Chapter 5
‘Hi, Mum.’ Nicola adjusted her grip on her mobile she was holding against her ear as she walked the short route through Meadowfield from Pennycress Inn to her own little cottage.
‘Hello, love. How was work?’ Her mum Vivienne’s voice drifted down the phone line full of warmth and kindness.
‘Good, thanks. We’re fully booked for the rest of the summer now.’
‘Oh, I’m so pleased to hear that. You’ve done wonders with the marketing. Laura was singing your praises only last week when I saw her in the pub practising for the upcoming darts competition.’
Nicola pulled her handbag higher up on her shoulder. ‘That’s lovely of her, but, honestly, I think it’s just that I know the inn so well.’
Her mum chuckled. ‘And so you should after being brought up there.’
‘Exactly. It’s so great being back. I almost feel as though I’ve never been away.
’ Nicola grinned. With just her and Laura working at the inn full time and Laura’s fiancé, Jackson, part-time chef and, of course, Jill gardening, it felt more like a small family-run business than anything else.
Just as it always had been when her mum had run the inn.
She’d never known her dad, so it had always been her and her mum living at the inn, but her mum had coped with help from a couple of other women from the village who had had part-time jobs there over the years.
‘I bet. Oh, before I forget, when I popped by to drop off your dinner, I got Trixie’s treats out to give her one and the little rascal knocked my hand, causing me to drop the packet. So if she doesn’t eat her dinner, it’ll be because she’s filled up with the spilt treats.’
‘That sounds like one of her little ploys to get more than she should! Thank…’ Nicola rounded the corner onto her street, The Twistle, and paused.
A large tow truck dominated the narrow street, its warning lights flashing despite the still-brilliant sunshine, but more to the point it was her car, her little Fiat, which was being dragged up onto the back of the truck.
‘Nicola? Are you still there, love?’
‘Uh-huh, sorry, Mum. I’m going to have to ring you back.
’ Quickly ending the call, she shoved her phone into her bag and began running towards the tow truck as the driver secured her car.
Coming to a stop by the side of the truck, she reached out and placed her palm on the side of her car.
‘Excuse me, this is my car. What are you doing?’
Straightening his back, the man turned to her before walking past her and retrieving a clipboard from the cab of the truck. He tapped a pen against the attached paperwork. ‘I’ve got a Mr Nathan Briggs down as the owner.’
‘Nathan? No, it’s my car. Not his.’
‘I’m afraid I’m just doing my job.’ The man shook his head sympathetically.
But, no… It was Nathan’s car on paper. He was even the main keeper on the insurance too, but it was hers.
They’d had an agreement – she’d pay off his debts, and he’d get finance on a car for her.
He’d said it made sense that he’d be saving money by not paying interest on his debt, but he’d still be repaying her through the car payments. ‘Why are you taking it?’
‘Mr Briggs has defaulted on the payments. The finance company is recalling it.’ The man chucked the clipboard back onto the driver’s seat of the cab and finished securing her Fiat to the back of the tow truck.
‘Can I… Is there anything I can do to stop you taking it?’ She fixed her eyes on her car. She needed it. She needed her car to take her mum to her doctor’s appointments, to go to the retail parks, to… everything. She could walk to work, but apart from that, she needed it for everything else.
‘You’ll have to take it up with the finance company. That’s the only advice I have.’ Having secured the car, he jumped in the cab and pulled the door closed.
No, no, no. She couldn’t just let him drive off. There must be something she could say or do to stop him. She tapped on his window with a little more force than she’d intended.
As he wound the window down, he sighed. ‘Yes?’
‘What if I pay this month’s missed payment? Will you leave it then?’ Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her purse and begun riffling through her cards. She probably had the money on her credit card.
‘Like I said, miss. You’ll have to take it up with the finance company. Mr Briggs has had plenty of time to rectify the situation.’
As he began winding the window back up, she tapped again. ‘How much notice was he given? He would have told me if he knew the car would be repossessed.’
‘He would have had a pretty good idea that after four months of not paying this would be the result. Good luck, miss.’ And with that, he drove off, leaving Nicola standing in the middle of the road, her handbag hanging from her elbow with her purse in one hand and a bunch of cards in the other.
Four months? The man had either been mistaken or it was an admin error. Yes, an admin error. That’s what it would have been.
Nicola walked towards her cottage, pulling her mobile from her bag as she did so. Closing the front door behind her, she dropped her purse and cards onto the narrow table beneath the porch window and hit the Call button. Pick up, Nathan.
‘Hello, Nicola?’
Hearing Nathan’s voice for the first time in five months, when she’d chucked him out, took the wind out of her and it took a moment for her to come to her senses.
‘Nathan, the car’s been taken away. There’s been an admin error which says you’ve not paid for four months.
Can you ring the finance company and sort this out, please? ’
‘Well, I…’
‘Please, Nathan. I need that car. You know I do, just ring them. I’m sure it won’t take long to sort it all out. Just explain it’s been taken and ask them to return it. If you’re quick, they might be able to instruct the tow truck driver to turn round and drop it straight back off.’
Silence.
‘Nathan? Can you ring them, please?’
‘There’s no point in me ringing them.’
‘Well, I can’t, can I? It’s your name on the contract, they won’t discuss any of it with me. It has to be you.’ It was just one phone call. That was all she was asking for. One call.
‘Nicola, listen. I meant to contact you and warn you. I should have done.’
‘Warn me about what? You knew this was going to happen? You knew there had been a mistake, and you didn’t think to rectify it?
’ She could feel a surge of anger stirring in the pit of her stomach.
If he’d just bothered to take a couple of minutes out of his perfect life with his perfect mistress to ring them, then all of this could have been avoided.
Had he really just flicked a switch and stopped caring about her?
After all the years they’d spent together, he really just couldn’t give her a minute’s time?
‘It’s not a mistake, Nicola.’ Nathan’s voice was quiet, guarded.
What was he saying? Was he actually saying what she thought he was? ‘What do you mean, not a mistake?’
‘Just that. I stopped the payments. Of course the car was going to get repossessed.’
‘You stopped making the payments?’
‘Yes.’
‘ Yes? ’ She shook her head. ‘Why? Why would you have stopped paying?’
‘Because it’s not my car.’ Nathan threw that comment in with as much indifference as if he was answering whether he fancied chocolate fudge or lemon drizzle cake for dessert.
She gripped her phone tighter, fisting her free hand. ‘I know it’s not your car. It’s mine, but you were paying it off. We had an agreement.’
‘Well, Kerry said…’ Nathan cleared his throat, his voice stronger this time. ‘Kerry said, being as it’s in my name, I can choose to default on the payments. It has nothing to do with you.’
‘Nothing to do with me?’ And Kerry? Kerry said? What? Would he jump off a cliff if the perfect Kerry told him to? ‘It has everything to do with me! It’s my car!’
‘That I’ve been paying for.’ Nathan’s voice was dry. A familiar tone she remembered from past arguments. One he usually saved just for her when he was trying to explain his point of view, however wrong it might be.
‘You’ve been paying back the money I used to pay off your loan!
’ She could hear the shrillness in her voice, but she didn’t care any longer.
If she had her way, she wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
In fact, she’d been pretty happy not having him in her life these past five months.
It had been an adjustment, and she was still grieving for what she’d lost – or, more aptly, what her and Nathan’s relationship should have stood for: love, security, having each other’s backs.
She’d been grieving for the very idea of a relationship, but looking back, she knew she’d never had it with him in the first place.
She’d just been a stopgap. Someone to fill in the time before someone better came along.
And they had. Kerry had come along, and he’d jumped.
‘That was years ago, Nic. Things change.’
She clenched her fist tighter, her fingernails digging into the flesh of her palm.
He had lost every right to call her by her nickname.
‘Yes, things change, but our agreement still stands. You haven’t paid it all back yet.
You were supposed to be paying me back through financing the car. You had no right to stop.’
‘Nic…’
‘Don’t call me that.’ Her voice came out in a harsh whisper.
‘Sorry, Nicola…’ She could almost picture his condescending face as he spoke. ‘Yes, we had an agreement, but that was one we made when we were together. We’re not together anymore.’
Taking a sharp breath in, Nicola tried her best not to shout down the phone.
‘Of course, we’re not together anymore. I caught you cheating!
Do you think I don’t know we’re not together?
But the fact still stands that you owe me money.
If you’re not going to carry on paying for my car in order to repay me, then you’ll just have to give me the rest now so I can buy a little run-around. ’
‘I won’t be doing that.’ His voice was so quiet, Nicola had to strain to hear him.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I won’t be paying you the rest. I simply can’t afford it.’
‘You won’t…? You’ve got to pay me. You owe me! I paid that stupid debt of yours off! What? Do you think you can just walk away and not repay me?’
‘It’s not what I want, but I simply can’t. I don’t have the money, Nic. Sorry, Nicola. I just don’t have it.’ His voice wavered, uncertainty creeping into his tone.
‘Sure you do. You’ve got your wage coming in – and I know how much you earn, by the way – and you’ve got your…’ She caught herself just in time and swallowed her words before continuing. ‘You’ve got Kerry’s wage coming in, too. You’ve got the money. And besides, you owe me!’
‘Kerry says it wouldn’t stand up in court. Our circumstances have dramatically changed.’
Kerry says . Of course, Kerry would say. If he wasn’t paying her back, then she had more money for the holidays he was always bragging about on social media.
‘We had an agreement.’
‘Look, what’s done is done. You chose to pay off my debt and I’m choosing to stop paying for your car.’ His voice was cold, all uncertainty replaced by defiance.
‘Nathan…’ Her voice was shaking. She could hear it.
She took another deep breath in, trying to compose herself before she could attempt to talk some sense into him.
Opening her mouth to speak, she stopped as she heard a woman’s voice in the background on Nathan’s end.
Kerry. She was there. Nathan was essentially her puppet.
‘I’ve got to go. I’m sorry, but my decision has been made.’
‘But…’
Too late. The line was dead, and the porch was silent apart from her ragged breaths.
Lowering her phone to the narrow table, she placed her hands on either side and dropped her head. What was she going to do? How could he just terminate the contract on the car? And refuse to pay her back? He owed her money.
And she didn’t have a car.
The shrill ringtone of her mobile pierced the silence, and she snatched it up. Maybe he’d changed his mind and was ringing to apologise? Maybe it had been some cruel, late April fools? ‘Hello?’
‘Hey, Nic.’ Jill’s sing-songy voice floated down the line. ‘I was just ringing to see how you got on at Little Mead Farm?’
Little Mead? Ugh. She’d promised Jill she’d go up there after work. Her plan had been to jump straight into the car and get it over and done with.
Mustering up all the energy she had left, she steadied her voice, trying her best to sound normal. ‘Something came up. I’ll pop by there in a bit.’
‘I can go if you need me…’ Jill’s sentence was cut off by one of her children shouting in the background.
‘But you promised me you’d stay at ballet and watch tonight!’
‘It’s fine.’ Nicola jumped in. ‘No problem. I’m actually on my way out now.’ The last thing she wanted was to have to cope with another impossible man, but what could she do? A promise was a promise, and she certainly didn’t want to ruin Jill and her children’s plans.
‘Are you sure? I feel so bad asking you.’ Jill’s voice became muffled as she covered the mouthpiece and spoke to the child next to her.
‘I’m literally walking out of the door now.’ Picking up her keys, Nicola jangled them before stepping outside and closing the door.
‘Oh, you are? Great. Thanks so much, Nic. You’re a total star.’ Relief flooded Jill’s voice.
‘Like I said, no problem.’ What was the problem was how she was going to get to the damn farm.
With no car, and it being three miles away, it would take her ages to walk.
Then she remembered the bike. When her mum had moved out of Pennycress Inn, she’d insisted on Nicola having her old teenage bike back, just in case.
Maybe her mum had foreseen what an absolute heartless person Nathan really was and had just this situation in mind.
Well, perhaps not exactly this situation…
‘Okay, thanks again. I’d better go.’
‘Yep. Have a good evening. Bye.’
Slipping her phone into her pocket, Nicola looked at the side gate.
She hadn’t used it in so long, ivy had grown over the hinges and stretched across to the other side.
Setting her jaw, she stepped forward. She’d need her bike until she sorted out the mess with Nathan and she certainly didn’t want to wheel it through the cottage.
That was if she could even locate it in the shed after she’d fought her way through the web defences the village spiders had created.