Doing the Right Thing (6 page)

“Pleased to meet you, David.”

Addie glared when she saw David checking the fingers of Will’s left hand.

“Did you want something?” she asked her brother.

“Lisa wants orange juice.”

Addie doubted it. She’d never seen Lisa drink anything other than tea or alcohol.

Addie gave the eggs a vicious stir.

“That your BMW outside?” David asked.

“No, I’ve got a Lexus.”

David leaned against the fridge. “Sorry to hear about your mother.”

“Thanks. It’s a hard way to lose your mum, bit by bit.”

Addie glanced round in horror, but Will had a straight face. She hadn’t mentioned the flesh-eating virus last week to her mother. Lies had a habit of coming back to bite her.

David continued, oblivious. “Well, our mum’s looking forward to meeting you.

Addie’s gone on and on about her fabulous boyfriend. Mum thought you didn’t exist.”

Addie opened the dishwasher and looked for the sharpest knife.

“I’m afraid I’m not able to come.”

“He witnessed a stabbing,” Addie blurted. “He has to go and give a statement.”

They both stared at her.

“And I’ve made arrangements to scatter my mother’s ashes in the sea. I hope your mum will understand,” Will said.

Oh God, that was a much better lie. Why had she mentioned a stabbing? She put the plates on the table.

“This looks good, Addie.” Will smiled at her.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” David went back to Lisa without the orange juice.

Addie wondered how he’d ever got into the police force. She put her finger against her lips to warn Will that David might be listening at the door and he nodded.

She watched as Will tucked into scrambled eggs, lean smoked bacon grilled to a crisp, two links of thick herb sausage, fried field mushrooms, half a tomato and a wedge of crunchy fried bread. She only had one piece of bacon and a few mushrooms and was still pushing most of it around the plate as he finished.

“Delicious,” he said, lining up his knife and fork.

Addie gave a little smile.

“A stabbing?” Will whispered.

She winced. “Sorry. Your lie was much better.”

He stared at her a moment before he spoke. “I suppose I’d better get dressed.”

She nodded, hoping to be invited to the scattering of nonexistent ashes.

Will sat waiting for Addie to finish in the bathroom. She came in wearing tight jeans and a pale blue sweater, and clutching five twenty-pound notes.

“Keep it,” Will said. “I haven’t had to pay for a hotel room and you fed me.”

“No, we had a deal. You have to take it.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do,” Addie insisted.

Will shook his head. “
You
dump me.”

He picked up his bag and walked out of the room. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, a woman with long blonde hair stepped out of the lounge.

“Hi, Noah. I’m Lisa. We meet at last. Addie’s gone on and on about you.”

David appeared at her side. “So, how did you two meet?” he asked.

All three spun around as Addie careered down the stairs behind them, making more noise than a herd of elephants after one ripe banana. She slipped on an invisible skin and Will caught her in his arms, saving her from a dive into the front door.

“I was visiting Leeds and Addie picked me up in a gym,” Will said, as he set her back on her feet. He didn’t let her go. He couldn’t.

“Really?” David asked. “I thought—”

“My well-defined muscular body made me difficult to resist.” Will grinned. He touched soft flesh at her waist and his thumbs began to stroke.

Addie took a deep breath. “I—”

“We hit it off straightaway,” Will interrupted before she made up another terrible lie. “She handed me a bottle of water and looked at me with her fabulous eyes and I was lost.”

Addie smiled and Will thought again about her beautiful mouth and how much he wanted to kiss her.

She put her mouth to his ear. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? How am I going to explain you dumping me, when you’ve just said that?”

Will swallowed hard. Her breathing in his ear made him soft at the knees and hard elsewhere.

“David, let’s go and get dressed.” Lisa pulled his arm.

“In a minute.” David cocked his head and stared at Addie.

Will moved Addie so her body blocked the view of the front of his pants. He bent his head to whisper. “You want this to work? David’s suspicious. We have to kiss.”

She clutched his arms but she didn’t run away screaming. Will lowered his lips to her face, brushed them across her cheek, and sliding them down to the edge of her mouth, he kissed her. He didn’t have to bend his head far and thought how good that felt. He moaned as Addie’s arms tightened around him. Her tongue ran between his lips and slipped into his mouth. Will felt something shift inside him. As he pushed her against the wall, Will was vaguely aware of Lisa dragging David away.

Will wasn’t sure what he was doing. He had Addie pinned in front of him. They had their arms around each other. He was kissing her hard and she wasn’t trying to stop him. On the contrary, her mouth was as greedy as his. Why couldn’t this have happened last night? His knee pressed on her legs and when she let him separate her thighs, a bolt of desire shot straight to his groin. Will pulled away and looked at her.

Her eyes had closed, her mouth emitting tiny panting breaths that hit his cheek. He groaned, sought out her beautiful lips and kissed her harder.

Addie ached. There wasn’t one part of her that didn’t want this. Only she wasn’t sure what
this
was. Her ears buzzed and white spots danced a crazy jig in front of her eyes. How come she didn’t know kissing was like this? The room reeled and she staggered. Her knees wobbled, but Will held her up, pushed her against the wall. Even so, Addie had to keep hold of him to make sure she stayed upright. Then his hand slid under her sweater to her breast and brushed her nipple. That was all it took. She gasped and shuddered as a fast, spiraling orgasm shot through her.

When she opened her eyes and saw the way he looked at her, she knew he realized what had happened. Her face flooded with heat. She lurched out of his arms and flew upstairs. Addie wanted to scream. They were supposed to be breaking up. In a few moments, David and Lisa would learn that he’d dumped her. Addie should have kicked Will’s shins. Instead, she had to explain the kiss. She slammed her door and leaned back against it. She could never explain
that
kiss.

There was a gentle knock level with her head.

“Addie.”

She stopped breathing.

“Addie.”

She slid down and sat on the floor with her back against the door, feeling as though she’d had her eyes closed her whole life. Then she burst into tears.

“Addie. Open the door.”

“Go away. Go to bloody Qatar,” she sobbed. “You don’t want me, so just go.”

Addie sat on the couch waiting for David and Lisa. Will had wanted her and what had she done? Told him to get lost. She clenched her fists, forgetting she held a bunch of flowers. Originally purchased to brighten the lounge for Will, Addie hoped the recycled carnations might soften her mother. Unlikely now the stems bent at a right angle.

Lisa came downstairs looking flushed, David wore a smug grin and Addie’s lip wobbled. She didn’t need two guesses to know what they’d been up to. It could have been her and Will if she hadn’t panicked.

“You okay?” Lisa asked, looking at Addie’s eyes.

“Noah dumped me.” Addie gulped back a sob.

“What? Oh, you poor thing. Men are such bastards.”

“Hey,” David objected.

“You’re not a man yet,” Lisa teased.

“Why did he dump you?” David asked. “He looked as though he enjoyed sticking his tongue down your throat.”

Addie’s heart leapt high into the air from a springboard before it splattered onto concrete at the bottom of an empty pool. Maybe Will had enjoyed it, but he wouldn’t see her again. He hadn’t asked for her phone number or left his. The only lingering trace of him was the spicy aroma of his aftershave.

“What did you do?” David asked.

Of course, it had to be her fault, Addie thought. “Nothing. He’s moving to Qatar.

Don’t tell Mum.” And her throat seized up. Tears welled again in her eyes. Will had been perfect. He passed the test. Not a single comment about her height.

* * * * *

Addie sat in the back of Lisa’s car, staring out of the window, on the way to her execution. She might have proved Noah existed, but now he’d dumped her, she’d be ripped to pieces. Not that her mother would be surprised, since Addie was plain, awkward, clumsy, rude, had big feet and no sense of style or color. When all you heard were disparaging comments, you started to believe them.

Although Addie didn’t think she was plain, she knew she wasn’t pretty, not compared to Lisa. How could Addie’s boring hair and weird eyes compare to Lisa’s sleek honeyed locks and brilliant smile? At Bristol, any interest shown in Addie had been a ploy to gain access to Miss Beautiful. Addie was never more than second choice and when she stood up, no choice at all.

She’d reached the height of five-foot-eleven and three-quarter inches by age twelve and it was downhill from that point. School photos, arranged by height, were a particular humiliation. Only men’s shirts were long enough in the sleeve. She couldn’t wear pants because the uniform ones hovered above her ankles, and she was stuck in flat, ugly shoes. There was nothing she could do about any of it. Short girls wore sexy high heels to make up for their lack of stature. Fat girls had proper boobs, bouncy orbs that moved seductively under their clothes and they could lose weight. Addie couldn’t chop several inches off her legs.

She’d been teased all her life and learned the hard way how to be best friends with herself. Now she kept a happy smile in place, except when she went home to see her mother. Addie took a deep breath of untainted air before she stepped over the threshold, knowing as soon as she walked in, she’d be gripped by an urge to kill herself.

The house sucked the life out of her. Dirt wouldn’t dare to settle. The carpets had vacuumed lines like a well-mown lawn. Plumped cushions were precisely positioned on two large sofas and every ornament had its place. The photographs lined up on the mantelpiece like dominoes were mostly of her father Silas and her brothers, just a tiny one of Addie, in which she was barely recognizable.

The rest of the family had already arrived. Addie noticed Sally and Miranda, wives of Finn and Hugh, had turned up. Usually they made their husbands bring the grandchildren on their own. Her mother came in from the kitchen. Addie stepped forward to give her the flowers and tripped over two-year-old Richard, who’d zoomed under her feet.

“Watch where you’re going.” Joan reached for the flowers instead of Addie. “Feet your size, you should take more care.”

Addie was certain that if aliens invaded and the first person they met was Joan Winter, they’d leave on the spot.

The flowers drooped in her mother’s hand. “White carnations. Thank you. Not struck on them, mind—they remind me of your father’s wreath.”

Her voice wrapped Addie in barbed wire. “Sorry.” She wondered if it would save time to hand out cards saying “sorry” the moment she walked into a room.

Alternatively she could have it stamped on her forehead.

“So where is he?” her mother asked. “What pathetic excuse are you going to come up with this time? Another cow leapt in front of his car? Another snake bitten him?

Make it good, Adelina. We could do with a laugh.”

Addie knew she was making a big mistake, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

“He witnessed a fight, so he’s had to go and give a statement to the police.”

“And his mother’s ashes,” Lisa reminded her in a quiet voice.

“He’s gone to scatter them,” Addie said.

“And you hadn’t the decency to go with him?” Joan shook her head in disbelief.

Cue onset of a new ice age and her mother temporarily stopped speaking to her.

Addie might have seen that as a good thing, but she guessed her tormentor was biding her time. She was right.

Addie steeled herself as she watched her mother inspecting her clothes. Joan wore a smart green dress, her gray hair in a tight bun. Addie’s brothers wore white shirts and ties. Their wives were in dresses. Even Lisa was in a skirt. Addie wore jeans and a sweater. She knew she was her own worst enemy, but after a lifetime of being forced to spend Sundays zipped into her best frock, with a velvet bow stuck in her hair, she now wore what she liked and what she knew would annoy her mother.

“Why on earth do you wear pale blue? It doesn’t suit you. Makes your face look blotchy,” Joan said.

No, that would be the crying.

“You should go for something patterned to take attention away from your height.”

While her mother professed to offer caring advice, Addie heard constant, wearing criticism. It had always been the same. No matter whether she’d fought or capitulated, her parents’ endless disapproval had molded and contorted her. Her brothers had come in for similar treatment, but seemed to withstand it better than her. Addie wondered if she’d been starved of love because with three livewire siblings, there wasn’t enough to go round. She had no memory of being cuddled or kissed. Her mother had never said she loved her.

“Oh, look at Harry. What a clever little chap,” said Joan.

Two-year-old Harry was trying to untie his dad’s shoelaces. It hadn’t escaped Addie’s attention that Joan didn’t favor the boys over the girls, so it wasn’t because she was female that her mother didn’t love her.

All Addie’s nieces and nephews were nightmares. After returning to Leeds, she’d been lassoed as a baby-sitter, but since inventing Noah, she’d slipped out of the noose.

Now she was unattached, she’d have to come up with another excuse.

“You’ll have time to baby-sit now,” Joan said.

Mind-reading was another of her mother’s skills. Addie was going away next weekend whether she could afford it or not. The boys were a pain, but Trixie and Honey operated as trainee agents of Satan. Addie hadn’t seen them since she’d arrived and guessed they were upstairs plotting to take over the world.