Snatched (21 page)

‘Oh, please, let’s not do this today,’ Terry groaned. ‘You know how important it is.’

‘Not to me,’ she retorted, her mouth puckering into a tight knot. ‘Anyway, I never said I
would
go, I only said I’d think about it.’

‘Yeah, and you’ve had all week, so why start playing up about it now, when you can see I’m ready to go?’

‘I’m not playing up,’ she spat, giving him a reproachful look. ‘
Kids
play up.’

Fighting to keep the frustration out of his voice, Terry said, ‘You said you were coming yesterday, so what’s changed?’

‘My mind,’ Leanne told him bluntly. ‘I don’t
want
to go, so I’m not going.’

Peering down at her, Terry shook his head in despair, wishing she’d just make up her mind and stick to it, so at least he’d know what he was dealing with from day to day.

‘I don’t see why
you
’re so keen to go, anyway,’ Leanne sniped. ‘I’d have thought you’d be happier huddled away in a corner somewhere
crying
, seeing as that’s all you’ve been doing for the last two weeks.’

Terry felt the heat of anger rise to his cheeks. Sulking was one thing, but that was just plain vicious. So what if he’d cried? Who wouldn’t if one of their kids had almost died in a fire, while the other was still missing? Of course he was upset, and if she couldn’t understand that, there was something seriously wrong with her.

‘Hadn’t you better run along?’ she said now, pushing him even closer to the edge when she added, ‘
Wifey
will be waiting for you. And we don’t want to upset
wifey
, do we?’

‘Pack it in,’ Terry warned her, his voice dangerously low. ‘I’ve told you a thousand times, I am
not
interested in her.’

‘Like I’m supposed to believe that,’ Leanne spat. ‘If you didn’t want anything to do with her, you wouldn’t be going to this stupid thing when you know she’s going to be there. If you ask me, that’s
why
you’re going – ’cos you’re desperate to see her again.’

‘That’s shit, and you know it,’ Terry growled. ‘I’m going for my kids – and that’s the
only
reason. If I wanted to see her, I’d have gone looking for her.’

‘What’s to say you haven’t?’ Leanne said, crossing her legs and jiggling her foot wildly. ‘Once a liar, always a liar.’

Something snapped, and Terry felt a sudden calm descend on him. He’d been trying so hard to keep her happy, to do things her way and not give her cause to argue. But nothing ever worked, so what was the point?

‘Have it your own way,’ he said, looking around for his shoes. ‘But I’d have a serious think if I was you, ’cos one of these days you’re going to get what you’re looking for.’

‘Which is what?’ she demanded, giving him a challenging look. ‘You gonna
hit
me, or something?’

‘What, so you can go running back to the estate and tell everyone what a big bad bastard I am?’ Terry replied softly. ‘Sorry, sweetheart, it’s not my style. If you want someone like that, you’d best go get with one of your little hoodie boys.’

‘You mean one of the lads I
used
to hang out with before I tied myself down with an old man like you?’ Leanne spat back. ‘’Cos that’s what really gets to you, isn’t it, Terry – that they’re all so much younger and fitter than you, and all I’d have to do is click my fingers and they’d all come running.’

‘Don’t let me stop you.’

‘Yeah, ’cos you don’t give a toss about me.’ Leanne’s chin was wobbling now, her eyes full of tears.

Refusing to rise to the bait and tell her that of course he gave a toss about her, because that was what she was expecting, Terry slipped his feet into his shoes and sat down to tie the laces.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Leanne wanted to scream, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. She’d gone too far, and he was going to go without her. And the only way she could stop him would be to apologise. But he’d already gone cold on her so he’d probably just tell her to piss off, and her pride couldn’t take that.

Sniffing loudly as the first tear trickled slowly down her cheek, Leanne brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them as a wave of self-pity washed over her. She couldn’t bear the thought of Terry going anywhere without her, especially not like this – all dressed up in his suit and looking really gorgeous. He’d have all those bitches back on the estate falling all over themselves to get at him. And God only knew what stunts that whore of an ex of his would pull to get near him.

Standing up now, Terry decided to give Leanne one last chance to snap out of her mood and come with him. Saying, ‘Are you coming then, or what?’ he sighed when she carried on staring resolutely the other way. Shrugging, he walked out, calling back over his shoulder, ‘You know where I am if you change your mind.’

Leanne waited for a few moments, then got up and rushed to the window. Gazing down, she watched as he emerged from the main doors below and headed for the car. Just as he reached it, another car pulled in beside him, and two women who lived on the floor below got out. Her eyes narrowed jealously when they started talking to him and she opened the window to hear what they were saying. She couldn’t hear anything, but she didn’t need to. She could tell just by looking at them that they were flirting with him. And if that could happen here, right under her nose, what the hell would happen when she wasn’t there to keep an eye on him? Oh, no . . . she wasn’t having that.

Flinging the window even wider as the women walked away and Terry started to climb into the car, Leanne yelled at him to wait for her. Then, running into the bedroom, shedding her dressing gown on the way, she pulled on the dress she’d always intended to wear and slipped on her shoes, before snatching up her make-up bag and handbag and running down to join him.

Across town, Sue hadn’t even started to get ready. Pacing Julie’s living-room floor in her nightclothes, she was chewing on her thumbnail, wondering how she could get out of going without offending Tina. Or Pauline, who had been really good to her since the fire – despite having been such a nosy old bitch before it.

According to Tina, Pauline had worked really hard to get this event up and running, and had bugged everyone to donate the clothes and toiletries that had been sent over the previous week for Sue and Connor. But, grateful as she was, Sue still didn’t think she could face Pauline today. And she definitely didn’t want to see any of her other old neighbours.

Especially not Carole, who was already on the warpath about Dave taking her to the hospital that day. Dave had told her that Carole had come at him like a wild dog, accusing him of all sorts, but he’d protected Sue by saying that they’d met up by chance and he’d just given her a lift. Not that Sue needed protecting in a physical sense, because she wasn’t scared of Carole. But she was going through a tough enough time already without the added burden of having to listen to Carole mouthing off.

Carole didn’t really have cause to say anything, as it happened, because still nothing had happened between Sue and Dave. Sue had thought that an affair with Dave was what she wanted, and yet when she’d seen Terry, she’d realised that she still had feelings for him, too. So the barriers had gone back up, preventing Dave from making the move that she’d sensed he was getting ready to make. And, ever the gentleman, he hadn’t pushed it.

Not that he’d had too many opportunities since Connor had come home, because they’d only managed to meet up a couple of times over the last week, and both times had been during the day, with Connor present, which had made it awkward to really talk. But Sue was still glad to have Dave on her side, and she was looking forward to seeing him today – even if they
would
have to play it cool so that the gossip-mongers couldn’t get hold of the wrong end of the stick and turn their friendship into something dirty.

And Sue desperately didn’t want that to happen, because Dave was the only thing that was keeping her sane as things went from bad to worse with Julie.

The Nicky issue aside, the cramped living conditions were really starting to take their toll, because the flat only had two tiny bedrooms, a minuscule bathroom, and a walk-in closet of a kitchen. Which was absolutely fine for Julie on her own, and just about bearable for the two of them when Sue had used to stay over after a night out. But it was a completely unsuitable place for two adults to actually live together on a day-to-day basis, and since Connor had joined them there, it had been absolute murder.

Julie was trying not to let it get to her, and Sue was genuinely grateful that she was still willing to make the effort. But it was obviously pissing Julie off, because she’d started to make narky little comments about the mess, and to moan about the amount of time Sue spent in the bathroom, and how much her electric bill had gone up recently. And she’d all but given up on trying to communicate with Connor – although Sue could hardly blame her for that, because she was finding it hard enough to cope with him herself, and she was his
mother
.

The silence was frustrating enough, but now he’d taken to making little grunting noises when he wanted something, and Sue found that both irritating and – ashamed as she was to admit it – repulsive. It was almost as if he’d gone into hospital a boy and come out an animal, and she was his keeper, having to coax him to eat, and clean up his shit – which, to her disgust, he’d gone back to doing in his pants.

The social workers reckoned it was quite normal under the circumstances, but Sue just couldn’t deal with it. The pissy beds had been one thing, but at least that had only been at night – and Nicky had been there to change his sheets and make sure he had clean undies. Now it was a twenty-four-hour job, and as Julie obviously had no intention of getting involved it was left to Sue to deal with it all. And she really wasn’t coping half as well as everyone seemed to think she should be.

Already depressed about losing everything she owned, and still alternating between worrying about Nicky and cursing her for her wickedness, there were times when she felt as if she was hanging off the edge of a cliff by her fingertips.

And today was one of those days.

‘Bloody hell, Sue!’

Jumping when Julie’s voice penetrated her thoughts, Sue snapped her head around and gaped at her guiltily.

‘What have I done now?’

‘Don’t you think you’d better get that sorted before it gets infected?’ Julie said, nodding towards Sue’s thumb as she unravelled the woolly scarf she was wearing from around her neck.

Looking down at her hand, Sue frowned when she saw the blood. She’d chewed right into the flesh, but she hadn’t felt a thing.

‘I know it’s hard,’ Julie went on, draping the scarf over the back of the couch and shrugging out of her jacket. ‘But you’re not doing yourself any favours with all this moping about.’ Waddling past Sue now, she said, ‘Anyhow, I’m putting the kettle on. Tea or coffee?’

‘Tea,’ Sue called after her, wiping the blood onto her dressing gown and wincing as the pain finally filtered through.

‘Might as well get dressed while I’m making it,’ Julie called back. ‘And make sure you put something nice and warm on Connor, ’cos it might look sunny but it’s bloody freezing out there. I only went out for milk, but my nipples are like bleedin’ torpedoes. No wonder that Malik was staring at me the whole time I was in the shop.’

Grimacing at the image, Sue rushed into the bathroom to put a plaster on her thumb and have a wash. Going back into the bedroom, she got dressed before reluctantly waking Connor up to get him ready. She hadn’t really wanted to take him with her, but Julie obviously wasn’t volunteering to watch him so she had no choice. But, oh, well . . . at least he’d give her a good excuse to leave early.

There was already a fair-sized crowd milling about on the field when Terry and Leanne pulled into the car park. Leanne hadn’t spoken during the drive because she’d been too busy concentrating on getting her hair and make-up done. But she’d given Terry plenty of accusing looks whenever they went over a bump in the road, as if she thought he was deliberately trying to sabotage her efforts to make herself look nice, when, in fact, he’d been doing his damnedest to
avoid
them, sure that the next one would be the one that killed the struggling car off once and for all.

Cheering up when she spotted Goldie and some of the other girls making their way through the gates, Leanne bit her lip and cast a furtive side glance at Terry. She hadn’t spent much time with the girls lately, and she could really do with a good chill-out. But Terry would probably expect her to stay with him, and she knew she probably should, because she was all he had right now. But it would be so
boring
.

‘Go ahead,’ Terry said, guessing what was going through her mind.

Trying not to grin too widely, Leanne said, ‘Are you sure? I’ll stay with you if you want me to.’

Assuring her that he’d be fine, Terry said, ‘No point both of us being miserable, so go on. Have a good time.’

Saying, ‘Thanks, babe,’ Leanne kissed him and hopped out of the car.

Watching as she caught up with the girls and hugged them all before linking arms with Goldie and disappearing around the corner, Terry sighed. It was at times like this that he really noticed the age difference and felt guilty for tying her down when she should be out there having a laugh with her mates. But he doubted whether she’d leave him even if he opened the door and shoved her out with her suitcase. And he couldn’t finish it, even though he sometimes felt like it would be the right thing to do for her sake, because despite all the petty squabbles and jealous rages she did love him. And he loved her. And, anyway, it would just prove all the doubters right if they split, and he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.

Rolling himself a cigarette now, Terry got out of the car and, slipping a hand into his pocket in an effort to look relaxed, even though he was really nervous about being among so many of his enemies in one place at one time, he strolled around to the field.