Civvy Street (16 page)

‘Caro! Oh, Caro, it’s good to see you,’ said Maddy as she wrenched open the car door on the passenger side to greet her new neighbour.

Caro got out and stretched and then hugged Maddy. ‘This is brilliant. And I can’t believe we got allocated a quarter so close to you.’

Will hauled himself out of his side of the car. ‘God, I hate moving,’ he said, with feeling. ‘Hello, Maddy. Nothing personal in that statement – just an observation.’

Maddy went round the back of the car and hugged Will. ‘No offence taken. It’s just lovely that you’re here. It makes up for the socking great hole left by Mike and Susie going.’

Caro laughed. ‘That’s a phrase I don’t suppose you thought you’d say a couple of years ago. I remember you were distinctly unimpressed by Susie to start with.’

‘No, well, I admit it, I was wrong and she turned out to be a cracking friend.’

Caro raised an eyebrow.

‘Long story,’ said Maddy.

‘Oi,’ shouted one of the removal men. ‘You got a key to this gaff?’

‘Excuse me,’ said Will. He bounded off to open the front door and let the men in.

‘And?’ prompted Caro.

‘She was a perfect brick recently – especially when the battalion was in Kenya last year and Rose arrived in a bit of a rush.’ Maddy left it at that. Caro didn’t need to know all the details of the story. ‘Now then, I’ll get the kettle on while you direct the men as to where to put the boxes. Would you like me to take Oliver and Josh? I can give them lunch and everything. Although they mightn’t find our toys very interesting – a bit babyish.’

‘No problem. I’ve a box of theirs in the boot. Plenty to keep the little buggers amused.’

Caro opened the tailgate and hauled out a plastic crate brimming with toys and games then she let the boys out of the car.

‘Follow Maddy,’ she instructed them. ‘You remember Maddy, don’t you?’ Oliver looked as if he might but Josh seemed bewildered. ‘Never mind, but she’s a friend of Mummy’s and if you’re very good for her she might be your friend too and find you a biscuit.’

‘Ooh, I think I might have one. I might even find some chocolate ones if you are very,
very
good.’ Maddy took Josh’s hand and led him into her house while Oliver trotted in happily after her.

‘I owe you for this, Maddy. Big time,’ called Caro, dumping the crate of toys by the front door. ‘I’ll be round later with a bottle of something alcoholic to make up.’

Maddy went into the kitchen and found the promised chocolate biscuits which she handed out.

By the time Caro reappeared several hours later Maddy was on her knees, metaphorically and physically. Two lively boys plus two toddlers meant she had to operate at full throttle just to keep the tiniest smidgen of order. If two of the children were settled then at least one of the others wanted a drink or the loo. If Rose was quiet, Josh and Oliver were squabbling and, of course, all Nathan wanted to do was play with the Big Boys and playing with ‘a baby’ was the last thing they wanted to do. She got to her feet in relief when Caro rang the doorbell, very happy to hand over her charges.

Nathan and Rose were tired too, not being used to the stimulation provided by two boisterous boys. Maddy thought she’d give them an early supper and get them to bed pronto. She was in the kitchen making a cheese and tomato omelette for them both when Caro returned a few minutes later with a bottle of cold chardonnay. She cracked the screw top as Maddy opened the door and had the top off the bottle by the time Maddy had closed it. She ruffled the hair of the kids, sitting patiently in their highchairs.

‘I told Will he could feed the boys a sandwich while you and I got outside of this.’

‘That’s not very fair,’ said Maddy with a grin. She got two glasses out of a cupboard. ‘I bet he’s been working as hard as you with this move.’ She stirred the omelette in the pan.

Caro raised an eyebrow. ‘Erm... no. His hours at the MoD were insane, right up to the last minute. I can’t remember the last time he got back before about eight o’clock, so muggins here did all the donkey work in that department. Besides, he’s hardly seen the boys except at weekends and then he was too knackered half the time to really play with them. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if he knows which is which any more.’ She poured the wine.

Maddy giggled. ‘You’re exaggerating.’

‘Busted – but only about him not knowing which is which. The rest, Will not contributing to the move, et cetera, et cetera, is all true. Anyway, it won’t hurt him to do a bit of parenting for a change.’

‘Parenting isn’t too bad, but childminding on top!’ Maddy took a big swig of her wine and attended to the frying pan again before turning back to Caro and saying, ‘Really, Caro, I don’t know how you do it. Honestly, why on
earth
would anyone who has their own kids to look after ever go into childminding as well? It’s a nightmare.’

Caro grinned. ‘We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I couldn’t analyse stuff in a lab. This game is just a matter of being organised, having a routine, setting boundaries...’

‘I’m sure you’re right and I feel I
should
be able to do it. I’m a mum, I should understand about kids but honestly, this afternoon was an eye-opener. I simply didn’t have enough pairs of hands.’

‘So will you and Seb have a few more or has this put you off?’

Maddy shuddered. ‘No, absolutely not. What I’ve got is quite enough. Besides, he’s been to the doc and has been “done”.’

Caro giggled. ‘You make him sound like the cat.’

Maddy was tempted to tell Caro the rest of the story she’d started earlier, telling her just how like a tomcat Seb had been and how she’d been sorely tempted to give him a DIY job involving a couple of bricks. But she stopped herself; perhaps the fewer people in the battalion who knew the better. And as Seb was about to be Will’s boss maybe it wouldn’t be wise to be so indiscreet to his wife.

Maddy removed the omelette from the heat, and decided to change the subject. ‘Hey, I keep meaning to say that I am so pleased Will was cool about being Seb’s 2IC.’

Caro looked a bit bewildered. ‘Sorry, I don’t get you. Will is 2IC to the company, not Seb’s platoon.’

Maddy divided up the omelette and slid it onto two waiting plates. She stared at Caro.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Caro.

Maddy wasn’t sure what to say for a second. Caro didn’t know... but...? Maddy was certain she’d mentioned it. ‘But I told you. I told you about Seb’s promotion.’

‘What promotion?’

‘His acting majority.’

Caro put her glass down on the table. ‘His
what
?’ The atmosphere in the kitchen turned frosty. Rose gave a soft wail. Nathan also picked up that something was wrong and screwed his face up too.

‘His majority,’ said Maddy, quietly.

‘That’s what I thought you said.’

‘But I told you. When I phoned you, weeks back, I asked you how Will felt about the situation, being Seb’s 2IC, and you said both of you were just glad to be coming back to the battalion.’ Both children were sobbing now.

Caro raised her voice to be heard over them, not caring that this upset the two little ones even more. ‘Which we were...
then.
And when you said about Will being Seb’s 2IC I
assumed
you meant as his superior, not his subordinate. You really,
really
didn’t mention that Seb had just leapfrogged him. I think I’d have remembered that little fact if you’d bothered to mention it. I would have worked out that Seb had just pinched the job that should have been
my
husband’s. Will’s senior to Seb, if anyone should have got promoted to be the OC it should have been Will.’

Maddy put her hand on Caro’s arm but it was roughly shaken off. ‘We didn’t ask for this, Caro. Seb didn’t plan it.’ She pleaded silently at Caro to believe her.

Caro looked disbelieving. ‘Yeah, right. You and I know how the army works – a word here, a rumour there. So what did you and Seb say to fuck us over? And who to?’ She glared at Maddy, waiting for an answer. ‘Huh?’ Caro picked up her glass and drained it before she slammed it back down again. ‘I’m going. Call yourself a friend?’ She picked up the half-empty bottle and stormed out, leaving Maddy with two yelling children to cope with.

Seb returned from work a few minutes later and order of sorts had been restored but Maddy still felt shaky, even if the kids were calmer.

‘So,’ said Seb, as he put his beret on the hall table, ‘you’ve talked to Caro.’ He came into the kitchen and kissed her then sat at the table while Maddy fed Rose some yoghurt and Nathan chewed on a bread stick.

Maddy nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘Because I’ve just seen Will. He was coming over to the office to confront me and cornered me just down the road.’

‘And...?’

Seb shrugged. ‘He’s not happy. It was rather nasty
and
quite public.’

Maddy scraped the last of the yoghurt out of the pot and fed it to her daughter. She chucked the empty pot in the pedal bin. ‘How didn’t they know before they got here?’

‘Search me.’

‘I could have sworn I asked Caro if Will was all right with you being his boss.’

‘Maybe she misunderstood.’

Maddy shook her head. More than likely Caro had heard what she’d wanted to hear – not what Maddy had actually said. ‘So what does Will plan to do?’

‘There’s nothing much he
can
do at the moment. Craig has gone, the vacancy exists and the other OCs don’t want to lose their own 2ICs in a game of musical chairs. I think, for the time being, Will is going to have to put up and shut up.’

‘Ouch.’

‘And I’ve just got to hope that Will and Caro realise that I had nothing to do with the situation.’

‘Caro doesn’t see it like that.’ Maddy gave Seb an expurgated version of what Caro had said.

‘Oh.’

‘Indeed.’

Maddy felt like crying. She’d so looked forward to the return of her best friend and now the situation was just horrible.

*

Susie was feeling like crying too. The house was just as nasty as she remembered and the estate as grotty. And it still smelt. The downstairs was piled with boxes as Mike didn’t want any more clutter upstairs while he reconstructed the disassembled beds and wardrobes. The twins sulked on the sofa, fiddling with their iPhones and complaining that they were bored till Susie snapped.

‘Then help me get the kitchen sorted. Sitting there on your backsides isn’t doing anyone any good.’

The twins just gave her a look and returned to their phones.

Susie had had enough. She marched over to the sofa and, before the twins had clocked what was happening, she’d snatched both of their phones out of their hands.

‘Hey,’ they said but Susie shoved them into the pockets of her jeans.

‘I said,’ she said with menace in her voice, ‘help me get the kitchen sorted.’

The twins glanced at each other and both clambered off the sofa. With bad grace they followed Susie into the kitchen where she handed them a box each.

‘Cutlery in the top drawer, mixing bowls, pie dishes and the like in that cupboard, utensils in the middle drawer. Anything else, ask me.’

The twins put their boxes on the shabby work surfaces and began to unwrap the newspaper that protected every item. The pile of crumpled, discarded newsprint on the floor grew. Every now and again Susie bundled it up and stuffed it in a green recycling box. The twins grumbled as they worked but Susie ignored their gripes. If they wanted her to take pity on them and let them off, they were out of luck.

When the boxes marked ‘kitchen’ were all unpacked – which took a good couple of hours – Susie relented and gave them their phones back. They slouched off back to the sofa.

‘Why don’t you go and play outside?’ said Susie.

‘In this dump?’ said Ella.

‘Who with?’ sneered Katie.

‘Your bikes are in the garage. You could have a ride around the village, explore the area. It’s a nice evening.’

‘Suppose,’ said Ella.

The girls left and Susie surveyed her kitchen. It was awful, and the oven was a joke, but the great thing about coming from an army quarter was she’d made do with kitchens and appliances almost as bad for most of her married life. The contents of the fridge in the quarter had been transferred via a cool box to the factory-new one that had been delivered that morning. The shiny new fridge looked out of place in amongst the tatty battered units but Susie promised herself that as soon as she and Mike were back on their feet she’d have a proper kitchen, a new one, one that was designed to meet her needs. It might take a year or two but she’d get it. Eventually.

Jenna picked up Eliot from his pushchair and cradled him on her hip as she made her way through the open door of the proposed community centre and picked her way over the cables of the contractors working on the alterations. Somewhere a radio blared and there was the sound of hammering and drilling emanating from several of the rooms. A builder whistled tunelessly but stopped when he saw Jenna.

‘Wotcha, love. Can I help you?’ he said, looking directly at her tits.

Jenna pulled her cardigan across her chest with her free hand. ‘I’m looking for the foreman. He asked me to come over to check the plans.’

The builder looked towards the kitchen and yelled at full blast, ‘Oi! Greg! There’s a lady to see you.’ Having alerted his boss about his visitor he returned his gaze to Jenna’s bosom. Jenna pushed past him so he’d only get her back view.

A middle-aged man with fox-coloured hair came out of the kitchen. ‘Hello. Crèche or salon?’

‘What? Oh...’ The penny dropped. ‘I’m here about the salon.’

‘Follow me. Watch your feet.’ He led the way to the stairs. ‘I’m Greg by the way. And you are?’

‘Jenna, Jenna Perkins.’ She looked over the banisters as she picked her way up the stairs, littered with rubbish – the result of the wallpaper being stripped off. Below her the builder in the hall was staring up at her. Jenna was thankful she was wearing jeans and not a skirt. Perv.

‘Right,’ said Greg. ‘Where do you want everything?

Jenna looked at the space she’d been allocated. It was wonderful. The bay window let in loads of light and there’d be ample room for several hairdressers to work simultaneously – assuming she could recruit more stylists. She peered into the bathroom which had been stripped out and then peeked into the dressing room. As Maddy had suggested the dressing room would make a perfect utility space to put a washer and a tumble drier to sort out the towels and also double up as a kitchenette to provide drinks for the customers.