The SUV behind me sits on its horn again, and I fling open my car door and leap furiously into the pelting rain. ‘Look, I’ve broken down!’ I yell. ‘Go round me, can’t you!’
The driver of the SUV gets out of his car, too. ‘Need a hand?’
‘Andrew!’
He waves at the traffic to go past us and opens the bonnet. ‘Let me see if I can get it going again.’
But even Andrew’s magic touch fails to revive it this time. He closes the bonnet, wiping the rain from his eyes. ‘I want you to steer it over there,’ he says, pointing to a shallow forecourt to the side of the road. ‘I’ll push.’
Fortunately, the Honda is light. It doesn’t take much effort to push it out of the way of the flow of traffic.
‘Thank you,’ I say, as I get out and lock the car. ‘I’ll have to see if I can get someone to come out and tow it. Let me give you Bella’s computer, before I forget. You couldn’t drop me at the bus stop, could you?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’re soaking wet. Come back to mine and get dried off.’
I hesitate. I’ve dropped the children off at Andrew and Caz’s house in Brighton many times, but never been inside, and nor do I want to. But I’m soaked to the bone, and I can’t think of a reasonable excuse not to take Andrew up on his offer.
‘Come on,’ Andrew urges. ‘I’ve got a mate, Tom, he runs a garage not far from here. I’ll call him and get him to tow it and see what he can do. He won’t charge you. He owes me a favour.’
‘If you’re sure,’ I say.
‘’Course I’m sure,’ Andrew says.
Chapter 12
Caz
I leave the florist with a spring in my step and an armful of Casablanca lilies, popping my umbrella open as I dart through the rain to my car. The flowers were a bit extravagant, I know, but I couldn’t resist them when I saw them on my way home from the off-licence.
It’s been a really good weekend. We took all three kids to the latest Pixar movie last night, and then out for pizza, and Bella dropped the emo act and teased her brothers like a normal teenager. She got up at a reasonable hour this morning, too, and even offered to come with me to the Saturday farmers’ market without being prompted by her father. She wasn’t particularly chatty, but then she never is. I like the fact that she only talks when she has something to say. And when the woman weighing the tomatoes casually referred to her as my daughter, Bella didn’t correct her. I knew I was getting somewhere with her. It’s just a question of being patient.
Shifting the bouquet to my left arm, I unlock my Audi, and settle the flowers carefully into the well of the passenger seat. Andy should be back with the fish and chips by the time I get home, and I’m looking forward to a family night in, though I slightly wish Bella hadn’t asked Taylor over. The girl’s really got a crush on Andy, though I seem to be the only person who can see it.
‘I’m home!’ I sing out, as I let myself into the kitchen. ‘Where is everyone?’
‘In here,’ Andy calls from the sitting room.
I put the lilies in the sink, and root around beneath it for a vase. ‘Did they have any haddock left, or did you get cod?’
He doesn’t reply, and I wander into the sitting room, the vase in my hand. Sitting on my sofa, next to my husband, and making herself thoroughly at home, is Louise.
‘Louise’s car broke down on her way over to drop off Bella’s computer,’ Andy says, looking slightly sheepish. ‘I happened to be right behind her when it conked out. The engine wouldn’t even turn over. Tom’s towed it to his garage. Poor Louise was soaked to the skin, so I brought her home to dry off.’
‘How very lucky for her,’ I say, through gritted teeth.
‘Wasn’t it?’ Louise says.
I don’t believe for one second this is a coincidence. She probably sat in a side street for hours, waiting for Andy to go out, before staging her little “breakdown”. I want to slap her stupid, smug face.
‘You might as well stay to dinner,’ Andy says to her. His arm is casually resting on the back of the sofa, and she smiles up at me from within the safe circle of his loose embrace. ‘I bought more than enough fish and chips to go round. The boys never finish theirs, anyway.’
‘Andy,’ I say tightly. ‘Could I have a word?’
I stalk into the kitchen, my body quivering with rage. How can he not see what she’s doing? She hijacked last weekend, and now here she is again, inserting herself into the middle of our family time.
Andy shuts the kitchen door behind him. ‘Look, I know it’s not ideal, but what else could I do?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Let her call the AA, like a normal person?’
‘Caz, I’m not going to leave my children’s mother stranded in the pouring rain by the side of the road,’ he says tersely. ‘We live two minutes away. We’ll have a bite to eat, and she’ll be off. Come on, where’s the harm?’
If I create a scene, I’ll just be playing into Louise’s hands. I made that mistake last week, and she came out smelling of roses, while I ended up reeking of something altogether less fragrant.
‘Fine,’ I say. ‘We can have the fish and chips while Tom looks at her car, and if he can’t fix it today, we can call her an Uber.’
‘Actually, I’ve already said she can have the Range Rover.’
‘Andy! I’ll need it next week to pick up the dresser for Kit’s room. How long have you lent it to her for?’
He looks uncomfortable. ‘The Honda’s on its last legs. What if she’d broken down with Bella and Tolly in the car?’ His voice takes on a defensive note. ‘We have the Audi. We leave the Range Rover sitting here for weeks at a time, and even when we’re here, we hardly use it. We’re in walking distance of the station, and it’s impossible to park the damn thing anyway. It’ll be a lot less hassle without it.’
It’s not about the cars. It’s the way Andy allows himself to be manipulated by Celia and Louise that drives me crazy. When it comes to the Roberts women, he has all the spine of a jellyfish.
‘You’ve given her the car?’ I say, unable to hide my anger. ‘You don’t think you should have run something like this past me first? This affects both of us! It should have been a joint decision.’
‘The Range Rover was our car before you and I even met,’ Andy says, a little truculently. ‘I think it’s up to me if I give it to Louise or not.’
‘And the Audi was mine. That doesn’t mean I’d donate it to the RSPCA without talking to you.’
We glare at each other. The battle over Louise has ebbed and flowed over the same domestic territory for years now. Periodically, we call a truce, and we’ll have a few months of peace and quiet; and then Louise will drop a grenade between us, demanding money for Bella’s braces or changing the summer holiday schedules when we’ve already paid for flights, and we’re right back to square one.
The kitchen door opens. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ Louise says, looking anything but.
‘You’re not interrupting anything,’ Andy says. ‘We were just about to put the fish and chips on plates. Caz, can you find the vinegar and Worcestershire?’