Read Online Yours Unfaithfully by Geraldine C. Deer - Free Book Online Page B

often had they laughed at the holes in their jeans in the days before they’d been blessed with Henry? Even when they’d bought this house on Willow Brook they’d made fun of themselves for living in such grand surroundings. On the day they moved in they’d looked out of the front room window and made jokes about the ‘posh bird’ next door. Nina appeared to be posh in lots of ways, a snob even, but she was a good sort and she soon became Mel’s best friend. Was she really Mel’s best friend? Surely
I’ve
always been her best friend, he thought.
    Tim spent the next two hours getting everything right before plucking up the courage to phone her and suggest the evening meal, together as a family. The phone rang and rang. Tim tried every ten minutes for over an hour. Maybe they’d been in an accident? No, he was sure that one of them would have been able to phone home in that case. Maybe she was in a bad area for the phone signal, that would be it. Blast... that meant she would go straight to McDonalds before he could reach her. Frustration was driving him so hard that his earlier inhibitions were cast aside. Within seconds he was next door, knocking on the kitchen window as he always did when he went round for Ben. Nina opened the door without acknowledging him and shouted up the stairs. “Ben, Tim’s here!”
    “Actually Nina it was you I wanted.”
    Nina turned to face him. She looked quite shocked. “Me?” she said. “I don’t want to play pool Tim and I couldn’t bear the thought of spending the afternoon in the Globe.”
    Tim smiled politely despite the sarcasm, but the deeper meaning wasn’t lost on him. Nina was hitting out at him over the row that had dominated his life for two weeks. She made no attempt to hide her loyalty to Melanie.
    “Nina, I was hoping to drive over to join Mel, and watch James playing his guitar but I’ve forgotten which school she said it was at. I was hoping you could help me.”
    “Tim, you’ve also forgotten what instrument he’s playing, maybe you didn’t notice that James didn’t take his guitar with him? He’s playing the piano at Westcombe School. It’ll take you the best part of an hour to get there.” She looked at her wrist watch. “I’d say you’re too late... it’ll be finishing by three at the latest. You’d probably get there just in time to meet them coming home.”
    At that moment Ben appeared in shorts and an old tennis top. “Give me five minutes Tim, I’ve just got to shave and get changed. Where are we going, the Globe or the King’s Arms?”
    “Sorry Ben, I can’t stop. I’ll see you later.” Ben watched with astonishment as his friend headed rapidly back to his house.
    Tim was unable to think straight as panic took over. He drove off in his red van, heading for Westcombe with no idea of what he was expecting to achieve. The traffic was heavy, as the Westcombe Road was also the shortest route from town to the motorway. The warm weather had brought out hundreds of cars, some with caravans, and some with boats, all intent on taking the motorway south towards the coast. His normally calm driving style was lost in a mixture of anger and frustration as he moved barely half a mile in twenty minutes. He cursed at the horse box in front of him. It was an hour and a half before he drove into Westcombe School.
    The car park was almost empty. He flicked the button to lock the van as he ran towards the school entrance. Two women were walking slowly away from the main entrance, obviously engrossed in their conversation. Maybe they could tell him if the music club had finished. In truth he didn’t need them to tell him, it was obvious from the lack of cars. His face brandished the pain of his disappointment when they said it had finished an hour ago.
    “My lad, James, was playing the piano ...I so wanted to be here but the traffic was bad. Now they’ll have gone for food and I need to find them.” A sudden thought hit him. “McDonalds,” he