Losing It (5 page)

‘OK,’ Jo says. ‘But remember, you asked.’

‘Go on.’

Marion’s hands are shaking. She holds onto the edge of the table to steady herself.

‘David is Luke’s dad,’ Jo says.

‘What!’

It’s so stupid that Marion almost laughs. It’s ridiculous!

‘See, I had a fling with him. I fell pregnant.’

‘When?’

‘His stag party,’ Jo says.

Marion takes a deep breath. ‘If that was true he would have told me,’ she says.

‘Would he?’ Jo says. ‘When I told him I was pregnant he told me to get lost. Actually, he paid me to get lost.’

‘David’s not like that,’ Marion says.

‘I’m sick of being a single mum,’ Jo says.

‘I don’t believe you,’ Marion says.

Jo just stands there.

‘Even if it was true,’ Marion says, ‘why would you come back now?’

‘I thought I could cope,’ Jo says, ‘but now I’m broke. And Luke needs his dad. I can’t cope on my own any more.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Marion says.

‘Ask him,’ Jo says.

‘Don’t worry. I will,’ Marion says. ‘Now get out of my house.’

‘OK,’ Jo says. She smiles. ‘I will get David,’ she says. ‘A boy needs his dad, and look at you – how could anyone fancy you?’

‘Get out!’ Marion shouts.

Marion stands in the kitchen with her fists clenched. She looks through the window and sees Jo walk off down the road. She can smell the cookies baking. All those little smiley faces. She goes to see Luke. He’s fallen asleep on the sofa. David has dark hair and so does Luke. But lots of people have dark hair. Does Luke look like David?

Marion creeps out and closes the door quietly. She goes into Jo’s garden. She knows where the spare key is hidden. She opens the door and goes into Jo’s kitchen. It’s a mess. Then she goes upstairs. She opens the door to Jo’s room and looks round. Jo’s clothes are all over the floor. Her lacy knickers and padded bra are lying on a chair. On her dresser there are lipsticks and perfumes and dirty tissues. On the floor by the bed are a pile of magazines and a photo album.

Marion picks up the album and looks inside. There are lots of pictures of Luke as a baby. And there are pictures of David. They’ve been taken recently. David in the garden, David in the park. And there’s a picture of David in a pub. It was taken years ago when he still smoked. He’s holding up a beer mug and a cigarette and looking young and drunk. Beside him, with her back to the camera, is a tall red head. Marion sits on the bed and stares at the picture. She’s shivering. She rips the photo out of the album, goes out and locks the door.

When she gets back into her own kitchen she smells the cookies burning. She takes them out of the oven. The chocolate chip eyes have melted and they look like they’re crying.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

David comes home very pleased with himself. He’s been picked as centre-forward for next season. While he’s upstairs having a shower, Jo comes round for Luke. Marion doesn’t let her in. She calls Luke and he goes home with a plate of burnt cookies. David comes down in a clean shirt with his hair wet. He opens a can of beer.

‘What’s up?’ he says to Marion. ‘You look like a wet weekend.’

‘Jo came round,’ Marion says.

‘So?’ he says. ‘She’s always round.’

‘You know her from before, don’t you?’ Marion says.

‘No.’

‘What’s this then?’

Marion shows him the photo.

David takes the photo. He stares at it. ‘It’s my stag do,’ he says.

‘You and Jo,’ Marion says.

‘No,’ he says. ‘That’s not Jo.’

‘How can I believe you?’ Marion says. She takes a deep breath. ‘And she told me that you’re Luke’s dad,’ she says.

‘What!’ David laughs. He takes a swig of beer. ‘My God!’ he says. ‘She’s really losing it. You can’t believe her?’

‘David.’ Marion looks at him. ‘Please tell me the truth.’

David looks away. He coughs. Marion starts to shake.

‘Was she at your stag do?’

‘Truth is, she might have been. A couple of lasses turned up.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

David shakes his head. ‘I didn’t recognise her at first.’

Marion stares at him. Suddenly he’s a stranger.

Her legs go wobbly. She sits down. ‘And you slept with her?’ she says.

‘I was drunk,’ he says. ‘But no.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ Marion says.

‘I promise you I am not Luke’s dad. I promise you I never slept with Jo. Come here.’ He tries to put his arms round her.

‘Get off,’ she shouts. She runs up to the bathroom and is sick. She looks at herself in the mirror. She looks awful, pale and fat and old. She goes into the bedroom, takes out her suitcase from under the bed and begins to pack her clothes.

David comes upstairs. ‘No,’ he says when he sees what she’s doing. ‘You can’t leave.’

Marion doesn’t answer. She just throws anything in. She can’t think straight. She can’t look at him.

‘Please,’ he says, ‘please. This can’t be happening.’

Marion takes off her wedding ring and chucks it at him. ‘I’m going to my mum’s.’

‘Don’t. Please. Let me prove she’s lying,’ David says.

‘How can I believe anything you say?’

‘Don’t go,’ David says. ‘I need you.’

‘A boy needs his father,’ Marion says. She carries the case down the stairs and out of the door.

She drags it to the car. When she looks back she sees Jo looking out of her window. When Jo sees the suitcase, she waves and gives a great big smile.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Marion drives to her mum’s with tears in her eyes. She stays there for a week. David rings her at work every day but she won’t speak to him. She switches off her mobile. He calls at the house but Marion’s mum won’t let him see her. He even writes a letter, but Marion doesn’t read it. She tears it up and throws it in the bin.

‘Maybe you should hear him out,’ her mum says. She’s always liked David. ‘Don’t leave him,’ she says. ‘He’s not perfect. But nor is anyone.’

‘You’re telling me he’s not perfect!’ Marion says.

When she leaves work on Friday, David is standing by her car. In spite of everything, her heart still jumps when she sees him.

‘You have to listen,’ he says.

‘Two minutes,’ she says. She folds her arms and waits.

‘No,’ he says. ‘Come round at 8. There’s something you have to see.’

‘What?’

‘If I can prove that Jo’s a liar will you come back?’ he says.

‘I don’t know,’ Marion says.

At ten past 8 Marion arrives at the house.

‘Quick,’ David says. ‘Come in. I thought you weren’t coming.’

‘I nearly didn’t.’

‘I’m glad you did.’ He tries to kiss her but she pulls away.

‘What do you want to show me?’ she asks.

Tigger jumps into her arms and purrs. She sees that the table is set with a rose in a vase, wine glasses and candles.

‘You’re not getting round me that easily,’ Marion says.

‘It’s not for you,’ David says.

‘What?’

‘I want you to hide in here,’ David says. He opens the tall broom cupboard.

‘What?’ she says.

‘You’ll see. Promise not to move until I say so?’

‘Why should I promise you anything?’

‘It’s important,’ he says. ‘Please. Whatever happens you must not come out until I tell you to. I need to prove something to you. To make you trust me again.’

Marion hesitates, then she shrugs. What’s left to lose?

‘Quick,’ David says. He opens the door and shoves her in, just as Jo comes through the back door with Luke in his pyjamas. The cupboard is too small and the ironing board digs into Marion’s back. She crouches down.

‘Where’s Marion?’ Luke asks.

‘She’s gone,’ Jo says. ‘Go upstairs to bed.’

‘But I want Marion!’

‘Get to bed or else,’ Jo says.

Luke stamps out of the room and all the way upstairs.

Jo does a twirl for David. ‘What do you think?’ she says.

She’s wearing a new dress, lacy and see through. Her hair is very bright red and so is her lipstick.

‘I’ve been waiting for this day for years,’ she says. ‘I knew you’d come round in the end.’

‘Did you?’ David says.

‘See,’ Jo says, ‘you and me is how it’s meant to be.’

She puts her arms round David. He looks past her at Marion, through the crack in the door.

‘Kiss me then,’ Jo says.

‘Later,’ David says. ‘There’s no rush is there? Now sit down.’

David pours wine.

‘To us,’ Jo says.

‘To us.’ They chink glasses. Marion’s heart is thumping and she feels as if she will explode.

‘I hope you like ham?’ David says. ‘I’ve made a salad.’

Jo sits down and they begin to eat. David keeps looking at his watch. ‘OK,’ he says, ‘now tell me all about it again, how we met, tell me every detail.’

‘Why?’ Jo says. ‘You know as well as I do.’

‘I want to hear you say it.’

Jo smiles. Marion can see her cross her legs under the table. She’s wearing stockings; you can see her bare thighs at the tops.

‘I fancied you at school,’ Jo says. ‘I’ve loved you since I was 12. But you never noticed me.’

‘How could I not notice you?’

‘I was different then,’ she says. ‘I was fat with braces and dark hair.’

David laughs. ‘That’s cute.’

‘No it wasn’t. And you were always with someone else.’

‘OK.’

‘Then you met Marion. And next thing I heard you were getting married. It was a mistake. See, I knew we would end up together. That’s how it’s meant to be.’

Jo pours herself another glass of wine.

‘So that’s why me and Karen turned up at your stag do,’ Jo says.

‘The strippers,’ he says.

Jo giggles. ‘That was us! God I had to go to the gym every day for weeks to get into shape for that.’

‘And you’ve stayed in shape,’ David says.

‘For you,’ she says. ‘Marion’s let herself go, hasn’t she? She must weigh two stone more than me.’

In the cupboard, Marion clenches her fists. She wants to burst out of the door and scratch Jo’s eyes out.

‘That explains something,’ David says. ‘No one knew who hired the strippers.’

‘No one did,’ Jo laughs. ‘We just turned up and did it for free.’

‘I was very pissed,’ David says. He looks at his watch again.

‘At last you were looking at me,’ Jo says. She gets up from the table. ‘Why don’t we go upstairs now and eat later. I could do my strip for you again.’

‘Plenty of time,’ David says.

‘But I want you now.’

The door bell rings.

‘Hold it there,’ David says. ‘I’ll just get that.’

Marion watches as Jo puts fresh lipstick on and pours herself a bit more wine. David comes back into the room.

‘I’ve got a surprise for you, Jo,’ he says.

A slim blonde comes into the room. ‘Hi Jo,’ she says.

‘Who are you?’ Jo says.

‘Karen,’ David says. ‘Don’t you remember?’

‘Who?’ Jo says. ‘Remember from when?’

‘Are you OK, Jo?’ Karen says.

Jo just stares at her.

‘David invited me,’ Karen says.

‘For a reunion,’ David says.

‘But I don’t know you!’

David shakes his head. ‘Jo, Jo. Get real, love.’

‘I don’t remember.’ Jo’s face is white, she looks confused.

‘Jo was just reminding me how you posed as strippers at my stag do,’ David says.

‘God!’ Karen buries her face in her hands for a second. ‘That is so embarrasing!.’

‘This isn’t Karen,’ Jo says.

‘You’re really losing it, Jo,’ David says. ‘You must have been off your face. Do you really not remember Karen?’

‘We were all off our faces,’ Karen says. ‘I must have been drunk as a skunk to act like that.’

‘Remind us exactly what happened, Karen,’ David says.

Marion leans forward to hear better and the door opens a bit more but no one notices.

‘Well, the plan was for Jo to get off with you. She tried, but you weren’t interested.’

‘That’s how I remember it,’ David says, looking over at the cupboard.

‘And then she got in a strop and we went off. We went to a club. We both ended up with different men that night. But not you.’

The ironing board falls down with a crash, and Marion crawls out of the cupboard.

‘Whoops,’ she says. Jo looks so shocked that it makes Marion laugh. She sounds like a mad woman, but she doesn’t care.

‘Hi Jo,’ Marion says. ‘Hi Karen.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ Karen says. ‘And then David married Marion, and happy ever after,’ she finishes.

‘Till Jo came along and tried to wreck it,’ David adds.

‘It’s a lie,’ Jo says to Marion. ‘They’re lying. I’ve never seen her before in my life.’

‘See?’ David says. ‘She’ll say anything. No way is Luke my kid.’

‘Did she say he was?’ Karen says. ‘God, Jo!’

‘This is a set up,’ Jo says. ‘He is David’s. They’re tricking you Marion.’

‘Give up, Jo,’ David says. ‘Get lost.’

Jo stands and looks at him for a moment. ‘You know what?’ she says. ‘I think I will.’ And then she lets herself out of the back door and slams it shut.

‘She always was a bit –’ Karen wiggles her finger at the side of her head.

‘A sandwich short of a picnic?’

‘A picnic short of a picnic if you ask me!’ David says.

David calls Karen a taxi. As she leaves he gives her some money.

‘What was that for?’ Marion asks.

‘Taxi money,’ he says. ‘Are we OK then?’

‘I guess so,’ Marion says, but she frowns. It looked like too much money for a taxi fare.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

In the night Marion hears Luke crying. She gets up to see what is wrong. ‘I had a bad dream,’ he says. Marion squeezes into bed with Luke and he soon goes back to sleep. She lies down beside David. She listens to him snoring all night but she can’t sleep.

Early in the morning she hears a noise outside, but she’s too tired to get up and look. She hears Luke go downstairs to watch TV. She goes to sleep then and David wakes her up later with a cup of tea. He gets back into bed.

‘Looks like Jo’s moving out,’ he says. ‘There’s a van outside. Good riddance.’

‘But I won’t see Luke again,’ Marion says.

‘But at least we’ll be OK,’ David says. ‘Thanks for coming back.’