Lola's House (Lola Series) (22 page)

I was also disappointed, and a little surprised, that Robert
never turned up.  After all the work he had put into the shop I couldn’t work out why he hadn’t come.  He had promised he would be here to give me moral support, but for whatever reason he has chosen not to do so.  At the end of the day, maybe it was all for the best, I think to myself.  With James as drunk as he is, it could never have ended well.

I sa
y thank you and goodbye to everyone and watch as they drive off.  I take a final look around to make sure everything is as it should be and switch off the lights and lock up the shop.

Chapter Twenty Two

I arrive home utterly exhausted.  James
is slumped in the passenger seat, snoring and filling the car with his alcohol infused breath.  I glance at him as I swing the car into the driveway and notice his mouth has fallen open.  Robert’s car is missing from the driveway and in its place is Alex’s Porsche.  I tut and take a deep breath.  I will have to steady myself and fix a smile on my face, whether I feel like it or not.  The last thing I want to do is ruin what has, in the main, been a successful night with a run in with Alex.  I get out the car, slamming the door behind me and watch as James jumps upright in the passenger seat.  I ignore him and head towards the house.

Alex
is in the driver’s seat, talking on his mobile, he briefly raises his hand as I walk past to the front door, and then he ends the call and jumps out the car.  I hear his footsteps running rapidly behind me on the gravel.

‘Hey sis, sorry I missed your party.
I got stuck in traffic.’  He kisses me on the cheek and gives me an awkward hug.  ‘Okay if I crash here tonight?’

‘That depends,
’ I say, as I pull my keys out of my bag.  ‘Do you have an estate agent with you?’  I raise my eyebrows in enquiry and watch as his face takes on a nice rosy hue.

He
holds his hands up in submission.  ‘Okay, I thought I was doing you a favour, honestly.  I thought once you had seen the collateral in this house you might consider selling.  I realise now it was a step too far.’

‘I’d say several steps too far, Alex
, but you always did have a problem with boundaries didn’t you?’ I put my key in the lock and open the door.

He look
s slightly shamefaced so I decide not to torture him too much.  He is my little brother after all and I do still love him even though he’s a pain in the arse.  In the kitchen I place my bag on the table and produce two pieces of paper stapled together and put them in his hands.

‘What’s this?’  He stare
s down, his brows knotting in confusion.

‘That, Alex, is what I have spent on building costs so far.’

‘So why are you showing it to me?’

‘Well I believe it is in both our best interests to firmly establish where we stand to prevent any further bad feeling between us.’

‘I don’t understand.  How are your building costs going to achieve that?’

‘When Gran passed away you received, what some might say, a more than generous inheritance.  And yet despite this you still believe you have a right to claim a portion of my house.  A house, may I add that I do not wish to either sell or turn into flats.’
  My lips harden as I try to emphasise my point. 

‘I’ve apologised for that.’

‘Yes you have, but whether the message has fully sunk into your head is debatable, so just in case you need to be aware of how much it has cost me so far to bring this house into full repair and how much I still have to spend on it.  It’s only fair if you want to make money here that you’re aware of how much you will need to stump up for your half.’  There is no way I will ever sell the house and split the money with him, but he doesn’t know that.  He’s too blinded by his love of making easy money.

‘I never thought for a moment to
profit from you, sis.’

‘Didn’t you?’
I look up at his face which has now turned white despite his year round tan. 

‘Well maybe just my fee as project manager
,’ he says, shuffling uncomfortably. 

I
take the sheets of paper from his fingers before he faints.  ‘So, can we agree that there’ll be no more hassling and conniving, and especially no more estate agents?’

‘Agreed,’ he sa
ys, slumping into the chair at the table, all the fight has now left him.  He puts his hand out for me to shake. ‘Friends again?’

I smile and sh
ake his hand, satisfied that at least for now, I will get some peace from him.

The front door slam
s and my head shoots up expectantly, hoping to see Robert.  Instead James stumbles in, bumping into the doorframe as he enters.  Alex ignores him and gets up to look in the fridge.  I roll my eyes at the two of them and push James down into a chair before he falls over. 

‘I’d better go and see if Harley needs a walk before I go to bed
,’ I say, striding into the hall and opening Robert’s door. 

I expect Harley to bound up to me
, frantically wagging his tail - instead I’m met by cold hard silence.  I peer into the darkness, my heart beating faster as my brain comprehends what I see.  The room is dimly lit from the streetlight coming in through the window so I snap the light on for confirmation and realise my worst fear.  The room is empty.  Completely empty.  Every single piece of furniture has gone.  The sofa, the table, the TV, the bookshelves that normally heave with CD’s and books.  I walk through to the adjoining room.  Again, completely bare, the bed, the rugs all gone.  I walk across to the opposite window, my heels echoing off the floorboards as I move through the emptiness and stand surveying the room, my heart pounding in my chest. 

I c
an’t believe what my eyes are telling me, that Robert has just upped and left without talking to me, it’s just so out of character for him.  I don’t understand it. 

I
go back into the kitchen where James and Alex are now sat at the table stuffing their faces with chicken drumsticks.

‘Did you see Robert earlier?’  I st
and on the opposite side of the table facing James, hands on my hips, ready for battle.

He laugh
s to himself.  ‘I saw him loading his shit into a van, yeah.’

‘What?  Why was he loading his stuff up?’
I can feel my fingertips digging into my sides.

‘How
the fuck should I know?’ he grins, stupidly to himself.

I kn
ow he is lying.  That supercilious grin is there for a reason and I intend to get to the bottom of it.  ‘James, what did you say to him?’ I thrust my head forwards.

‘I said what you should have said, what
we agreed you would say,’ he shrugs and bites into the chicken.

I bang my hand so hard on the table,
both he and Alex flinch.  I feel the sting prickling through my skin.  ‘What did you say?’

‘I told him you didn’t want him here, that he was in the way, but you were too nice to get rid of him.  Bloody good job he’s gone too, now we can have some privacy
,’ he says, pushing the chair back and waving a half eaten chicken piece in my face.  ‘You should be thanking me, I did you a favour.’

I slap the chicken from his hand and he watche
s as it flies across the table and lands with a greasy thud on the floor.  ‘How dare you.  How dare you start throwing your weight around in my house.’

‘We decided
he should go, I just sped things up a bit.’  He squares his shoulders up to me.

‘You had no right,’ I sa
y, standing my ground.

‘I had every right, three’s a crowd, babe,’ he sa
ys, holding three fingers up in my face.

‘Don’t be ridiculous, he was planning to move out soon anyway.’ I push his hand away from me.

‘So I just helped him move on faster.’

I stare him in the eye
s, feeling rage boil up inside me.  ‘You’re an idiot sometimes, James, and you’ve gone a step too far this time.’  I turn my back on him, march out the door and up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door behind me.  I couldn’t stand to be in his presence a second longer.

Kicking
off my shoes, I watch as they bounce off the skirting board.  The fury inside me is raging and cursing through my veins.  I cannot believe James would do such a thing, that he could let his jealousy get the better of him like that.  And what will Robert think of me now? I shudder just thinking about it. I have no idea how I can put this right.

I count to ten
to quell my burning anger, and then another ten, and eventually feel myself begin to calm down and deflate.  Breathing steady, getting back to normal.

I t
ake off my dress, carefully placing it on its hanger, I’m not going to take my temper out on my beautiful dress. That deserves to be treated with the utmost respect.

As
I’m taking off my eye make-up I can hear raised voices coming from downstairs.  I stop, listening carefully as they get louder.  I hear the voices on the move, into the hallway, so I pull my robe around me and hold the door open to hear them better. I sigh, wondering whether I will need to intervene. 

‘I told you she would n
ever go for it you bloody idiot, I should never have gotten mixed up in it,’ James spits the words out in anger.

I’m not aware of moving
, but I find myself standing just behind the newel post at the top of the stairs. They carry on talking, oblivious to my presence.

‘You got mixed up in it because you thought you could make a fast buck, James and we al
l know how much you love money,’ he says, jabbing his finger in the air.  Their voices are almost being drowned out by the blood thundering through my veins. 

‘Yeah, well you’d know all about that, you’d sell your own grandma to get your hands on her money.  Oh wait, you already did get your hands on her money and now y
ou’re after your sister’s too,’ James sneers.  They had never been the best of friends but this was getting way too personal.

‘Don’t be such a hypocrite, James, you’re no angel yourself.  From what I’ve heard you have been busy fucking your last girlfriend while my sister thinks you’re away on business, so d
on’t preach to me about deceit,’ Alex laughs. My hand flies to my mouth as the floorboards creak beneath my feet, both their heads turn to me at once, faces frozen.

Time seem
s to stop. 

Then James
moves towards me.  He holds his hands up in surrender at the foot of the stairs.  ‘It’s not how it seems, Lola,’ he says, his face pleading, no trace of his drunken state from earlier.

I d
on’t answer him - my attention has been caught by Alex.  Deciding he has achieved maximum damage, he shrugs his shoulders, then tosses his keys in the air and deftly catches them in the other hand.  ‘I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it, shall I?’

I fe
el a whoosh of cold air as the front door opens and then slams shut.  Then the roar of Alex’s car engine as it springs into life.  I stand at the top of the stairs, the moments ticking on and on for what seem like forever.  My awareness slows down.  I can feel a raised nail in the floorboard pressing into the sole of my foot and I want to move but my legs refuse to work.

‘Babe, honestly it’s not like it seems,’ James sa
ys, advancing up the first few stairs.  ‘Come and sit down with me and let me explain.’  He holds out his hand to me, his face softening. 

‘Just go, James,’ I sa
y, I don’t know what I want, but I don’t want to sit with him and listen to his lies and excuses.

‘No
, babe, we need to talk this through,’ he says, impatiently thrusting his hand for me to take.

‘I said go, James.  Get out. 
Now.’ I haven’t got the strength to fight him or argue. 

‘Come on, Lola, you’re being unreasonable.  You only heard half the conversation.’  He c
omes up another stair, nearly touching me now.

‘I heard enough, now you need to leave. 
Right now.’ I take a step backwards, I don’t want his skin on mine.  ‘Now is not the time, James.’

He hesitate
s, not sure whether to stay and fight his corner or take the easy route and leave.  He chooses the latter.  ‘I’ll come back tomorrow when you’ve had chance to calm down, shall I?’

I already fe
el calm.  Very calm. 

I fe
el a whoosh of cold air again as the front door closes.  I sit down where I am on the stairs and lean my head against the cool wall.  It feels really good, seeping into my brain, cooling my senses.  Too much has happened this evening for my mind to process logically.  I feel worn down, like I’ve lost the battle and I just need to sleep and let my mind rest.  I smile to myself as I start to grow weary. 

My eyes flutter to a close and I drift off into blackness. 

When I aw
ake, a blue dawn lights the stairway.  Still sat on my stair, I shiver with cold, my body aching from being stuck in the same position for too long.  As I stretch myself, the events of last night start to filter into my brain and I groan inwardly, and get up from my makeshift bed.

I
n the bathroom I run a hot bath, gently slipping into it, glad of the warmth.  The water eases the aching in my body and I top the bath up with more hot water until my skin turns pink.  My muscles relax and my bones heave a grateful sigh.  I lie back in the water and let my mind think back to James’ surprise appearance at the pub all those months ago and how he was keen for us to get back together.  And then his proposal after what seemed to me like five minutes.