We glare at each other wordlessly.
I am sick of Brian being in my space and on my back the entire time. Holly’s face flashes into my mind – the way she looks at me, listens with interest to what I have to say – and instead of walking away from the situation, I say something.
‘It’s not your job any more, though, is it?’ I hear my voice as though I am an onlooker. It is calm. ‘You had to retire due to ill health… or something along those lines.’
‘You’d better shut him up before I do it,’ Brian growls, the two red spots exploding out into the rest of his podgy, sallow face.
‘David, enough!’
He can say what he likes to me, but of course I’m never allowed to retaliate or to point out that I know they sacked him when he fell off his ladder drunk and crushed his leg.
‘David, are you…’ Mother lowers her voice as if to stop Brian hearing. ‘Are you taking your tablets?’
‘Yes.’ I swallow hard and bite down on my tongue, thinking of yesterday’s tablet, still nestling in its foil.
The pair of them stare at me, and it feels like I’m standing in fierce sunlight. ‘I’m fine, Mother. Please don’t worry.’
‘Yeah. Keep taking the tablets, Dave.’ Brian chuckles mirthlessly.
My arm pulls back, my fingers release, and I watch as the large, heavy mug sails through the air and glances against Brian’s temple.
Mother screams as he staggers back, grabbing on to the corner of the table to support himself.
The mug shatters and lies in pieces on the floor. Mother runs to Brian, fussing needlessly when there’s not a jot wrong with him.
I stand quietly and watch. It feels like one of those TV dramas is playing out in front of me.
Mother and Brian are whispering to each other, but I don’t care. I’m not going to be the first to leave the room.
Interestingly, the anger that flared earlier has now drained from him, and, glaring at me as he passes, he limps back to the comfort of the television in the other room.
‘David, I’ve never known you like this, not since… Perhaps you need to see the doctor.’
‘I don’t need to see the doctor. I just need him to leave our home.’
Mother sees a chance to make amends. ‘He’s out all day at the match next Sunday, so we can have a nice time at home together. I’ll cook a roast dinner and we’ll watch something on television. It’ll be just like the old days. How does that sound?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t next Sunday,’ I say quickly. ‘I’m…’ My voice drops to a whisper. ‘I’m going out.’
Mother’s mouth falls open and the cake knife clatters from her hand onto the worktop.
‘Out? Out where? With whom?’
I slide this way and that on my stockinged feet and my hands start that habit they have of twisting in on themselves.
‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I say.
‘It’s that girl next door, isn’t it?’ Her voice hardens. ‘Mrs Barrett’s visitor?’
I don’t look up.
‘I knew it.’ Mother grabs hold of my shoulders. ‘Look at me, David.’
I look at her and her eyes burn into mine like glowing coals.
‘It’s too soon to be thinking of getting involved with another—’
‘We’re just friends,’ I say curtly. ‘We’re going to the cinema. That’s all it is, Mother.’
‘That’s how it starts, as well you know.’ She snorts. ‘You’re playing with fire, David. Just think on that.’
I turn around and walk out of the kitchen.
As I step over Brian’s muddy boots, I wonder where he’s been to get them caked up like that, and then I remember. He’s always down the bottom of the garden. I kick one on purpose as I head for the stairs.
Mother’s bound to worry, I know that, but I am fine. I haven’t felt so clear-headed and optimistic for ages.
Holly is different to… anyone else. I’ve already decided that I will confide in her at some point, if we become good friends.
I’m not dangerous, I’m not out of control, whatever others might think.
The last thing I want to do is scare Holly away.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Holly
On Monday morning, all Kellington’s staff convened as usual on the ground floor for the morning briefing. Emily’s absence was glaring.
‘As you’ll see, no Emily this morning,’ Josh said matter-of-factly. ‘Sadly, she has now left the company. She handed in her notice late on Friday.’
There was a collective gasp as everyone glanced at each other and a second or two of awkward silence ensued. Josh didn’t fill in the blanks; instead he simply launched into the day’s new products overview.
After the briefing, everyone disbanded and Josh went straight upstairs to Mr Kellington’s office.
Holly stood in her usual area of the showroom.
She realised that under Emily’s ever-critical glare, she’d subconsciously defaulted to the rear of the space. Now she walked forward and stood in what had been Emily’s hallowed spot.
The March sunlight that usually lit Emily up like an archangel flooded in through the enormous window and did the same to Holly. It felt so good that it was now she whose face was turned towards the rays.
She found she couldn’t stand in the sun for long, though. She still had a dull headache from her drinking binge at the weekend.
She had quickly polished off the bottle of wine she’d brought with her from Manchester, and when Cora had run short of milk on Sunday morning, she’d taken the opportunity to pop to the local shop, where she’d invested in another two bottles.
She’d told Cora she felt under the weather and had spent most of the weekend in her bedroom, cowering from the sound of the telephone ringing or a loud knock at the front door.
But neither had happened. It seemed as if she’d done a good job of scaring herself senseless over nothing again.
Still, it was wonderful to feel so relaxed at the beginning of the day, instead of focusing on keeping out of Emily’s way and trying to avoid annoying her in some inconsequential and unavoidable way.
Ben and Martyn were chatting at the top end of the showroom in their usual spots and the atmosphere felt so… well, nice.
‘Hasn’t taken you long to jump into Emily’s shoes, I see!’
Holly spun round to see Josh approaching, a teasing grin plastered on his face.
‘I wasn’t… I mean, I’m not…’
‘Hello? It was a joke.’ He shook his head. ‘If you hadn’t been standing in her plum spot when I came down, I’d have asked you why not.’
‘I’m shocked she isn’t here,’ Holly said. ‘I didn’t think she’d get fired for what happened.’
‘What she did, it was pretty serious, considering.’ Josh shrugged. ‘Damaging an exclusive piece like the Lalique vase and then trying to pin the blame on a colleague. You’re very generous, Holly. If she’d accused me, I would’ve demanded she get fired.’
He checked the price of a standard lamp next to him and ticked it off on a clipboard he held in the crook of his arm.
‘Anyway, she wasn’t fired. Mr Kellington was willing to issue her with a final written warning, but she took it upon herself to resign. Told him to stick his job where the sun don’t shine… charming, eh?’
‘Wow.’ Holly took in this new information. ‘She wouldn’t want the stigma of it, I suppose. Colleagues and customers gossiping about her.’
Josh pulled the corners of his mouth down and shrugged his shoulders. ‘Dunno. She said she had something far more important to do with her time, and that…’ he affected a sinister tone, ‘we’d all find out soon enough. Creepy!’
‘What did she mean by that?’ Holly asked faintly.
‘Who knows what anything means with Emily?’ He grinned. ‘Good riddance is what I say. No place for that sort of underhanded business here at Kellington’s.’
Holly stepped back and leaned against the heavy glass dining table behind her.
Emily’s comments had sounded like some sort of veiled threat. And Holly had been on the receiving end of her threats before.
‘What happened to the girl who had the job before I came?’ she asked. ‘Why did she leave?’
The grin slid from Josh’s face. ‘Why do you ask?’