Chapter 45
NANCY
‘You’re kidding!’ Val exclaimed. She’d phoned to ask if Nancy wanted to go to the Boxing Day sales and was shocked when she heard about Clifford showing up yesterday evening.
‘I wish I was! He’s sleeping on an inflatable bed in the box room and refuses to budge.’
‘The Slimeball. He has no right to be there, his name isn’t on the deeds!
What a cheek after everything he did to you.
He probably banked on you being too soft to turn him out on Christmas Day.
’ Val’s voice was rising in anger. ‘Get the police to turf him out. Or shall I send Dennis round? Better still, ask Decaf to pay a visit. One look at him and Clifford will soon leg it.’
‘No, I don’t want any trouble. The thing is though, I’m back at work tomorrow and I don’t want to leave Clifford in the house all day on his own.
Goodness knows what he’ll get up to. I don’t trust him and wouldn’t put it past him to change the locks.
I’ll have to ask Pam if I can have a couple of days off. ’
‘That means you’ll be losing money and you can’t afford to do that.
Can’t you have a rota system so that someone’s always in the house?
I doubt if Slate’s classes will start until the New Year, and I could come over on my day off.
We can all keep an eye on him. We can’t let bloody Clifford control your life. He’s done that for long enough.’
‘Thanks, sis. That’s a great idea. I’ll talk to the others. Thank goodness we’re all home today.’
‘You need to put your foot down with him and get him out fast,’ Val told her. ‘Come on, be sensible, call the police and they’ll soon get rid of him. You should definitely get the locks changed or at least get his key back.’
‘As I said, I’m not going to do that but don’t worry we’ve got a plan and we’ve started putting it into action already.’ She smiled to herself and added mischievously, ‘Hopefully, Clifford will be gone by the end of the week.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure. He’s got a free roof over his head there. The Clifford we know won’t want to shell out for accommodation unless he has to. I think you’re going to have a battle on your hands and you need to toughen up with him, sis. He’s not a pushover.’
Val was right – Clifford was controlling her life again, she thought after her sister had ended the call. She just hoped that their plan worked, otherwise she might have to resort to legal action to get Clifford out, and she would prefer not to have to go down that unpleasant and expensive route.
‘Morning,’ Slate came out of the downstairs bathroom, rubbing his hair dry on a towel. ‘Where’s the ex?’
‘Still in bed.’ She paused. ‘Are you in work at all this week? I don’t feel like I can go to work and leave Clifford here alone. I don’t trust him, so I was thinking of asking Pam if I could have the week off but then Val suggested we could all take turns staying home. Would that be okay?’
‘No problem. I’m off until the weekend, there’s no classes at the library this week so I’ll arrange for me and the lads to have a few band practices, starting first thing in the morning.
That will get him out of bed!’ He grinned.
‘In fact, Oxo is still here so why don’t we have a bit of a practice now?
Fancy singing with us? Maybe Jackie will join in too. ’
‘You bet!’ She smiled, her spirits lifting a little. If there’s one thing Clifford hated, it was rock music. Especially loud rock music.
* * *
Half an hour later, Slate, Oxo, Nancy, Jackie and Phyllis were all in the dining room singing to ‘Born to Be Wild’ at the top of their voices.
Slate was playing the guitar and Oxo, bass.
That was followed by ‘Brown Sugar’. Then suddenly the door was flung open and Clifford was standing in the doorway, bleary-eyed and dressed in blue striped pyjamas.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he yelled. ‘It’s Sunday and I’ve barely had any sleep.’
He did look like he’d hardly slept a wink, Nancy thought. It seemed that Phyllis’s plan was working, she glanced at her and Phyllis winked back.
‘Morning, mate. We’re having band practice. Want to join in?’ Slate said cheerfully.
‘No, I do not! I demand you turn that off right now. Go and play somewhere else! You’ve no right to make that racket here.’
‘Sorry, no can do. We’ve got a gig the weekend and we always practise here,’ Slate replied.
Clifford rubbed his eyes and stared at Nancy. ‘You mean that you stand for this? You actually let them practise here?’
‘Of course. I’m in the band too. I’m one of the singers,’ she added proudly.
‘WHAT!’ He looked as if he was about to explode. ‘You sing with this band of…’ he pointed to Slate and Oxo in turn ‘…reprobates?’
Nancy grinned. ‘I do.’
Clifford’s eyes widened. ‘What’s happened to you? You always used to be so pleasant and considerate.’
‘A walkover, you mean?’ She placed her hands on her hips.
‘I’ll tell you what happened to me: you cleared off and left a mess for me to clean up.
And then I realised that actually I was stronger than I thought and that I didn’t need you in my life.
That in fact, my life is far happier without you in it. ’
Clifford stepped back as if he’d been slapped across the face. ‘You never used to be so cruel.’
‘I guess I’ve had to toughen up. Now why don’t you go and get yourself some breakfast while we get on with our practice? As Slate said, we have a gig this weekend.’
‘A gig!’ he spluttered, almost exploding.
Nancy turned her back on him and nodded towards Slate. He and Oxo immediately continued playing. Clifford spun around and stormed out of the room.