*
Jade blew her nose loudly and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She hadn’t expected to feel as emotional as she had done in the end. The disappointment that Maddie wasn’t going to present her with a fat cheque had made her furious, then panicked, and she hadn’t needed to pretend this time after all, not after she’d had an uncharacteristic premonition that maybe this scheme wouldn’t work out after all. It had seemed a no-brainer when she first met Maddie, but now she wasn’t so sure.
Maddie had more layers to her than Jade had initially expected. For a while, Jade had considered calling the whole thing off because Maddie was clearly a woman on the edge and Jade didn’t need to attract that kind of attention to herself. But then she realised that her very instability could be the hook Jade was looking for.
Hence the sob story about her mother. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that the anger was not helping. It had worked on that stupid bitch Lucy, with her bouncy blonde hair and Bambi eyes, but Maddie was proving a tougher nut to crack – or coerce as it was. Raw, emotional tales of hardship seemed to work better on Maddie.
She liked to have someone to save.
The story Jade had told Maddie was inspired. She wasn’t even sure where it had come from – maybe something she’d seen on telly. Jade’s mother was alive and well and living in Milton Keynes. Jade had seen her last week when she went over to celebrate her sister’s birthday.
Lucy had apparently fled back to Scotland to escape Jade’s fury, but was still sending Jade money every month because she was petrified that Jade would make good on her threat to post on social media the video she had managed to get of Lucy in bed with the headmaster of her school. Not just any video though; a filthy, disgusting, leaves a little bit of sick in your mouth kind of video. Lucy had moved back in with her parents because she couldn’t afford the blackmail payments on her small salary if she was living in London. Her leaving hadn’t been planned, but when Lucy had said she was going, Jade had been thrilled. Still paying her, but not on Jade’s doorstep begging for the footage anymore. Win, win.
But what Jade needed from Maddie wasn’t as simple as just money. Financial gains would be a nice bonus, of course, but that wasn’t the endgame. Not this time.
She splashed some water on her face and dried it with the towel lying on the bathroom floor, still damp from Jade’s bath earlier.
Ben would be back tomorrow, so she should do some tidying up, at least wash the dishes and make sure she had some baked beans in the cupboard. That was all he wanted to eat when he was at her house. Baked beans and those little pots of Petit Filous yoghurt.
Anger was still simmering in her stomach like indigestion. Bloody Maddie. Jade needed to put the next phase into action now. There had been times in the last few days when Maddie had got a little too close to the truth. And now Maddie was getting friendly with Luke, who’d proved troublesome with Lucy too.
Not great.
Jade stared at herself for a moment longer, then turned away.
*
Maddie heard the knock and thought about ignoring it. It could only be Jade again and she wasn’t up to any more melodrama for tonight. She had a banging headache and was already in her pyjamas, a pasta sauce bubbling on the stove and some downloaded episodes of Vera lined up and waiting.
It’s funny all the things she used to think she would achieve if she ever lived alone. The evening classes she would do – pottery, maybe drawing – or sports she would try. She used to be quite good with a hockey stick at school and could probably still hold her own on a netball court. But when it came down to it, what she really enjoyed doing was cooking something simple, opening a nice bottle of wine for one or two glasses and snuggling under her duvet in front of a box set.
She would never meet someone new if she hid under her duvet every weekend, but then, she didn’t think she was at the stage where she wanted to meet someone knew yet. Greg was still too raw a wound for her to consider anyone else. Besides, the thought of dating – all that effort to dress up, chat politely and agonise over whether he would call again – it just left her feeling tired. What she really wanted was to indulge in some self-care for a while. She deserved it.
Having said that, she’d really enjoyed spending time with Luke earlier. It had been relaxed, comfortable.
Even so, tonight called for self-care. Without the wine though – her head was thick already after the beer earlier – but she had a family-size bar of Dairy Milk in the fridge with her name on it.
The knock came again, then the letterbox clattered open and Jade’s eyes peered through the door. Maddie had taken to keeping the chain on all the time now.
‘Maddie?’
She would have to open the door. Jade could probably see her sitting on the couch.
She heaved to her feet, slid the chain back and opened the door. ‘Hey, feeling better?’
Jade looked better, still a little red-rimmed around the eyes, but more sheepish now and less likely to erupt in either fury or tears, thankfully.
‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I was being stupid.’ She pushed past Maddie and strode into the lounge without being invited.
‘Hey, no, it’s fine. I know you’re under pressure and it’s all very stressful for you, so don’t worry about it.’
‘Hmmm, something smells good.’ Her nose twitched like a rabbit as she looked towards the kitchen.
Not tonight, please. Maddie’s heart rate inched up at the thought of having to come up with a plausible excuse to not invite her to stay.
‘Oh, just reheating a pasta sauce. I can feel a migraine coming on though, so I might just go straight to bed instead.’
‘Well, if you’re not going to eat it, I’ll have it. Rather than let it go to waste, you know…’
Maddie paused, looked at the pasta sauce and then back to Jade. Was she actually going to let Jade take her dinner off her? She was really looking forward to a large, steaming bowl of pasta.
‘Well, no, it’s not really going to waste. I’ll just have it tomorrow.’
‘Oh, right, sure,’ Jade said, her eyes dropping to the floor along with her lip. ‘Well, I just wanted to say sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.’ She turned to go, her shoulders slumping.
‘You’re not intruding, really, and there is no need to apologise. I understand.’
Jade sneezed suddenly, loud and eruptive. ‘Ugh, I’m struggling so much with hayfever at the moment.’
‘Really? At this time of the year? How odd.’
‘Yeah, I know! Must be the dust in this building or something, but I’m just so… you don’t happen to have any antihistamines, do you? I’m all out and if I don’t take something, I’ll be sneezing all night.’
‘Yeah, I have some in the bathroom. I’ll go get them.’
Maddie hurried into the bathroom, wanting only to get Jade out as quickly as possible. She opened the cabinet, found the box and pulled an entire sleeve of pills out. That should keep her going for a while.
When she returned to the lounge, Jade was in the kitchen.
‘I turned the sauce off. It was about to bubble over.’
Maddie frowned. The sauce had been on a low heat.
‘Thanks. Here you go – take the whole sleeve.’