ‘Well, we might have to see about getting some of that money back then, Andrea,’ Adam said diplomatically, much to Leonie’s relief, ‘or at least try and get our money’s worth by getting Suzanne to finish the course.’

  ‘Be my guest,’ Andrea replied with a self-satisfied smile, her tone implying that there wasn’t a snowball chance in hell of this happening, and Leonie couldn’t be sure but it almost seemed like the woman was pleased the subject of the wasted lessons had come up. Was she aware that Leonie had a problem with all this, and so was only too happy to rub her nose in it? Surely not, as she’d never expressed these feelings to anyone other than Adam, and he certainly wouldn’t want to rock the boat by reporting this to Suzanne’s mother.

  But in person, she found Andrea even more infuriating and she wondered how on earth she was going to get through the rest of this visit. At least it was for only one night, although she really would have preferred to stay in a B&B, rather than under Andrea’s roof.

  ‘But there’s loads of room at the house and she’d really like to have us stay with her,’ Adam had argued beforehand. ‘And I know Suzanne would really love that too,’ he added, so how could Leonie not agree?

  She looked again at Hugo’s scribbling. ‘You really are very good at this you know,’ she said, hoping to relieve some of the tension by changing the subject. She picked up one he’d drawn of just three people; two adults holding hands with a child. ‘This one is lovely, is this you?’ she asked, and again Hugo nodded. ‘This must be your Mum, and who’s this?’

  ‘That’s Billy,’ Hugo said.

  ‘Oh? Who’s Billy?’

  ‘I think that’s enough drawing for today, darling,’ Andrea said, and before the little boy knew what was happening, she quickly proceeded to tidy his things away. ‘Adam, I suppose you’d better show Leonie to your room.’

  ‘Sure – the usual?’ he said, and she felt somewhat relieved to learn that he did indeed stay in a separate room when he visited. Not that she had any reason to believe otherwise but…

  ‘So who is Billy then?’ she asked him when they were alone upstairs.

  ‘He’s an old friend of Andrea’s. They had a bit of an on/off thing going for years so maybe he’s back on the scene.’

  ‘Well whoever he his, she certainly seemed reluctant to have Hugo talk about him, didn’t she?’

  ‘Do you think so?’ Adam, typically, hadn’t picked up on anything out of the ordinary.

  ‘You didn’t notice her clearing his colouring things away in lightning speed?’ she prompted.

  Adam shrugged. ‘I just assumed she wanted to start getting things organised for dinner.’

  But Leonie wasn’t convinced. Andrea had been the epitome of cool calm and collected all throughout the visit until Billy’s name was mentioned.

  Then, she’d changed completely.

  A half hour or so later, Leonie and Adam came back downstairs for dinner. Suzanne, who they hadn’t seen since their arrival earlier, was sitting at the dining-room table, a dour expression on her face.

  ‘Hey,’ Leonie said, taking the seat alongside her. ‘How’s it going?’

  Adam was in the kitchen assisting Andrea; the other woman having already politely refused Leonie’s offers to help. ‘I’ve got everything under control thank you, you just take a seat and relax,’ she said, before adding archly, ‘besides, I understand that cooking isn’t exactly your forte.’

  Having already decided not to please Andrea by letting her get under her skin, she ignored the barb and did as she was bid.

  ‘Did you get a chance to talk to your dad about that disco?’ she asked Suzanne.

  A loud sigh. ‘There’s no point; he won’t let me go. He never, like, lets me do anything.’

  ‘Oh come on now, you know that’s not true,’ Leonie thought, deciding not to mention the Caribbean trip, school tour and countless other hobbies that Adam had already facilitated. ‘What about your mum? Does she think it’s OK for you to go?’

  Suzanne crossed her arms. ‘She doesn’t care what I do as long as I keep out of her way,’ she sulked. ‘And when Billy’s around, me and Hugo, like, might as well not even exist.’

  At this Leonie’s ears pricked up. ‘Who is Billy? Your little brother was talking about him earlier too, but I’ve never heard you mention him before.’

  Suzanne rolled her eyes. ‘He’s Mum’s boyfriend.’

  Leonie’s ears imm
ediately pricked up. Boyfriend? Well, this was interesting …

  ‘But they’re always, like, fighting,’ the girl went on, flicking an imaginary piece of lint off the table.

  ‘I see. Well, adults do that sometimes you know.’ Leonie knew better than anyone that Suzanne was often prone to exaggeration. ‘Hugo seems to like him,’ she went on, ‘What about you – do you get on well with him?’

  Suzanne shrugged. ‘I suppose, but he like, doesn’t really talk to me much. I think he likes Hugo more because he’s a boy and everything.’

  ‘That’s probably it all right,’ Leonie agreed sagely. ‘So is he coming round for dinner tonight or…’

  ‘Who – Billy?’ The younger girl made a face. ‘No way. He like, never comes round when Dad’s here, so I don’t think he likes him much either.’

  Even more interesting, Leonie thought, her brain working overtime. Adam had mentioned earlier that he knew Billy too, hadn’t he? Had there been some kind of falling out or something since? Well, whatever Billy’s problem might be, it certainly didn’t seem to bother Adam anyway as Leonie had never heard mention of the man before today. Might he resent Adam still being involved in Andrea’s life? If so, then she and Billy would probably have plenty to talk about if they ever met, Leonie thought wryly, wondering if she might have some sort of ally in Andrea’s boyfriend.

  So if Billy did indeed resent Adam’s involvement, what did he make of Hugo’s dad being around too?

  ‘What about Hugo’s dad?’ she asked, unable to resist probing further. ‘Does he come to see you guys very often?’

  Suzanne looked at her as though she was the stupidest person in the world. She rolled her eyes. ‘Leonie, Billy is Hugo’s dad.’

  Chapter 19

  Alex returned to the office after a morning’s filming to find a message from her lawyer. Guessing that it had something to do with the divorce papers they’d dispatched to Seth earlier in the week, she immediately called him back.

  ‘Doug, it’s Alex. You called?’

  The lawyer was once again straight to point. ‘Hate to have to tell you this Alex, but that husband of yours has done a runner again.’

  ‘What?’ she practically screeched down the phone. ‘What do you mean he’s done a runner?’

  ‘Well, apparently he no longer resides at that Monterey address you gave me.’

  ‘But that’s just not possible!’ Alex argued. ‘I only spoke to him last weekend and he promised, he swore he lived there…’ Now she wondered if Seth had even given her the correct address in the first place. Of all the crafty, dishonest…

  ‘Well, he might have lived there at one time, but not any more. Our process server talked to some other guy who said that he moved out a few days before.’

  ‘I don’t friggin’ believe this!’ Alex couldn’t restrain her frustration. ‘That no-good, good-for-nothing, lying toad!’

  She’d really believed Seth when he said he’d do the right thing by agreeing to be served this time, but as usual he’d been lying through his teeth. At that moment, probably more than any other in history, Alex really wanted to strangle him!

  Doug was still talking. ‘Well, we could probably look to file a motion to serve by publication, but like I said before, the judges don’t tend to grant those too easily, so we could very well be wasting our time.’

  If – as in Alex’s case – a spouse couldn’t be located for divorce papers to be served, a notice of the application for divorce proceedings could be published in a newspaper. When close to a year had passed and Seth still proved impossible to find, she’d asked her lawyer to investigate this option, but it was considered by the courts to be a last resort and was only allowed if it could be proven that all other avenues to locate him had been exhausted. Judges were generally reluctant to grant such motions, and it was difficult for Alex to prove that Seth couldn’t be located, especially as his damned social security number was still registered to the Green Street address.

  So Doug had advised against it and instead filed for more time, something he was in favour of doing yet again. ‘It’s a shame you didn’t think to tell me you’d met him while you were there; we could have had our guy down there the same day.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ Alex was kicking herself now. But at the time Seth had seemed OK about it all, and up until Leonie mentioned it, she’d never even considered that he might have been avoiding her attempts to serve him on purpose. ‘He swore he’d accept them, and like an idiot I believed him!’

  ‘Well, I guess we’re back to square one then, Alex. I’ll apply for more time from the court, but in the meantime, as long that husband of yours keeps slipping through your fingers, this divorce just can’t happen.’

  ‘I can’t believe he would do this to me - again!’ That evening after work, Alex spilled out her frustrations to Leonie. They were both sprawled on her sofa in front of the TV, waiting for the newest instalment of Grey’s Anatomy.

  ‘Told you he was avoiding all this on purpose. He doesn’t want to get divorced, Alex, it’s as simple as that.’

  ‘It’s not up to him to decide!’ she grimaced, standing up. ‘And he should have thought of that before he started screwing around.’ Going into the kitchen, she switched off the heated cafetiere and poured fresh coffee into a couple of mugs. ‘If I’d known he’d do this I would have wrestled him to the ground in Monterey and got him to sign the papers there and then. But of course I didn’t have them with me, did I? Man, I just can’t believe this!’

  Having made the coffee, she handed a mug to Leonie.

  ‘I don’t understand – I thought you said he was happy enough to give you his address at the weekend.’

  ‘He was! We talked about it that night at dinner when you’d gone to the restroom. He told me to send them on and it wouldn’t be a problem.’ She slumped back down onto the sofa. ‘Clearly he was lying through his teeth.’

  Leonie looked thoughtful as she sipped her coffee. ‘Well, I didn’t want to say anything, or more to the point, you didn’t particularly want to talk about anything to do with Seth afterwards, but that night I did notice he seemed a bit put-out at the mention of Jon.’

  ‘Put-out?’ she queried blankly.

  ‘A bit miffed…or annoyed?’ Leonie tried to find the American equivalent.

  Alex sat up straight. ‘Do you really think so?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘God, that’s just so typical, he doesn’t want me, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either! Grr, I’d kill him with my bare hands if I ever got near him again, I swear I’d – ‘

  The intercom buzzed loudly, startling them both, but before Alex could get up to answer it, they heard a key turn in the lock. Then she and Leonie both looked worriedly out towards the hallway at the distinct sound of someone trying to enter the apartment.

  ‘Are you expecting someone?’ Leonie asked nervously.

  ‘No, and I’m the only one who has a key to this place. Well apart from…’ But the rest of her sentence trailed off as Alex suddenly realised exactly what was going on, or more importantly who had just come in.

  A familiar head popped around the living room door. ‘Guess who?’ Seth called out merrily, that trademark mischievous grin written all over his face.

  Alex leapt out of her seat. ‘What the hell are you doing here? How come you still have a key? And who do you think you are just waltzing back in here like you own the place?’ The questions came as thick and fast as Alex’s rising blood pressure. The cheek of the guy! How dare he?

  ‘Well that’s a nice homecoming,’ Seth said, setting his bag down and giving Leonie a little wink that infuriated Alex even more.

  ‘Homecoming…. What the hell are you talking about? This isn’t your home!’

  ‘Um, speaking of which, I think I might head back upstairs,’ Leonie mumbled, smiling awkwardly. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’

  ‘You don’t need to go anywhere, Leonie.’ Alex said firmly, looking daggers at Seth.

  ‘No, honestly, I have a few thi
ngs to do, um thanks for the coffee,’ she insisted meekly, before slipping out the door as fast as was humanly possible.

  ‘Well?’ Alex urged, when she and Seth were alone. ‘Would you like to explain to me what the hell you think you’re doing here?’

  He looked as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. ‘I miss you,’ he said simply. ‘What?’ Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘You miss me? When exactly over the last year did you figure that one out, Seth? Was it while you were partying down in Miami? Or was it when you found out that I was no longer sitting here pining over you?’

  ‘You pined over me?’ he asked in feigned surprise, and Alex wanted to punch him.

  ‘You know what I mean,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘And I asked you a question.’

  Seth sighed, and his playful tone suddenly grew more serious. ‘I mean it Alex, I really do miss you. When I bumped into you guys in Monterey last week, I realised exactly how much.’

  ‘Oh please!’ she groaned. ‘Come off it Seth, what’s really going on here?’

  He spread his hands wide as if to say ‘give me a break’. ‘Look, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s happened with us and I know you don’t believe me, but I really meant it when I said I was going to call you. I’d planned to come back to the city, but I had to carry out that favour down south first.’

  ‘The job in the dive shop?’

  ‘Yes. I met the guy in Miami. He was on vacation there and we got talking and he mentioned he had a place on the West Coast. I thought it was the perfect excuse to come back, maybe work there for a couple of weeks while I plucked up the courage to call you.’

  Alex eyeballed him, not believing a word of it. Once a player always a player. There was something else going on here, she was sure of it and thanks to what Leonie had said earlier she was now pretty certain she knew what that something was.