Chapter 14
‘Hello, darling!’
Tess’s whole body tensed as she opened the front door to the unexpected visitor.
‘I am not your darling.’ Even if the familiar, warm timbre of Charles’s voice recalled an intimacy that no longer existed between them. ‘And now is not a great time. I’m busy. What exactly is it that you want?’
‘It’s wonderful to see you too. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I still care about you. You don’t stop having feelings for someone you were married to for thirty years. Can I come inside?’
‘This is not on, Charles. You must call before coming round. I might have visitors. There is no open-house policy any more. You gave up that right.’
‘I get it.’ He held up his hands to his ears as if to block out her noise. ‘But look, I’m here now.’
She sighed, holding open the door to let him in, his presence bringing all her repressed emotions to the surface of her skin so that it tingled with intensity.
She wouldn’t cry, even though it would be easy to give in to her feelings.
She wouldn’t give Charles the satisfaction.
It had been a difficult few days with her mum being in hospital, and despite Marjorie’s assurances that she would be back, fighting fit, soon, Tess was well aware that her condition could deteriorate as quickly as it might improve.
‘I’ll have a coffee if you’re having one,’ Charles said, making himself at home and climbing onto one of the kitchen stools. ‘How is Marjorie? I’ve heard she’s not terribly well.’
Tess turned abruptly from where she was filling the kettle at the tap.
‘Really? Who told you?’
‘Dilly,’ he said, quirking an eyebrow, as if there could be no other answer to that question. ‘I popped by the other day; I wanted to collect some boxes from the garage. She told me you’d had to rush out.’
Tess turned her back on Charles, busying herself with spooning instant coffee into mugs, a minor act of aggression, as she knew how Charles much preferred freshly ground coffee brewed from the machine.
When she’d poured water on the granules, she handed over a mug to him, moving away to lean against the worktop.
‘Mum has an infection. She’s on an intravenous drip, antibiotics and fluids, so hopefully, they’ve caught it in time. She’s looking very frail, but she’s still as positive as ever. I think she believes she’s invincible.’
‘Well, she’s always been very upbeat, one of her many admirable qualities. Which ward is she on? I’ll pay her a visit.’
Tess almost spluttered on her coffee.
‘Honestly, I’d rather you didn’t. You’re the last person she’d want to see. She’s very vulnerable and seeing you will only raise her blood pressure. Funnily enough, you’re not Mum’s favourite person at the moment.’
‘Oh come on, darling, you’re treating me like I’m a social outcast. I’m still family. You know Marjorie and I have always got on very well.’
‘Yes, but that was before you betrayed me. Us! You’ve relinquished your rights to be a part of this family. You left us, Charles, and you have a new life now. You can’t have a foot in both camps.’
‘For Christ’s sake, it doesn’t have to be like that. Can’t we do this amicably? Be grown up in the situation?’
‘Maybe, that’s easy for you, because you’re the one who’s been driving the change. You’ve got exactly what you wanted, but you don’t get to tell everyone else how we should feel or react.’
Charles dropped his head into his hands before looking up and across at Tess.
‘I’m still Hannah’s father. That’s not going to change.’
‘Of course it’s not. Nor would I want it to. That’s for you and Hannah to work out between you.’
‘Well, I would if she would only talk to me, but she’s not taking my calls. She’s acting like a teenager. I didn’t expect all this.’
‘What did you expect? A round of bloody applause? Look, I think Hannah’s focus is on her trip, which it should be. And she has a new boyfriend who is keeping her occupied.’
‘A new boyfriend? See, I didn’t even know about him.’
He sounded suitably indignant before he gave a sigh, but Tess couldn’t feel any sympathy towards him.
Her gaze ran the length of his body. She knew this man so well, so intimately, but in some ways, it was like looking at a stranger.
His greying hair had been cut short on the sides, with the front styled upwards in a youthful flip with the help of some product, and he was wearing very blue jeans with gleaming white trainers.
She could only imagine Melody was behind the change in style, but Tess couldn’t help thinking how she much preferred the mark one version of her husband.
‘Did you really think that your actions wouldn’t impact on anyone else? That you didn’t expect your wife, daughter and mother-in-law to be entirely pissed off with you?’
Charles placed his mug down on the counter and prised himself off the stool, wandering around the kitchen, his gaze taking in all the small changes Tess had made, which irritated her even further.
How she wished he would leave and go back to Melody.
She was welcome to him! What was he even doing here?
‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’
‘I’ve taken a couple of days off to get a few things sorted.’
‘Good. Well, you can take all the boxes from the garage for a start. Anything you leave, I’ll take to the tip.’
‘Please! I’ll take it all away, I promise, but Melody’s place isn’t huge so you need to give me a bit of time.’
Every moment spent with Charles simply confirmed to Tess that their marriage was over and done with. She wanted him out of her house as quickly as possible.
‘Look, I’ll tell Mum you were asking about her. How about that?’
‘Yes, please do, and send her my love, won’t you? I’d be very upset if anything were to happen to her.’
Now it was Tess’s turn to sigh, but she managed to cover it with a tight smile.
‘Of course, I will do,’ said Tess, walking towards the door, hoping Charles might take the hint.
‘There was one other thing.’ Charles bent down to make a fuss of Barney, who treacherously rolled over onto his back, legs in the air, relishing the attention. ‘I miss my boy terribly, and I was thinking it might give you a break if I were to have him for a couple of weeks.’
‘What?’ said Tess, having no idea what Charles was going on about.
‘Barney. He could come and stay with us for a while. He might enjoy the change of scene and Melody has a decent-sized garden where he can get a good run around. She likes dogs.’
‘Good for Melody, but absolutely not. Barney’s my dog. The family dog. This is his home. If Melody wants a dog then buy her one, but she’s not having mine.’
‘I’m not suggesting I take him permanently. It would be like a holiday. For both of you.’
Tess couldn’t hide her incredulity, looking at Charles as though he was mad.
‘Barney doesn’t need a holiday. And when I need a holiday, either Barney will come with me or I’ll make arrangements to have him looked after, but until then, he’s not going anywhere.’
‘Jeez, do you have to make everything so difficult?’ he asked, shaking his head. ‘I hoped we could be civil and reasonable about these things.’
‘Did you?’
Tess was relieved when Charles headed for the door, but he stopped suddenly, his attention taken by something in the garden. He placed his hands on his hips, dropping his head to peer through the French doors, his eyes narrowing to see what was going on.
‘Who the heck is that?’ he demanded of her.
Tess felt a worm of unease travel down her spine.
‘Rob: a friend of mine. He’s just cleaning his tent,’ she said, wondering why she felt the need to explain.
‘And why would he be doing that in our garden? Who the bloody hell is he? I’ve never heard of Rob.’
‘Well, why should you? He’s my friend, not that it’s any of your business,’ she said dismissively.
‘Actually, it is. It is very much my business. This is my house, in case you’ve forgotten. I have a right to know what’s going on here.’
‘Right! So this is your house now, is it?’
‘I didn’t mean it like that, I meant our house, but that’s irrelevant. What is important is who might be living in it. Is he actually living here? Is he your boyfriend, Tess?’
‘No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Not that it would matter if he were, but?—’
‘Oh Christ, what’s he doing now? He’s gone into my office. What the hell? Should he be doing that?’
‘It’s not your office any longer, if you remember. Rob’s my guest and he’s staying in the annexe for a couple of weeks.’
‘The annexe?’ he blustered. ‘But why?’ Charles held his palms open and Tess shook her head. She didn’t owe him any explanations.
‘Don’t bother. I’ll go and find out for myself.’
‘Why would you do that? He doesn’t have to talk to you. Charles, stop!’
But it was too late. Charles was striding out to the garden with Tess following closely behind.
A sense of dread rose in her chest. Charles could be pompous and overbearing at the best of times and she didn’t know how Rob might react.
From the little she knew of him, he clearly had a temper.
She only hoped he wouldn’t rise to Charles’s bait.
‘Afternoon,’ said Charles snippily, standing over Rob, who was on his haunches, pegging out his tent to dry. ‘I’m Charles, Tess’s husband.’
‘Hello.’ Rob eased himself up to a standing position, towering over Charles. He held out his hand to him and nodded while Tess breathed an inward sigh of relief. ‘Rob, I’m a friend of Tess’s. Good to meet you.’
‘So I hear. A new friend, I’m guessing?’ Charles said with a questioning expression.
Rob’s gaze swept over to Tess, whose face gave away her discomfort.
‘Yep, we have mutual friends,’ explained Rob casually. ‘Tess is doing me a big favour. I’m staying here while I wait for my new place to go through. Should only be for a few weeks.’
‘So you are living here then?’ Charles blustered, turning to glare at Tess, clearly unhappy with the arrangement. He turned his back on Rob. ‘You can’t just make these kind of decisions unilaterally. You need to keep me informed.’
She bit on her lip to stop the torrent of words from escaping her mouth as an anger steamed around her body, thinking of all the decisions Charles had made without giving her a second thought.
She rolled back her shoulders, looking past Charles at Rob, who gave a barely discernible shake of his head.
‘Look, Charles, just go, will you.’ She pointed to the gates, in case he’d forgotten his way out. Discreetly, Rob turned away to continue what he’d been working on, close enough to still hear the conversation between Charles and Tess, but with enough distance to give the pair of them some privacy.
‘Fine, I will. Let me know how Marjorie gets on, won’t you? If I can help, then you only have to ask.’
‘No, thank you. Now, get out!’ she said, physically manhandling him across the driveway. She really didn’t need Charles’s kind of help.