Pam opened the front door and was rather taken aback to see Angela standing there rather than Stephanie. ‘What do you want?’ she asked coldly. Pam hadn’t yet forgiven her youngest daughter for the fiasco she had caused at Stephanie’s hen night, nor what she had said to the police to embarrass her sister.
‘I’ve just come to say goodbye,’ Angela replied haughtily.
Pam looked her daughter up and down. In her black, cropped leather jacket, tight faded jeans and black leather boots that came over her knee, Pam thought how tarty she looked, but decided not to comment. ‘What do you mean you’ve come to say goodbye?’
‘Mummy,’ Aidan screamed with delight as he ran towards the front door. Twice his mum had taken him out in the past six weeks, and both times she had bought him loads of new toys. Wondering if Angela was taking him out again today, Aidan held his arms out for a cuddle.
‘Your hands are filthy, Aidan, and this is Mummy’s new jacket. Go and sit in the lounge while I speak to your nan for a minute,’ Angela said unfeelingly.
Seeing her grandson’s face crumple, Pam glared at her daughter. ‘Say what you’ve come to say and then go, Ange. That poor little mite is crying now, you wicked mare.’
‘I’m going to live in Greece for a while.’
Pam looked at Angela in bewilderment. Was this another one of her little games? ‘Greece is hundreds of miles away, ain’t it?’
‘Yes, and that’s exactly why I’m going there. I can’t get over the hurt and the pain of being accused of running away with Jacko. So, as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t got a family any more. I’m off to pastures new.’
‘Get in the kitchen, now!’ Pam growled at her daughter. She knew Angela’s tricks of turning things around and Pam couldn’t believe she was trying to blame the family for her selfish decision to depart to a foreign country.
‘You ain’t gonna make me change my mind. Roxy’s moving over there with me and we’ve got a good job to go to.’
Pam wasn’t very good with geography. The Isle of Wight was the furthest she had ever been in her life, but she knew Greece was nowhere near England. ‘You can’t go! What about Aidan? I know you don’t put yourself out to see him very much, but you’re still his bloody mother.’
‘Well, you can look after him for me, can’t you? Or, if you don’t want him, Jason will have him.’
‘We’re not talking about a fucking dog, Angela. This is your son, you heartless cow. He’s registered to you by the authorities, remember?’
‘Look, I ain’t arguing with you, Mum. I’ve made my mind up and I’m going. I dare say I might come back for the winter, and I’m not gonna inform the authorities I’ve gone, so you can still cash the child allowance. I’ll even send some money home every couple of months, if you want me to?’
As Pam looked at the coldness in her daughter’s eyes, and for the first time in her life, she could honestly say that she hated her. ‘I don’t want anything from you, Angela. Now get out of my house and don’t you ever, ever darken my doorstep again, understand?’
Angela shrugged. ‘Suits me, but I wanna say goodbye to Aidan before I leave.’
‘You leave that boy alone,’ Pam warned her.
Ignoring her mother’s orders, Angela marched into the living room. ‘Have you washed them chocolatey hands yet?’
‘Yeah, I wiped them with Nanny’s tissues,’ Aidan mumbled apologetically.
Pam couldn’t bear to be in the same room as Angela asked Aidan to sit on the sofa next to her and said, in a fake loving voice, ‘You know Mummy took you shopping recently, Aidan, and bought you all them lovely presents?’
‘Yeah! Do you wanna play with my car with me, Mummy?’ Aidan asked excitedly. The remote-controlled Porsche his mother had bought him was the best present he had ever had.
‘No, darling. Mummy has to leave soon and she won’t be able to see you for a while. I’ve got a new job, you see, and it’s a long way away.’
‘Can I come with you?’
‘No. I’d love to take you with me, but little boys aren’t allowed there,’ Angela lied.
Earwigging outside the door, Pam shook her head in repugnance. How she could have given birth to two such different daughters she would never know, and not for the first time in her life, Pam briefly wondered if the nurse had given her the wrong baby when she had taken Angela home.
‘When will you take me out again then, Mummy?’
‘I don’t know yet, but I promise you when I do I’ll buy you lots and lots of lovely presents. That’s why I’m going away to work. It’s not for me, I’m doing it for you. The money is much better where I’m going and it means I can buy you much better presents than ever before.’
Aidan threw his arms around his mother’s neck and held her tightly. All his friends at school had mums that picked them up every day and came to their nativity plays and sports days, and he really wished that his could be there too sometimes. ‘I love you, Mummy,’ he said.
Realizing that her son was crying, Angela stood up quickly. She felt a bit tearful herself and, in that split second, knew she must love him. Roxy had been shocked when she had taken the job abroad, and Angela had broken down as she had explained her reasons to her friend. ‘I ain’t a bad person, Rox, but I’m a crap parent, and Aidan is far better off being bought up by my mum, his dad, and his other grandparents,’ she had told her friend bluntly.
‘Please don’t go yet, Mummy,’ Aidan sobbed, as Angela put her hand on the handle of the door.
Bending down, Angela kissed her son on his forehead. ‘I have to go now, Aidan, but don’t you ever forget that Mummy loves you.’
Stephanie was dismayed when she walked into the restaurant in Buckhurst Hill and saw Richard sitting at the table alongside Tammy. She had said to her friend the other evening that she felt as though she barely knew Richard, but she hadn’t expected Tammy to bring him along with her. She had thought and wanted it would be just the two of them. A proper girlie farewell.
Tammy grinned as Steph walked towards her. ‘Don’t look so glum. Richard’s only staying with us for a little while as he’s off up town with his mates. He wanted to treat us to a nice bottle of champagne to start our evening off, didn’t you, babe?’ Tammy said.
Richard stood up and kissed Stephanie on the cheek. ‘Here, let me take your coat for you.’
Steph sat down and watched Richard stroll over to the coat stand. He had a dark grey suit on, a crisp white shirt that he wore unbuttoned to reveal his toned chest, and expensive-looking tan leather shoes. With his floppy dark hair, perfect teeth and killer smile, he really was a looker. ‘Well, I have to say, Tam, he is even more handsome than I thought he was when he came round mine. I was so worried about seeing Barry again for the first time in years, I didn’t take enough notice of Tricky Dicky. Wow, no wonder you’re giving up everything for him, mate.’
‘I am so sorry to hear about Wayne going missing, Stephanie. Tammy’s been telling me all about it, and I do hope he is found safe and well,’ Richard said, sitting back down at the table.
The mention of Wayne being found safe and well, along with Tammy lovingly squeezing Richard’s hand, was enough to make Stephanie’s eyes well up. She had been with Wayne since she was fifteen years old, and not being part of a couple any more was one of the hardest things she had ever had to deal with. Wayne had never been at home that much, but it was the intimacy of sharing a cuddle or a conversation about her day and the children that Steph missed the most. The thought of living the rest of her life as a lonely single parent worried Steph even more than the financial difficulties that were heading her way.
‘Are you OK?’ Tammy asked.