Knowing Me Knowing You (12 page)

‘
Don’t be stupid, we aren’t going to go! Joel’s an escort I paid to date me last night, he isn’t my boyfriend,
’
Kate reminded, drumming her fingers on the table and trying to quell the sick feeling in her stomach.

‘
But you have to go; you’re through to the next round.
’

‘
Mione
!
I didn’t want to enter the path
etic contest in the first place.
I only played along last night because the Lady Dragon and Frank Peterson were there. It was a one off, and there will be no repeat performance,
’
Kate stated definitely.

‘
But, a weekend away would do you good,
’
Hermione spoke.

‘
Maybe
,
but I wouldn’t choose to spend it standing on a stage holding hands with a stranger watching a huge
fake
dove lay golden eggs,
’
Kate answered.

‘
That bit was quite naff,
’
Hermione admitted.

‘
It was all
very
naff.
’

‘
So what are you going to do with your golden voucher? Give it to the mad Australians who like to pretend they’re sheep when they have sex?
’

‘
Did they say that? How scary. No I’m going to phone the production company, I’m going to tell them Joel and I have split up and it’s
up to them what they do with it.
P
erhaps they’ll give it to the third placed couple,
’
Kate spoke.

‘
Oh no, not Mark and Sandra, I didn’t like them
at all.
H
e kept winking at the camera and she had a moustache,
’
Hermione remarked.

‘
God
Mione
, did you sit through it all?
’

‘
Yes, with half a dozen cups of nettle tea and some carrot and parsnip crisps. Would you like some?
’

‘
No thanks they sound awful. I’d better take
Bethan
off your hands and get home
,
I’ve got stuff to look at I’ve been putting off.
’

‘
Well Philip’s taken all the children down the park so they can burn off some energy. Cyrus is here tod
ay and he’s been driving me mad.
H
e isn’t just whispering now, he’s stamping his feet as he does it which all but drowns out what he’s trying to say
completely
,
’
Hermione informed.

‘
Hang on I thought Philip was away
.
I wanted to borrow him remember and you said no and made an excuse.
’

‘
Change of plan, he’s going relic hunting in a few weeks now
.
O
ne of his team had an unexpected birth, two
months early, baby boy, small but doing well. Anyway, it isn’t as if the ancient treasures are going anywhere.
’

‘
So was
Bethan
good? Didn’t wake? Not up too early? Did she eat all her breakfast?
’

‘
She was an absolute angel, as always.
’
Hermione reassured.

‘
Oh I’m so glad. Thanks so much for having her
Mione
, can I settle up with you next week
-
it’s just it’s not pay day until the
twenty fifth
,
’
Kate spoke a little embarrassed.

‘
Don’t be silly, I don’t want paying. Last night wasn’t child-minding, last night was babysitting for a friend and I won’t hear any more about it,
’
Hermione insisted.

‘
Thank you,
’
Kate replied.

‘
How are things financially if you don’t mind me asking?
’

‘
Fine, I won
a hundred pounds
remember,
’
Kate answered, hiding her eyes.

‘
I’ll read your tea leaves,
’
Hermione threatened.

‘
Things are tight but I’m managing. Must stop booking escorts though, it isn’t cheap,
’
Kate replied.

‘
Well, I have to say, I’m disappointed. I read the runes and I read the cards and they told me that last night was going to be the start of something for you,
’
Hermione s
aid with a sigh
.

‘
Oh it was, it was the start of my investigation into whether or not the Lady Dragon wears a wig,
’
Kate said excitedly, a wicked smile crossing her face.

‘
What?!
Oh tell all!
’
Hermione said
,
clapping her hands together in delight.

Kate’s head was still thumping that evening when she put
Bethan
to bed. Although Philip had worn the children out at the park
,
Bethan
had demanded game after game of
h
ide
and
s
eek in the garden when they had got home. Trying not to die of boredom when her daughter hid in the same place was usually challenge enough
,
but it was infinitely worse when you felt like death.

‘
Mummy,
’
Bethan
spoke, reaching up a hand and pulling at Kate’s hair.

‘
Time for sleep now
Bethy
.
G
ive Mr Crisps a cuddle,
’
Kate spoke, handing her daughter her favourite bear.

Mr Crisps was so named because he was a limited edition bear from a crisp manufacturer.
Just three tokens plus postage and packing.
Bethan
had been having a lot of bargain treats lately. Matthew had bought her a
Steiff
bear when she was born. It had been a show of wealth and he had told everybody and anybody about it. But the bear was sat on top of the wardrobe, still in its box, not played with. Kate thought it had an angry little face and she was terrified of
Bethan
swallowing the button from its ear.

‘
Teddy crisps,
’
Bethan
said and hugged the bear into her.

‘
Night
,
night darling,
’
Kate said and stroked her daughter’s hair, watching her eyes flicker closed.

Bethan
laughed and smiled and Kate turned off the light and left the room. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before descending the stairs. She knew what was waiting for her.

Her laptop was open on the table and next to it was a pile of urgent bills. There were almost a dozen.
Electricity, water, gas, telephone, mobile phone, internet,
council tax etc. etc.
T
here was a demand for almost everything.

Kate bypassed the invoices, opened the fridge and took out a box. Tonight it was chilli con carne, ready in three minutes. She slipped off the sleeve, pierced the container and put it in the microwave. She set it to cook, opened the fridge and took out the bottle of wine she had bought on the way back from Hermione’s. Italian tonight, on a BOGOF,
twelve percent
but as she had two for the price of one she wouldn’t feel too guilty if she had to open the second bottle.

She hurriedly opened it, poured herself a glass and drank half of it in one desperate gulp. The headache seemed to ease instantly.

She sat down at the laptop and began to go through the bills. She clicked onto the internet and logged into her bank’s website to check her account. She knew she had saved
two hundred pounds
to cover the urgent bills plus there was the
seventy five pounds
Matthew paid into her account every Friday for
Bethan
. Hopefully it would be enough to pay everything that needed to be paid. If not she would be back to a diet of tinned soup and
V
alue bread for a week. 

She clicked into her account information and the details came up. There was just the
two hundred pounds
in the account. Kate furrowed her brow and clicked into the statement of transactions. There had been nothing paid into her account from Matthew since the previous week. There was also a direct debit due to go out the next day.

The microwave beeped to inform her it had finished cooking the chilli. Kate looked at the account, totted up some figures on the calculator and stared at the screen. She couldn’t afford to pay the bills. She could put some on her credit card but that was building up too
,
what with early evening trips to the wine section of the supermarket and paying for Elite Escorts. But that apart
,
why hadn’t Matthew’s standing order gone through?

As she was reheating the chilli she telephoned the bank, hoping against hope that there was some technical fault their end or that she had missed a bank holiday or something. But there was no explanation and there was no fault with her account. The money from Matthew hadn’t been received and there was nothing stuck in the electronic system.

She didn’t know what to do. She really needed the money
,
b
ut that meant phoning Matthew. She couldn’t phone him. She hadn’t spoken to him since just after he left. He had phoned about a week after his departure, while she was still moping at home in front of
CBeebies
, cornflakes in her hair and an undressed
Bethan
on her lap. He’d given her his address and phone number and told her he had set up the standing order. He hadn’t asked about
Bethan
, in fact he hadn’t even mentioned her name. The entire correspondence since had been through their solicitors and very quickly the divorce had come through. There had seemed little reason to interact at all after that.

Kate took out her address book from the drawer of the dresser, found the entry and stared at it. Matthew Baxter.
Her husband’s name in her address book in her handwriting, just like every other entry.
It was just his details but seeing his name conjured up so many images. Maybe she was overreacting; it
was obviously just an oversight.
M
aybe the money would be there tomorrow or in the week. She didn’t want to phone him, she didn’t want to hear his voice. She was afraid of what hearing it would do to her.

She picked up the phone. She put it down. She took a deep breath and composed herself. Why did thinking of him still do this to her? She was divorced from him; he had left her and
Bethan
. He was part of her past and nothing more. He had abandoned them. She snatched up the phone and dialled in the number. It rang and she waited, holding her breath.

‘
Hello.
’

The sound of a woman’s voice shocked her and she didn’t know what to do. Should she hang up? Who was this woman? Should she speak? What should she say? She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself.

‘
Oh hello is,
er
, Matthew there please?
’

‘
Who’s calling?
’
the woman asked in secretarial tones.

‘
It’s Kate.
’

There was complete silence at the other end after she had said her name and
she
could tell the mood of the woman had changed. It was an almost hostile silence until she eventually spoke.

‘
Matt,
it’s
her
.
’

Her
?! Kate had never been referred to as a
‘her’
before. A
‘her’
was someone despised;
‘her’
was a reference you would use if you were speaking about someone playing the part of a mistress to your adulterous spouse. But she wasn’t a mistress, she was an ex-wife and she was the injured party here. Kate cringed and felt angry and upset at the same time, tears pricking her eyes. She didn’t want to be doing this but she had to
,
for
Bethan
.

‘
Hello,
’
Matthew’s voice spoke.