Chapter 17
17
‘Honestly, Mum,’ I hear Luke’s frustrated voice saying as Richenda lets him in. ‘If you can smell gas, why don’t you just call the gas people? There’s nothing I’m going to be able to do about it, and I was on my way to an important appointment.’
Across the room, Cindy lifts her eyes to meet mine and I see a flash of anger in them.
‘I just don’t want to bother them if I’m imagining things,’ we hear Richenda telling him. ‘It won’t take you long and then you can be on your way.’
‘Fine. At least tell me all the lights are off. The last thing we need is for you to blow yourself up.’
‘I didn’t think of that. See, that’s why it’s good you’re here. It’s worst in the sitting room. Why don’t you hang up your coat and come in?’
I brace myself as Luke’s heavy tread comes down the hallway and I’m conscious of Cindy doing the same. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to happen when Luke comes through the door, but whatever it is isn’t going to be good.
‘I can’t smell anything, Mum,’ he’s saying irritably as he strides into the room before coming up short when he spots Cindy. ‘Oh, hello, love. What are you doing here? Don’t tell me Mum’s got you roped into this gas thing as well. Mum, she’s pregnant. If there was gas, it could harm the baby. What were you thinking?’
The position of my chair means I was half hidden behind the door when he came in, so he hasn’t spotted me yet.
‘I’m not here because of the gas,’ Cindy tells him in a voice so icy it could freeze a volcano. ‘I’m here because of her .’ Even I’m surprised by the venom in her voice as she says it. Time seems to stand still as Luke slowly turns, noticing me for the first time. I’m watching his face carefully, expecting to see the colour drain from it as he realises the game is up but, apart from a brief narrowing of the eyes, there’s nothing.
‘Sorry, I don’t understand,’ he says innocently, turning back to Cindy. ‘Why is Tilly here?’
‘So you admit you know her.’
‘Of course. We’re work colleagues. Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?’
‘I think you’re a little more than that,’ Cindy retorts. ‘Try again.’
We’re all watching him intently, waiting for him to crumble and admit everything but, to my astonishment, he actually starts laughing softly.
‘Oh, no,’ he says, looking at Cindy and his mother in turn but pointedly ignoring me. ‘Has she told you…’
Cindy says nothing, but merely raises her eyebrows.
‘Fine,’ Luke says with a sigh. ‘I’ve tried to keep a lid on this, but I can see it’s gone too far.’ He turns to address me. ‘Tilly, you need to get help, OK?’
What? It’s all I can do to stop my mouth dropping open in shock, but Luke is evidently warming to his theme as he turns back to Cindy, holding his palms out in a ‘you can trust me’ kind of gesture.
‘Cind,’ he begins. ‘I can see how this might look, especially after what happened before, but I haven’t done anything. The fact is that, much as we admire Tilly’s nursing skills, everyone in the department knows that she sometimes struggles to separate fantasy from reality. I’d barely finished my first set of shifts with her before I could see that she was starting to latch on to me as some kind of hero figure, and Dr Patel, one of our senior consultants, warned me to be careful around her. Apparently, there have been incidents in the past.’
My mouth is full-on open now. What the bloody hell is this?
‘Now, I have no idea how she tracked down this address, or what story she’s spun you, but what I can categorically tell you is that it’s pure fiction. It’s what she would like to have happened, not what happened.’
To my amazement, I can see a flicker of doubt in Cindy’s eyes. Is she actually believing this horseshit?
‘Cind, love,’ he continues, sensing her hesitation. ‘I know I hurt you before, but I promised not to do it again and I meant what I said. It’s you, me and the baby. Nobody else, especially not a love-struck, deluded nurse like Tilly.’
This is too much. ‘I’m sorry?’ I ask incredulously.
‘You heard me,’ he says, hardening his voice as he turns to me. ‘I’ve tried to be kind. I’ve tried to explain that you and I can never be a thing, but you’re not listening and this is a step too far. You leave me no option, Tilly, and I have to protect my family. As soon as I get back to work, I’ll be raising a sexual harassment complaint against you with HR. I know you’re sick, but you can’t do this to people. Can’t you see how much this fantasy of yours has upset Cindy? She’s pregnant; she doesn’t need this stress. And as for stalking my mother, or whatever you did to find her address, you’re lucky I don’t report you to the police.’
‘Hang on a moment.’ Cindy holds up her hand. ‘Are you saying that the so-called “important appointment” you were so desperate to get to just now actually had nothing to do with Tilly?’
‘Of course it wasn’t to do with her!’ he exclaims. ‘If you must know, I was meeting a jeweller to talk about having a bespoke bracelet made for you to celebrate the baby’s birth. It was supposed to be a surprise.’
‘But you messaged her, literally minutes before, to say you couldn’t make it,’ Cindy persists. ‘I was sitting here when it arrived.’
‘No, I didn’t.’
She holds out her hand. ‘Give me your phone.’
‘Gladly.’ He pulls it out of his pocket and hands it to her. ‘You know the code.’
We all watch as Cindy unlocks the phone and checks various messaging apps. For some reason, I’m holding my breath; even though I know everything he’s just said is totally untrue, I feel suddenly like I’m the one on trial here. If I wasn’t so angry, I’d be impressed with his ability to think and lie on his feet.
‘There’s nothing here,’ Cindy announces eventually. ‘I’ve checked texts, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which are the only messaging apps I can see.’
‘But I’ve got the text here,’ I tell her, pulling out my own phone and unlocking it so they can all see.
‘That’s not my number,’ Luke says dismissively after glancing at the screen. ‘I don’t know who that is, but it sure as hell isn’t me. Probably one of your delusional friends, in on the scam to try to make it look like me. Nice try, Tilly, but no cigar. Right, are we finished here, or does anyone else want to accuse me of something I haven’t done?’
Richenda’s face is impossible to read, but I can see from the look in Cindy’s eyes that she’s starting to believe him. I’m stunned. How can there be no evidence on his phone? I’ve got reams and reams of messages from him on mine. Luke is looking at me triumphantly, and this is thankfully enough to unlock my frozen brain. There’s another possibility, of course there is, and someone like Luke wouldn’t be so careless as to leave evidence where Cindy could stumble across it. It’s a long shot if I suggest it though, because it relies on him being cocky enough to make the mistake I need him to have made. If this fails, my little remaining credibility will go up in smoke and, whatever else Cindy and Richenda think of me, I’m not prepared for them to believe I’m some kind of fantasist. Also, his remark about complaining to HR has rattled me. Although I’m sure my work colleagues would back me to the hilt, the fact is that I did stalk his mother, and that’s going to look seriously bad. God, I need this to work.
‘I’ve got a question,’ I tell them, being careful to keep my voice calm and not sound like the lunatic that Luke is trying to make me out to be. ‘I get that this is my word against Luke’s and, frankly, I don’t much care which of us you choose to believe. It makes absolutely no difference to me one way or the other. But did I overhear you telling Luke to hang up his coat when he arrived, Richenda?’
She’s looking at me warily. ‘I did. Why?’
‘Would you mind very much fetching it?’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ Luke explodes suddenly. ‘What the hell has my coat got to do with anything? I’ll get it, Tilly, but then you have to go, OK? You’ve done enough damage for one day.’
‘No,’ I tell him firmly. ‘I’ve asked Richenda to fetch it.’
Luke stares at me, evidently trying to work out what I’m up to, before the penny obviously drops because, for the first time, he looks rattled. Good, that gives me hope that my gamble is going to pay off. Richenda is clearly unsure what to do as she hesitates for a moment before going out into the hallway and returning with Luke’s coat.
‘Put it on the table, would you?’ I ask her. ‘Right,’ I tell them once the coat is spread across the coffee table. ‘I’m going to reply to this text. You can all watch to make sure there’s no funny business.’
‘We’ve already established that’s not my number,’ Luke argues, but I can tell he’s blustering now. ‘What are you expecting to achieve?’
‘Nothing,’ I say, keeping my voice light. ‘Let’s just see what happens, shall we?’
I open the message purporting to be from Luke, type the word ‘Test’ in the reply box and press send. Immediately, there’s a buzz from the table and all eyes swivel to Luke’s coat.
‘Did anyone else hear that, or was it just me?’ I ask carefully. ‘Only asking because I do have an overactive imagination, as you know.’
Luke makes a grab for the coat, but Cindy is too quick for him. After a brief rummage through the pockets, she pulls out another phone. Unlike the one that Luke was waving around earlier, which is a large, state-of-the-art smartphone, this is an old-fashioned push-button affair with a liquid crystal screen.
‘What’s the unlock code?’ she demands, her voice pure venom again.
‘How should I know?’ Luke retorts. ‘I’ve never seen that phone before. She probably planted it on me. Yes, that’s it. She slipped it into my pocket when she arrived, to incriminate me.’
‘Nice try, but Tilly was already here when you arrived, and she hasn’t left this room since.’
‘She must have done it at work then.’
‘I think you’d have noticed a strange phone suddenly appearing in your coat pocket.’
‘Not necessarily. It hasn’t been that cold, so I haven’t needed to put my hands in there.’
Cindy lowers her eyes to the phone and starts typing in various four-digit combinations.
‘I’m in,’ she announces after a few goes. ‘So, before we go any further, let me just be quite clear on what you’ve said, Luke. You and Tilly are work colleagues, and anything more than that is delusion on her part. You definitely haven’t gone and bought a tacky burner phone so that you can keep your sordid affair a secret from your wife, you know, the wife you promised never to cheat on again. The wife who’s expecting your baby. You haven’t done those things, because you’ve learned your lesson, turned over a new leaf and all that jazz. That’s what I heard, anyway. Tilly?’
‘Yes,’ I agree.
‘So, Luke. I just have two questions. One, do you agree that the unlock code being your mother’s birthday is one hell of a coincidence, and two, is there anything you want to tell me before I start looking through the messages on here?’
Luke’s shoulders finally sag in defeat and part of me wants to punch the air in triumph. But, to my amazement, he’s not done yet.
‘Fine,’ he sighs. ‘But you have to understand that what happened between me and Tilly didn’t mean anything, Cind.’
‘You fucked her. That’s pretty bloody meaningful.’
‘I admit I slept with her. But that was all it was, sex. You haven’t really been in the mood since you got pregnant, so what was I supposed to do?’
‘Are you saying this is my fault?’ She looks like she’d happily stab him if she had anything suitable to hand.
‘It’s nobody’s fault, love. I didn’t want to hassle you, so I just made alternative arrangements on a temporary basis.’
‘Alternative arrangements would be sleeping in the spare room because someone is snoring, Luke. This is way bigger than that. Why did you try to make out that Tilly was a fantasist?’
‘Because I was trying to protect you, of course! Look, I know what I did was unorthodox, so I was trying to avoid exactly this situation. You need to think about the baby and what you being stressed could do. As a man, I have certain needs, and I was merely using Tilly to fulfil them while you were out of action, so to speak. I did it for you, in a way.’
‘Can you hear the shit that’s coming out of your mouth?’ Cindy yells suddenly, making us all jump. ‘You didn’t do this for me. You did this because you’re a selfish bastard who can’t keep it in your pants or have a wank like a normal man would. And to think I nearly believed you when you said Tilly was making it up. Dear God, I need my head examined.’
‘Cind—’
‘ Shut up ! I don’t want to hear another word fall out of your filthy, lying, cheating mouth, do you understand? We’re done.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘Of course I do. When Richenda rang me, there was a tiny part of me that wanted it not to be true, but deep down I knew it was. I just needed to hear it from you.’
‘Look, I can see I’ve made a mistake, but we can fix this. We could go to counselling, whatever you want.’
‘I’ll tell you what I want. I want you out of my life. I’m going to go home now, and I’m going to put all your stuff in bags. You can collect it from outside the front of the house later.’
‘It’s our house,’ Luke says, his tone suddenly mutinous. ‘I have just as much right to be in it as you.’
‘Fine, then I’ll go. Give me a couple of hours to pack.’ She gets to her feet and turns to me. ‘Tilly, I wish I could say it’s been a pleasure meeting you, but I’m sure you understand. Anyway, he’s all yours. Good luck.’
Without saying anything to Richenda, she flounces out and we all flinch as the door bangs behind her. After a long, uncomfortable pause, Luke turns to me.
‘Well,’ he says with a smile. ‘I’m sorry you had to witness that, Tilly, but I can’t tell you how relieved I am now the truth is out in the open. No more skulking about, we can be together in plain sight now. You wanted me to give you more, and now I can give you all of me.’
If I thought we were done with the gut punches, I was evidently wrong.
‘I’m sorry? You’re joking, right?’
‘I’ve never been more serious about anything,’ he says, stepping forward. With horror, I realise he’s intending to wrap his arms around me, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from kicking him in the balls. Instead, I place my hand on his chest to prevent him coming any closer.
‘I don’t think so,’ I tell him firmly.
To my amazement, he smiles again. ‘I get it. I don’t seem so exciting now the danger has gone. We’ll just have to find other ways of upping the ante.’
‘No. Let me explain it to you. I don’t have relationships with married men.’
‘I think, given the way today has turned out, that’s unlikely to be an issue for much longer.’
‘OK, I can see you’re not getting this. You’re a liar, Luke. You lied to Cindy and you lied to me. You lied about your mother, and you also tried to make out I was some kind of lunatic to save your own skin, which makes you a coward to boot. To be honest, I don’t know what I saw in you, but my eyes are well and truly open now, and I want nothing more to do with you. You’d better not dream of making any sort of complaint about me, because I’ll be straight in with everything I know about you, and it won’t go well for you. You stay away from me, do you understand?’ Without giving him an opportunity to reply, I turn to Richenda. ‘I’m sorry, for everything,’ I tell her.
‘Likewise,’ she replies, but I’m already heading for the hallway and my coat, with nothing on my mind except getting as far away from here as possible.