Chapter 56
Kitty couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. How could she have fallen for it again?
She carried a slice of cake through to James, who sat with his feet up on the sofa with the air of one who owned the place.
He’d been there one night, and already talk of rushing back to Rae, his tears over his inability to visit his sick daughter, had faded. ‘These things can’t be helped,’ he’d said with a shrug and sadness in his eyes. ‘I’m grateful for your hospitality, Catherine.’
Now, the gratitude too had waned. Kitty stood by the door, steeling herself.
‘I need to go to the next rehearsal,’ she said. ‘They’re relying on me, and we’ve already had goodness knows how many people knock on the door after I missed the last one.’
‘Relying on you?’ he said. ‘Don’t be such an idiot, Catherine. Can’t you see what a fool you’re making of yourself?’
‘I’m not.’ She grasped for the sweet memory of doing something well.
James laughed. ‘You’re not what? You think you’re any good?
Prancing around, playing Juliet?’ He took a bite of cake, chewed, and swallowed.
‘I’m saving you from yourself here, Catherine.
Can’t you see? Why do you always have to make me out to be the bad guy?
You’re fully aware your acting is rubbish, but you keep going back to your old ways. ’
Kitty experienced a rush of doubt. She’d been telling herself he was manipulating her again, but what if he was right? What if she was making a fool of herself? What if her feelings for Nick had obscured some true view of herself? What if everyone in Saffron Bay was laughing at her?
‘I can see it in your face,’ said James. ‘You know I’m right.’
‘But…’ said Kitty.
‘Don’t,’ said James. ‘Don’t try to justify your behaviour. It’s ridiculous.’
‘Yes,’ said Kitty, her voice small.
‘You understand why they gave you the part in the play in the first place?’
‘Why?’ A glint of defiance sparked, ready for his humiliating answer.
‘Because whatever bloke they’ve got playing Romeo, no doubt wants to sleep with you.’
‘No.’ The glint of defiance died. It was true. Nick did want to sleep with her. Was it all an act? The play, everything, simply to get her into bed? No, she told herself. No, ‘That wasn’t it at all.’ Defiance flamed, weak, but there.
‘Oh, you’re so na?ve,’ said James. ‘I thought I’d done better at teaching you these last few years. You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you? We’re going to have to go right back to the start.’
‘The start?’ Kitty’s heart set up a pitter-patter, it was hard to breathe. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m here now,’ said James. ‘We’re together again. Everything’s going to be all right.’
Together? Panic fluttered in Kitty’s chest, and she steadied herself on the door frame.
‘You look ill,’ said James, finishing his cake and setting the plate on the floor. ‘Village life doesn’t suit you. The sooner we get you to London, where you belong, the better.’
‘I… I can’t leave,’ said Kitty. ‘I’ve got a job here.’
James humphed. ‘You left your last job at short notice. I don’t see why you can’t do the same again. What I’m telling you is for the best, Catherine.’
Was he right? What had she been thinking, running off to Saffron Bay? What had she been thinking, assuming she could manage by herself? She’d made a mess of everything, and all she’d done in the process was prove James right. No. The glint of fighting back fought to be heard …
‘Now, what are we having for dinner?’ said James, twisting to sit with his feet on the floor, and an expectant smile on his face.
Dinner, yes. She needed to cook. ‘I was going to make Bolognese.’
‘Fine,’ said James. ‘Don’t make it with too much salt. You know how much I hate that.’
A memory flashed through Kitty’s mind, and not only one.
Multiple memories of dinners being thrown in the bin: too salty, too sweet, too dry, the sauce too runny.
In fact, now she came to think of it, she couldn’t remember a time when James had ever been happy with what she’d prepared.
Tiredness swept over her. She nodded her acquiescence.
‘I’m exhausted from being here,’ said James. ‘I’m going to have a bath while you make dinner.’
‘Would you like me to run it for you?’ said Kitty, hating herself for offering, thinking the offer might make up for the already discarded Bolognese.
James raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you suggesting I can’t run a bath by myself?’
‘No, no, that… no. I was being helpful.’
‘If you remember, Catherine,’ James wagged a finger, ‘you’re not very good at being helpful. That’s why you need me with you.’
‘Yes,’ murmured Kitty, believing him.
James heaved himself off the sofa, pushed past her and stomped up the stairs to the bathroom.
Kitty was about to leave the room herself when she heard the ping of a message.
It came from James’s phone, sitting on the coffee table.
Kitty crossed the room and, with a glance towards the door, picked up the phone.
She wouldn’t have dared unlock it, even if she had known James’s password.
She could read enough of the message to get the gist, however:
Where are you? You were meant to have Rae this weekend. She has her gymnastics competition today. Why can’t I get ahold of you? You promised you’d be there.
The message was from Zoe, James’s ex. Kitty turned the phone in her hands. What was Zoe talking about? Gymnastic competition? If Rae was as ill as James said, she wouldn’t be doing any of those things. And what about the photo he’d shown her? There was no doubting that was Rae in a hospital bed…
Kitty pulled her own phone from her pocket, copied the number from the message, and replaced James’s phone exactly where it had been on the coffee table.
‘We’re all out of tomatoes!’ she called up the stairs. ‘I have to go to the general store to get some.’
‘I want you here by the time I’m out of my bath,’ called James. ‘Ten minutes. No longer.’
‘Of course,’ said Kitty.
She let herself out of the house and sprinted to the general store, knowing she’d need to return home with evidence of what she had been doing.
When Sam tried to stop her for a chat, Kitty shook her head, said she was in a hurry, and tried to ignore the look of hurt on Sam’s face.
She grabbed the tomatoes, paid for them, and ran around the corner where she couldn’t be spotted if James came looking for her.
She pulled out her phone and dialled the number.
‘Hello?’
‘Oh, hi. Zoe? It’s Kitty.’
‘Sorry, I don’t know a Kitty.’
‘Sorry, I mean it’s Catherine. Catherine McDonaugh.’
‘Catherine? Why on earth are you calling me? I thought you’d left James.’
‘I had,’ said Kitty. ‘And now he’s found me.’
‘Oh, you poor woman,’ said Zoe. ‘He’s come to charm his way back into your affections, I take it?’
‘He came to tell me about Rae’s illness.’
‘Rae’s illness?’ Confusion filled Zoe’s voice.
‘Yes. He showed me a photo of her in the hospital.’
‘Hang on,’ said Zoe. ‘She hasn’t been to the hospital…
Oh! You must mean three months ago, when she had her appendix out.
’ The sound of a whooshing breath came through the phone.
‘It was a real worry at the time, but the hospital was amazing and dealt with things really quickly. She’s been fit as a fiddle ever since. ’
‘You mean… she doesn’t have an undiagnosed illness? She’s not currently in hospital?’
‘Is that what he told you?’ said Zoe.
‘Yes.’ Kitty’s emotions hovered between relief that Rae was well, fury at James’s duplicity, and self-hatred for falling for his manipulative lies.
Zoe sighed. ‘I don’t blame you for believing him.
He can be very persuasive. Trust me, Rae is completely fine.
Yes, she misses you, and if we could arrange a time when she could call you, that would be brilliant.
’ Zoe’s voice strengthened. ‘She is not ill, Catherine. You need to get James out of your life, out of your house, and do it as fast as you can. I understand fully how hard that is, but please trust me, one day you’ll feel free again. ’
‘Thanks,’ said Kitty, her voice choked by tears.
She hung up, replaced the phone in her pocket, and headed back to the cottage. She took her time, the first step of her rebellion. She had no idea what she was going to do. She only knew she couldn’t keep doing this.