Chapter 37 #2
‘God, I’m such an idiot.’ She shook her head.
‘No, you’re not. You trusted someone, you took him at his word. There’s no shame in that. You didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the shitbag. He’s the one who should be ashamed.’ He’s the one who should have his balls cut off, she thought to herself.
‘I was an easy target, I suppose. I was just a bit lonely.’
‘That’s nothing to be ashamed of.’ So why was it so hard to admit it, to say it out loud? Loneliness: it was like the last taboo.
‘How did you know?’ Loretta asked Roly as he came back into the room.
‘That picture you sent me. I did a search for it online and it came up on lots of profiles under different names. But I found the real man who owns the photo on Facebook. Do you want to see?’
Loretta nodded, and Roly hunkered down in front of her and took out his phone.
He turned it to face her and Ella, and showed them a Facebook page.
The profile photo was Loretta’s ‘Mike’. The man’s real name was Neil Miller.
Loretta took the phone from Roly and Ella looked at it over her shoulder as she scrolled.
There were other photos on his page, family pictures with a smiling wife, three teenage boys and a little girl.
‘So… he’s married,’ Loretta said, frowning. ‘I should have known. He seemed too good to be true.’
Ella shook her head. ‘That’s not him at all. Mike doesn’t exist, remember? This is just someone who’s had their identity stolen.’
‘Oh, the poor man,’ Loretta said. ‘Do you think he knows?’
Ella shrugged. ‘Probably. His picture has been used so often, I reckon he’s bound to have been made aware of it at some stage.’
‘Do you think I should contact him and tell him? They look like such a nice family.’ She smiled, fingering the screen of Ella’s phone.
‘I don’t know. I guess see what the police say?’
Loretta nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ll do that.’
* * *
‘This is really good, Mum,’ Roly said later as they sat around the table, eating a complicated prawn and salmon roulade starter. They were all studiously ignoring the romantic setting. ‘Mike doesn’t know what he’s missing.’
Loretta took the gift-wrapped parcel from in front of her plate and slid it across the table to Roly. ‘You might as well have this.’
He picked it up. ‘Are you sure? You could return it?’
‘No, I’d like you to have it. You’re the most important man in my life.’
Roly smiled and opened the gift tentatively. Inside was a Cartier box containing a pair of gold cufflinks.
‘Lucky I didn’t get them engraved,’ Loretta said as he lifted them out.
‘They’re lovely, Mum. Thanks. If you’re sure you don’t want to return them?’
‘No, I want you to have them. I know cufflinks aren’t really your thing—’
‘I’ll definitely wear these. I love them.’
Loretta gave a hollow, bitter laugh. ‘Your money paid for them anyway,’ she said. ‘Not much of a present.’
Roly frowned. ‘Don’t think of it like that. Any money I gave you is yours. And these are a gift. So thank you.’
Loretta smiled, her eyes welling with tears. ‘You’re such a good kid, Roly. I don’t know what I did to deserve you,’ she said shakily.
‘Don’t you?’ he asked softly. ‘You did everything, Mum. You did everything for me.’
She shook her head. ‘If it hadn’t been for your nan…’
‘Nan’s great, but she’s not you.’
‘Sometimes I think you’d have been better off without me. Maybe I should have just let you live with her. She was a better parent than I ever was.’
‘I know she’s sensible and all that, and she has her head screwed on. But being a kid wouldn’t have been half as much fun with her as it was with you.’
‘You wouldn’t have got away with half as much, you mean.’ Loretta laughed.
‘Yeah, that too.’
Loretta’s face softened, and she smiled. ‘We did have a laugh, didn’t we? Despite everything. Even when we were skint, we had fun.’
‘Yeah, we did. We do.’
‘And we will again. Screw Mike!’ Loretta said loudly, raising her glass. ‘And the horse he didn’t ride in on.’
‘Screw Mike!’ Ella and Roly chorused, as they crashed their glasses together.
* * *
Loretta cheered up considerably after that, and Ella was impressed with how quickly she rallied.
All her romantic disappointments had made her resilient, if nothing else.
The dinner was delicious, and it quickly turned into a light-hearted affair.
Roly offered to stay the night, but Loretta waved away his concerns, and told him there was no need.
‘Don’t worry about me. I can’t say I won’t do anything stupid,’ she said with a laugh, ‘because that ship has sailed. But I’m fine.’
‘You’re sure?’ Roly asked.
‘Yes, absolutely.’ She did look a lot perkier already.
‘I’m just a bit tired. But come to dinner on Sunday.
You too, Ella, if you like.’ She looked between the two of them curiously as if just realising how strange it was that they’d come together.
Her eyes twinkled, and she looked like she was dying to ask questions, but restrained herself.
‘And bring Ruth and Nora, if they’re free. I’d love to see them again.’
‘Thanks,’ Ella said. She gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll let you know.’