The fix up, p.19
The Fix Up, page 19
After that Arietta had no intention of refusing. It was thoughtful and a lovely gesture. A bag of bread flour, yeast and some of Nettie’s homemade jam had also gone into the bag.
“Ohh, it looks lovely,” Audie said and Arietta laughed.
“Audie, my love, you’ve got hollow legs.”
Nettie had stared at Audie then Arietta intently, but hadn’t made any comment as she totalled up their purchases, except to wish them a lovely day. The only other person in the shop, a stranger, was busy on her phone as she glanced at them then turned away.
Arietta wondered about that look—had Josephine been gossiping? More than likely, but unlike Josephine, Nettie was the sort of person to keep her own council. She hoped.
“It’s just as well we‘ve got two backpacks, isn’t it?” Audie said as after a quick foray into the paper shop and a bag of jelly babies later they began to walk back down the lane. “Cos seriously, there’s a lot of weight here.” She did a pretend stagger. “Argh… I’ll be half a foot smaller and—"
“Better not eat any of that cake then or you’ll also be half a stone heavier,” Arietta said. “I’ll have to eat it all myself.” She didn’t say she probably wouldn’t eat any of it. She might have a sweet tooth, but not that sweet.
“I’ll need some to keep my strength up,” Audie said. “And I’ve run out of carrot sticks till I cut some more. Oh fish, here’s that Josephine woman again.”
“This time don’t get carried away,” Arietta warned her. “She might be daft but she’s not stupid.”
“Sorry.” Audie sounded contrite. “I’ll be good.”
Josephine evidently hadn’t sought them out. She crossed their path and, apart from one deep searching glance in Audie’s direction, did no more than nod and speak briefly. “I’ve got to dash, the vicar will be waiting for his cup of tea and currant bun. It’s his evening for parishioners to come and talk to him.”
Arietta almost said enjoy, before she realised how inappropriate that was as an answer. She murmured something that could have been ‘mustn’t keep you’, and smiled. “Busy man, the village is lucky to have him.”
Josephine preened and nodded. “We all are.” She bustled off.
Arietta watched her go. “I must stop getting so annoyed with her. She means well.”
“She made me feel like an insect under a microscope,” Audie said and shuddered. “It wasn’t nice.”
“No, I bet not. Sorry. Let’s hope we don’t bump into her again. I’ll give her what for if she does it next time. Nudge me if you get that feeling again.” Arietta hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.
“Will do. Hey.” Audie grabbed Arietta’s arm. “I’m getting paranoid. There’s that woman from the shop stopping Josephine and asking her something. She’s got her phone out again. Do you think she’s a super sleuth? Jewel thief doing a stakeout in the pub or renting a hideaway?”
“Probably thinks our lane is the way to town and got lost.”
“Could be. Oh, she’s going away now and Josephine’s gone as well. Not with her. At least she’s not come in our direction.”
“Thank goodness, now let’s get ourselves back and argue over what film to watch and decide how early we want to head off in the morning.” Audie only had one more full day with her and Arietta intended to take her to the safari park as promised. With luck Josephine wouldn’t be around.
* * * *
She wasn’t, and Arietta and Audie spent several happy hours touring the safari park then walking around the pedestrian areas, watching the various animals as they enjoyed their large living quarters.
“Though I’d still love to see them in their proper place,” Audie said as with an ice cream each they made their tired way back to the car. “This is the next best thing and it is making sure they don’t die out, isn’t it? Dad says he’ll take me on a safari when I’m a bit older. Mum says she’ll take me on a cruise and I can learn to snorkel. I like the sound of the snorkelling but not so much the cruise. I mean, what do you really see but the sea?”
“The places you stop off in?”
“Maybe, but I bet they’ll all see the harbour, go to one busy beach, be expected to talk to people you don’t really want to, and it’ll probably be a ship full of oldies.” She giggled. “That’s what Dad would tell me is a first-world problem, and I should be grateful I get the chance to do everything I do. I am, but I’m more grateful for some of them than I am for others. Yeah, I know I’m spoiled.”
It sounded as if Audie had it all thought out.
“I’m sure cruises aren’t like that,” Arietta said diplomatically. “You’ll probably enjoy it.”
“Hmm.” Audie didn’t sound convinced. “Have you been on one?
“Well, no,” Arietta confessed. It sounded like her own personal version of hell. She was no fan of crowds and forced conversation. “But then, I’m generally a loner.”
“till you met Dad?”
“You’ve got me there. Okay, until I met your dad. So head home, have a wash and go into the village in time for the chip van?”
“Oh yeah. High five.” Audie held her hand up and they slapped palms in the ritual. “Looking forward to it. Can we eat it as we walk?”
“As long as you’re not too tired.”
“Walk for fish and chips? I’d never be too tired. Well, unless it was miles, then I’d walk there maybe, and ask for an Uber home.”
“No Ubers around here.”
“Probably as well the chippie isn’t far then.”
Arietta shook her head in amusement. “Just like your dad, got an answer for everything.”
Audie skipped to the car. “I try.”
* * * *
“These are delicious,” Audie mumbled through a mouthful of hot but not greasy chips. “You know it was weird, up at the van in the queue? I’m sure everyone was staring at me as if I was a performing seal.”
“A what?” Arietta said, amused at how Audie really did have some interesting thoughts.
“Well, you know what I mean. I thought I ought to do a magic trick and take a bow or pass my hat round and ask for ‘change, missus, any old change’. Then Josephine was strange. She went red and rushed away without picking up her change when she saw us. Don’t you wonder why?”
Arietta did. She’d noticed that as well. “Probably just a bit ashamed of herself. She’s like all of us and hates to be in the wrong for any reason. I bet she realised how she sounded the other day. Don’t worry about her.”
That was easier said than done. Audie had nodded and began to talk about going back to school and the end of term play. Which she was adamant she wouldn’t appear in. “I want to direct, not be told what to do.”
Arietta laughed and told her why not and the subject was forgotten. However, as she got ready for bed, she found herself worrying about Josephine’s attitude once more. Moss hadn’t been able to ring, which was something he’d warned them about earlier. They were filming late and as he was getting, as he put it, time off for good behaviour to pick Audie up, he wasn’t going to complain. A short and to the point text to Audie just said, “All on schedule behave yourselves”.
To Arietta it was even briefer.
Love you x
She’d sent ‘sleep tight when you get a chance’, thought about it and added, ‘PS love you too’.
She hoped she could do as she’d asked of him and get some sleep.
* * * *
The noise of someone hammering on her front door, her mobile doing the muted buzz it did when the sound was switched off and she had a call, plus her land line ringing, combined with Audie shaking her, woke Arietta up with a start. From a dream about doing a double ride on a zip wire with Josephine, who was threatening to get off halfway because she wanted a kebab and a man on a pedal boat beneath them was waving one in the air.
“Waaa?” she said groggily, half her brain still full of the zip wire dream. She could swear she could taste the kebab. “Where’s the fire?” She sniffed. No scent of smoke hit her nostrils, which was one good thing. Arietta relaxed a couple of muscles she hadn’t realised she’d tensed. “What the hell’s going on? End of the world?” She had a terrible thought, and no idea why it was the first thing that properly hit her. “Your dad? Is he okay?”
“Hopping mad but unharmed,” Audie said gloomily. “Can’t say that for us, though.”
Arietta did her best to unscramble her brain. “Say it slowly and in words of one syllable. I’m not all with it yet. Why is your dad okay but we aren’t?”
“Someone knows who I am, or rather they’ve guessed it part wrongly and it’s all over the papers that you’re my mum and Dad is my dad and he didn’t know he had a love child and where on earth they think I’ve been hiding is beyond me.” She gulped and took a breath. “It’s got everyone’s knickers in a twist according to my mum, who says there’s no need for them to be and some people need to keep their noses out of what after all has nothing to do with them.”
Arietta held her hand in the air. “Slow down, I’m still having trouble following you. I’m supposed to be your mum? And you’ve just appeared like a genie out of a bottle?” Was she still asleep and this was the follow-on dream? Please don’t let Josephine pop out from behind the loo door. “How did we manage that?”
“No idea, and it seems so, though not the genie bit.”
Thank goodness Audie had no problem following her befuddled thoughts. Arietta sat upright. “Ah, okay.” Which was another stupid thing to say as it obviously wasn’t okay, anything but. “Stolen by the kelpies? Scrub that. It’s daft. I’m not with it yet.”
Audie smiled. “Thank goodness! I mean not that you’re shattered, but that you understand your words are crazy. Kelpies is a bit too far-fetched, even for this. Mind you, now I wonder if I’ve been living on a farm in Australia or with foster wolves in a cave somewhere?”
In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Arietta’s lips twitched. “And just teleported here on a whim?”
“Who knows? Someone is quoted as saying ‘we all reckoned she’, I guess they mean you, ‘had secrets but not that one was like this!’ Barstewards. Dad is fuming, on your and mum’s behalf, and worried for me. Mum thinks it’s funny that no one has cottoned on who I really am before or, well, not really now either, and Tarq is threatening to sue anyone he can think of who’s got anything to do with this, except Mum and me. Weirdly he says the jury is out on Dad, because Dad says it’s got to be some wally and does Tarquin have any idea who, so now Dad is ready to punch Tarq. Who wouldn’t have a clue how to defend himself. Sadly then, Mum admitted Grandma and Gramps said you did it and now Dad wants to give them what for, but hey ho…” She shrugged and made a funny face. “Goodness knows who is who, on where, or what they want. Here’s a cup of coffee. I made it, so no guarantee what it’ll taste like, but at least it’s hot.”
Arietta did her best to be fully awake, concentrate and understand what Audie was saying. “Stitched up?”
“Seems so. What shall we do about it? Who do we kill? I mean metaphorically,” Audie added hastily. “I’m anti-violence in real life.”
I thought I was. I’m not so sure now.
“Me, honey, not you. You need to keep out of it.” Arietta took a sip of coffee, pulled the landline out of the socket and sighed in relief as one of the persistent noises was silenced. “Hot and good, thank you.”
“Stay out of it? Not in a million years,” Audie said indignantly. “It’s me as well they‘re talking about and it’s not fair on you or Mum or Dad or Tarq for that matter. I’m gonna wave the flags and man the barricades.” She started to sing Do You Hear the People Sing from the musical Les Miserable in a very tuneful voice. “Dad says he’ll be here around ten and he’ll come in the back way. There’s people out the front, probably reporters, and did you know your mobile is still going crazy?” She sounded as if she didn’t know whether to be alarmed or excited at all the commotion. “Totally crazy.”
Arietta nodded. “Let it, that’s why I’ve not put the ringtones back on. It can vibrate away and we can ignore it.” Unless it was Moss. She’d check the names before she did anything.
“I’ve had three of my mates from school text and ask if it’s me cos there’s a reward for my name and so on from one of the pap rags,” Audie said. “I said I wish, so hope they’ll leave it for now. Mum and Tarquin are staying out of it at the moment, but as Mum says, once people get hold of a clear pic of me, it’ll all be out and the poo will pile on the fan. Do you mind? I mean, you’ve been dropped into something that’s not your fault. Will it really be all right for you?”
Audie sounded about ready to break into tears. Arietta hurried to reassure her. She got out of bed and pulled Audie into a bear hug. “I’m flattered, to be honest. If I ever have a child, I hope it’s a girl as nice as you. Even if you do eat all the carrots.” It had become a standing joke that every carrot in the veg box became carrot sticks within minutes. Audie ate them like other teens might eat chocolate.
“They make your hair curly and help you see in the dark.” Audie tugged on her straight-as-a-die hair and crossed her eyes. “I think someone had that wrong or I’m the whoosit to challenge the saying.”
Arietta grinned in spite of the seriousness of the situation. “Definitely got it wrong. It’s my least favourite veg after fennel, and I straighten my hair. If I left it to do its own thing, it would be a mass of unmanageable curls. I’d swap with you, even if it means eating carrots. But I daren’t risk it.” She looked at her bedside clock and groaned. “What time did you say your dad would be here?”
Audie glanced at her watch and yelped. “Ten minutes. I’ll go and unlock the back door, shall I? And not open the curtains. Or answer to some persistent twit trying to call through the letterbox and not knowing he’s actually shouting into a real wooden box. Er, if I unlock the door, what if one of them gets in? Maybe I’ll stand behind it ready to do a quick open and shut around Dad?”
“Good idea, I’ll get up.” And get ready to do battle. How dare any of them think this is my doing?
By the time she’d had the shortest wash on record—no time for a shower—pulled on clean jeans, a newish and smartish blouse, and brushed her hair, seven of those ten minutes had gone. She spent another one and a half putting on mascara and eyeliner and a speedy colour on her lips before she did a quick check over in the mirror. It was as well she did because when she studied herself, she realised she’d only got one earring in, and remembered she’d taken the other one out in the middle of the night as the wire had been digging in. It returned to her ear in record time and she decided she was as ready as she could be. If she was heading into battle she was going in wearing full war paint and with all guns blazing. Whatever that meant.
She headed downstairs and ignored the rattle of the letterbox and the thumping on the door. As it was Scotland, where there was no law of trespass, she couldn’t call the police on that account, but maybe she could say she was being harassed? And that there was a young, frightened child in the house? One glance at Audie’s face scotched that idea. She’d obviously decided to come down on the side of excitement.
Or maybe I’ll be arsy and see what Moss is going to do about it—or not. Why the hell didn’t I unlock the back gate? Hold on, he’s got a key.
“Dad’s just texted. He’s on his bike and going to be a courier if anyone asks who he is. He’ll come up the lane at the back and through the garage. I suggested he drive straight down the front lane, rev up and pretending to run them over, but he said he’d get fired if he did that and got found out. Pity really cos one of them has a voice like a foghorn. Or he’s got a foghorn, I dunno which. I bet it means he’s a tiny wimp with a tiny—"
“Audie B-T or whatever name you use, how old are you really?” Arietta broke in before Audie said exactly what she meant.
Audie sniggered. “I was going to say tiny mind… I’m thirteen and a bit and I use B-T cos it’s easier to have the same name as Mum. Or I did do. When she marries Tarquin I’m not going to swap to Smith. If I changed to anything it would be to Dad’s, but that would upset Gran and Grandpa and as Dad says, why do it? I know he’s my dad and so does he.”
So does half the world now.
“I think that’s Dad now.” Audie was peering through the tiniest gap in the curtains. “No one’s realised there’s a back way in yet, have they?”
“Hopefully not. It’s rarely used by anyone, except Thomas when he wants to dodge people.” More than once he’d been glad of that getaway. Some of the locals could be persistent in asking for autographs or photos. If it were bad for her twin, what on earth would it be like for Moss?
“And now Dad.”
“And now your dad.”
Arietta joined Audie at her peephole as a helmet-clad figure wheeled a well-known motorbike inside the garage and a few minutes later headed to the house. Audie flung the door open, and Moss—if it was Moss, it wasn’t easy to tell with most of him covered—moved swiftly inside the cottage and shut and locked the door behind him.
Chapter Thirteen
He took his helmet off, put it on the nearest work surface, dropped a tatty rucksack on the floor by his feet and hugged his daughter, all without looking at Arietta.
Doghouse again? I must get new carpets. The ones here play havoc with your knees. And a fridge… It needs a fridge.
“Earth to Arietta… You with us?” Audie gave her a peculiar look. Sympathetic and pleading at the same time.
“Sorry,” Arietta apologised. “I was miles away. What did you say?”
“I said why the hell did I not threaten them with God knows what?” Moss said in a flat, angry voice. “How dare they? I am so, so, sorry, love, but seriously, they need to grow up and be sensible. Are you holding up? Can we sue them?”
