Broke (27 page)

‘I do.’ Kelvin paid the driver and reached for her hand to help her out. ‘This is my mom’s place. I thought it would be better if I brought you round here for something to eat before we decide what to do next.’

The front door opened, and an elderly woman appeared on the step. Kelvin smiled and ushered Amy up the path. ‘Mom, this is my friend Amy. She’s just come out of hospital. Got anything nice in the pot to help her get better?’

Claudine Brown’s grey eyebrows puckered together as she gave the girl the once-over. Her son had dated a few nice girls in the past, and one or two that Claudine had seriously disapproved of. But this one looked the worst of the lot. Still, she could hardly shut the door in her own son’s face, so she stepped back and waved them in.

‘Tek off your shoes,’ she ordered Amy when she’d shown her into the lounge. ‘Do you want some soup? I’ll get you some soup.’

‘No, I’m fine,’ said Amy, her stomach turning at the thought of eating. ‘Please don’t put yourself out.’

‘She’ll have some.’ Kelvin overruled her. ‘I’ll come and help you.’

‘
Shoes
,’ Claudine barked over her shoulder as her son hustled her out of the room.

Amy slipped her shoes off, perched on the couch and gazed around, awed by the spotlessness of the room and the enormous array of gleaming ornaments. Everywhere she looked there was a china figurine, a vase filled with artificial flowers, or a framed photograph. It was a massive contrast to the squalor of her own home, and it made her feel even dirtier than she already knew she was.

In the kitchen, Kelvin had briefly explained the situation to his mother, and she wasn’t impressed.

‘It’s not your problem,’ she said, frowning as she ladled soup out of the enormous pot on the cooker top into a bowl. ‘Why you gettin’ involved?’

‘She’s a nice girl,’ Kelvin told her. ‘I want to help her.’

Claudine gave him a piercing look. ‘You an’ she up to no good, boy?’

‘No, course not. It’s not like that.’

‘So where you meet her?’

‘At work.’

‘She work?’ Claudine’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief.

‘Well, she
did
, but I doubt she’ll be going back after this,’ said Kelvin. ‘Look, don’t worry about it, Mom. It’s not going to affect me in the slightest, I promise. I just want to make sure she’s safe while she gets better.’

‘And how long that gon’ take?’ Claudine wiped her hands on her apron and placed the bowl on a tray.

‘I don’t know.’ Kelvin shrugged. ‘She’s got a broken wrist, and . . .’ He managed to catch himself before he let slip about the drugs. His mother was already concerned, but the mention of heroin would send her fleeing to the pastor for spiritual intervention. ‘She needs to rest,’ he said instead.

‘If you ask me you is headin’ for trouble,’ Claudine intoned grimly, reading between the lines. ‘You may t’ink she a good girl, but just remember the devil can smile like a h’angel when he huntin’ soul.’

Amused, Kelvin leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Don’t worry, my soul is safe.’

‘Me hope so, son,’ Claudine said quietly, picking up the tray.

Amy sat bolt upright when the door opened and Kelvin’s mother came in. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured when the tray was laid on her lap. ‘It smells lovely.’

‘Eat it while it hot,’ ordered Claudine, going over to the chair beside the fire.

Amy dipped the spoon into the soup and prayed that she wouldn’t throw up when it touched her tongue.

‘How would you feel about staying here for a while?’ Kelvin asked, perching on the end of the couch and watching as Amy toyed with the soup. ‘I don’t think you should be on your own just now, and my mom and my sister would be able to look after you while I’m at work.’

Amy’s head shot up. So that was why he had brought her here instead of to his flat? He was trying to palm her off.

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll go to my mum and dad’s.’

‘I thought they weren’t talking to you?’

‘They’ll be okay when they see me. Anyway, I’m not your mum’s problem. It’s too much to expect her to look after me.’

‘She doesn’t mind,’ Kelvin insisted. ‘Do you, Mom?’

Claudine jerked her chin up in a gesture that could have meant anything. Sensing that it was negative, Amy shook her head again.

‘No, really, it wouldn’t feel right. And you’ve done enough for me already.’

‘All I’ve done is pick you up from the hospital and bring you to my mom’s for something to eat,’ Kelvin said softly. ‘That’s nothing.’

‘That’s
more
than enough,’ said Amy, meaning it sincerely. He barely knew her, and yet he’d already shown her more concern and compassion than anybody else had done in a long time.

The doorbell rang, and Claudine arched her neck to peer out through the window. ‘Sister Hampson.’ She hauled herself to her feet. ‘Stay here while me see what she want.’

As soon as she had left the room, Amy whispered, ‘Please don’t think I’m being rude, Kelvin. Your mum’s lovely, but she doesn’t want me here, and I don’t blame her. Look at this place and then look at me. She must think I’m a total tramp.’

‘She’s a good Christian woman,’ Kelvin whispered back. ‘She’d never turn anyone away if they needed help.’

‘I don’t
want
to stay,’ Amy insisted, tears flooding her eyes. ‘I’m not fit to be around good people. If you don’t want me at your place, I’ll just—’

‘Hey, settle down,’ Kelvin interrupted softly. ‘I only suggested it because I thought it’d be better if someone was looking after you. Course you can stay with me. But it’s probably best if we don’t tell my mom, so I’ll say I’m taking you to your parents – okay?’

‘Thank you.’ Amy sighed. ‘And, don’t worry, I won’t stay too long. I’ll ring the council first thing, see if they can put me in a hostel.’

‘You can stay as long as you like,’ Kelvin assured her, reaching for the spoon. It was obvious that she didn’t want to eat the soup, and his mother would be more offended to come back and find the bowl full than by the thought of Amy’s dirty feet and greasy hair touching her nice clean carpet and sofa.

The door opened while he was eating, and a girl strode in wearing a dressing gown, her hair wrapped in a towel. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him, and drew her head back.

‘What are you doing here so early?’

‘Just picked my friend up from the hospital.’ Kelvin nodded towards Amy. ‘Her house was set on fire last night. Amy, this is my sister Eve.’

‘
Evangeline
,’ the girl corrected him tartly, looking Amy up and down as she spoke. ‘What you playing at, bringing ragamuffins into Mommy’s house?’

‘Hey, Amy’s my friend!’ Kelvin scolded. ‘Have some respect.’

‘Say ’gain?’ His sister jutted her jaw out and gaped at him in disbelief.

Claudine came back just then from speaking with her church friend and, clocking the expression of annoyance on her son’s face, and her daughter’s cocky stance, she guessed what was going on and cuffed the girl on the shoulder as she passed her.

‘Don’t even t’ink about startin’ none a your foolishness,’ she warned. ‘Your brother welcome to bring him friend home, and if you don’t like it, go to your room.’

The girl kissed her teeth and tossed Amy a look of undisguised disgust before marching out.

‘I’m calling a cab,’ Kelvin told his mother when she’d gone. ‘I’m going to take Amy to her mum and dad’s.’

‘It’s for the best,’ Claudine said approvingly. Then, smiling down at Amy, she nodded at the almost empty bowl. ‘You c’yan eat no more?’

‘No, that was really filling,’ Amy lied. ‘And absolutely delicious. Thank you.’

The taxi arrived five minutes later. Claudine gave her son a hug goodbye before turning to Amy. ‘You tek care, y’ hear? An’ stay ’way from dem bad mens in future.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, I will,’ Amy agreed, desperate to get out of there. Kelvin’s mother had been very nice, but if looks could kill Amy would have been stone dead within a minute of stepping foot in the house. And the sister would happily have helped her on her way with a knife between the eyes.

Kelvin’s flat was on the third floor of a tower block in a run-down part of Rusholme. It was the first place the council had offered him, and his family and friends had said he needed his head testing when he told them he was taking it, but it was exactly what he’d been praying for. If his mother had had her way, she’d have kept him tied to her apron strings for life. But a twenty-five-year-old man needed his own space, and Kelvin still got a kick out of being able to go home and close the door on the world. Nobody ever bothered him there, and it was only a ten-minute bus ride to work and a fifteen-minute one to his mother’s house, so it was perfect.

He led Amy in and waved her into the tiny living room, saying, ‘I’ll show you to your room in a bit. Just let me find some sheets. It’s only a fold-down bed, by the way. I hope that’s okay?’

‘I’d sleep right here if I had to,’ Amy assured him, flopping down on his couch and relaxing for the first time all day.

Her wrist had started to throb again, so she reached into her pocket for the painkillers that the hospital pharmacist had given her before she discharged herself. The doctor had wanted her to stay another night to make sure there was no internal damage from the smoke she’d inhaled, but Kelvin had arrived by then and she’d been desperate to get out before Yates turned up. If he had got his hands on her, smoke damage would have been the least of her worries.

Kelvin brought her a glass of water to wash her tablets down, and said, ‘I’ll make you a cup of tea when the kettle’s boiled. And I’ll run you a bath, if you want to get cleaned up. You should be all right if you put a plastic bag over the plaster.’

‘You don’t have to wait on me,’ Amy said guiltily, aware that he’d come straight to the hospital from work. ‘Go to bed. I can look after myself.’

‘Just want to make sure you’ve got everything you need first,’ said Kelvin, putting his cigarettes and lighter down on the table beside her. ‘Help yourself if you want a smoke. And I know you’re not really hungry, but do you think you could manage a piece of toast? The nurse reckoned those tablets are really strong, so I think you should have something in your stomach.’

‘Considering all the smack I’ve taken over the last few months, I doubt the pills are going to do me any harm,’ Amy murmured.

Kelvin gave her a worried look. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to cope without it?’

‘I don’t know,’ Amy admitted. ‘But I’ve got to try, or Mark will never let me see the kids.’

As soon as the words left her mouth, Amy’s face crumpled. Kelvin sat down and pulled her into his arms.

‘Hey, don’t cry. He’s bound to let you see them once he knows you’re making an effort.’

‘What if he doesn’t?’ Amy sobbed. ‘I miss them so much.’

‘Trust me, he will,’ Kelvin whispered. ‘Now stop worrying. I’m here, and I’m going to look after you.’

Amy closed her eyes and laid her head against his broad chest. Mark had always told her that he would look after her, but while she had always known that he meant it she’d never fully believed that he was actually capable of doing it. But Kelvin wasn’t like Mark. He wasn’t weak, and he didn’t speak just for the pleasure of hearing his own voice. He was strong, and genuine, and he treated his mother with respect – the mark of a real man, in Amy’s eyes. It was going to be tough, but with Kelvin’s support she truly believed she could beat the addiction.

What she would do after that, she had no idea. But, for now, she just had to take it one step at a time.

The withdrawal kicked in with a vengeance a short time after Kelvin went to bed, and Amy felt like she was going insane as she paced the room from window to wall and back again. The craving was all-consuming, and only one thing would take it away: a fix. Just one little fix. One tiny little fix to take the edge off, and then she’d be able to start kicking it.

She stared at the people walking by on the street down below and contemplated going out to ask if any of them knew where she could score. She was completely broke, but Kelvin’s jacket was draped over the back of the couch and, as the agonising cravings grew, so too did the temptation. Unable to resist, she slid her hand into his pocket.

There was nothing in there, and she was flooded with shame when it occurred to her that Kelvin might have emptied it before he went to bed because he had known that she would search it. He had been so kind, and yet, first chance she’d got, she had been about to steal from him.

Disgusted with herself, she went to bed and prayed for sleep to release her. But it didn’t come, and as the minutes ticked slowly by, the pain grew and grew.

Kelvin got up at five and tried to persuade Amy to eat something, but she couldn’t stomach anything. He looked in on her again before going to work, and wished that he could magic the pain away when he saw her shaking from head to toe. But they had talked about this earlier, and Amy had insisted that no matter how bad it got or how much she pleaded, he wasn’t to cave in and get her anything.

‘I’ve got to go,’ he told her, squatting beside the bed. ‘Are you going to be all right?’

Amy gritted her teeth and nodded.

‘I know you’re not really supposed to drink with those painkillers,’ Kelvin went on softly, ‘but if it gets too bad there’s a bottle of JD on the sideboard. And if you need me, ring me and I’ll come straight back. Okay?’

‘Just go,’ said Amy, wishing that he would stop fussing. He was lovely, but her nerves were already screaming, and the sound of his voice was making her feel physically sick.

Kelvin sighed and stood up. He gazed down at her for a moment, then looped his bag over his shoulder and left.

When Amy heard the front door click shut behind him she released the sob she’d been holding in. It was already unbearable and she didn’t know how she was going to manage another minute, never mind hour, or day. But she had to try – if not for herself, then for the kids.

As she tossed and turned the next few hours away, Amy struggled to keep an image of the kids at the forefront of her mind. But all she could think about was smack. She wanted it, needed it, and every fibre of her being was craving it.