The Lie of Love (11 page)

The morning passed and
Ged
did not show. Whenever she
stopped to think about it, a wave of rage would wash over her, followed by an
equal one of despair. He wasn’t answering his phone and he wasn’t there with
her. As the day wore on, a vast range of emotions took their turn: panic,
worry, anger and sadness. More than anything, she was desperately concerned
that Sophie and Jake were alright, but as Amanda had reminded her many times,
if anything had happened to them, he would surely call her the instant he was
able to.  Amanda almost looked as vexed about it as Darcy whenever she
thought Darcy wasn’t looking, and it was only the distractions of the games and
the endless stream of people willing to donate that kept either of them from
voicing really savage thoughts.

‘There’s Julia,’ Amanda said,
squinting across at a figure making her way toward them through the crowds.
‘Thank God she’s
here,
I’m desperate for a coffee….
She can take the bucket for a while.’

‘Perhaps you ought to ask her
first if she minds,’ Darcy smiled thinly.

‘She’ll be alright… she loves all
this fundraising lark… makes her look virtuous.’ Amanda started out to meet
her. ‘I’ll pick you up a coffee too,’ she called behind her as she went. 

There was an exchange of words
and the charity bucket, and then Amanda was gone. Julia held up a hand to Darcy
in greeting and then gestured that she was going to wander the crowds with it.
Darcy nodded her understanding.  Over the speaker system, Mark announced
that the games were taking a short break before they began the final couple of water
based activities, and reminded people of why they were all there, helpfully
mentioning the various ways people could donate to Sophie’s cause.

‘It looks as thought it has been
a fantastic success today…’

Darcy spun around to see Ethan
Reeves looking down at her with an amiable expression.

‘You made me jump,’ Darcy
laughed, her hand flying to her chest.

‘Sorry about that,’ he smiled.
 ‘I thought I’d grab a quick word with you about how you think it’s gone
today.’

‘I thought you were concentrating
on the lifeguards,’ Darcy began, hoping to put him off the scent of the family
photo he had mentioned earlier. ‘They’re far more interesting and better
looking,’ she added with a forced smile.

‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that…’ He
scanned the crowd. ‘I have a photographer around here somewhere. Perhaps we
could get that family shot. And I’d love to meet them all. Your husband must be
incredibly proud of you.’

‘Oh… I’m sorry… he had to take
Sophie home not long after they arrived… she wasn’t feeling well…’ Darcy
blushed as the lie flew from her lips. She just hoped it wasn’t too noticeable.
‘So they’re not here.’

‘Who’s not here?’ Darcy turned to
find
Ged
standing behind
her, Jake at his side and Sophie in her wheelchair.  He smiled and nodded
as Ethan turned to him too. ‘I’ve had a devil of a job getting Sophie’s chair
over the sand, although she seemed to find it quite funny, and the sweat
dripping from my brow after my exertions tells me I’m very definitely here.’

‘Oh…’ Ethan began, but then
stopped as he looked from one to the other. He seemed to guess the real story
straightaway and Darcy could only be thankful that he didn’t further embarrass
her by exposing her white lies. ‘That’s fantastic timing,’ he said instead,
‘I’d like to get a few words and a photo of the whole family, if that’s
alright.’

‘No problem at all,’
Ged
replied with his most earnest
smile. Darcy knew the smile well – it was a glib showing of his teeth he
reserved for clients, or for when he brought his boss home for dinner – it was
the one that didn’t really mean anything. It came so naturally to him it was
frightening. If he could turn this on so easily, Darcy had wondered on more
than one occasion, how could she be sure that he ever really meant anything he
did or said? What did the real
Ged
actually think?

And the platitudes came just as
easily as
Ged
told Ethan all
that he thought the reporter wanted to hear. When Ethan congratulated him on
his wonderful family and the amazing work he and Darcy were doing for Sophie,
Ged
soaked it all up as Darcy looked on, itching for them
to be left alone so she could vent the anger and frustration now building
inside her, ready to pop.

The photographer arrived,
red-faced and huffing, looking as if he’d rather be anywhere else at that
moment. A few snaps later, he nodded curtly and disappeared into the crowds
again.

‘Well, I’ve had a fabulous day
but I really should head back to the office and do some work,’ Ethan smiled.
‘Thank you for your time and I wish you all the luck in the world with your
enterprise… if there’s anything else we can do at the
Echo
, any way we
can help, please
don’t
hesitate to give me a call.’ He
looked at Darcy. ‘You have my card, don’t you?’

Darcy nodded.

‘Great. I’m not sure exactly what
night the piece will be in but it should be early next week.’

‘That’s ok,’
Ged
replied, holding out his hand to shake with
Ethan, ‘we always buy the paper every night anyway so we’ll see it.’

They never bought the
Echo
;
Ged
always said that it was
a cheap rag for uneducated yokels and wouldn’t entertain it in the house, but
Darcy kept tight lipped about that particular lie. It was just another of
Ged’s
slick lines and one that even she, in her agitated
state, could see the wisdom of.

Ethan bid Jake and Sophie goodbye
and then held up a hand in farewell to Darcy and
Ged
before making his way back to the
promenade.  In the distance, Darcy was faintly aware of the sounds of the
games getting underway again, but now she was far too distracted to take any
notice.

‘Can I go and watch the boat
race?’ Jake asked. ‘Brandon’s over
there with his
nan
… can I go and stand with him?’

‘Of course you can,’
Ged
smiled, ruffling Jake’s hair.
‘Just don’t go wandering too far, ok?’

‘I won’t,’ Jake called as he
sprinted across the sand towards where his best friend stood with a tall,
slender, silver-haired woman.

‘This had better be good,’ Darcy
growled as they stood, side-by-side watching their son go.

Ged
turned to her, seemingly unconcerned by the
malice in her tone. ‘What had?’

‘Your excuse
for not being here.’

‘I am here.’

‘Five hours late.’

‘Oh, come on, that’s pushing it a
bit. I am late but I’ve had stuff to do this morning.’

‘More important
stuff than this?
You promised you’d be here –’

‘And I am here. You seem to be
having problems with that concept.’

Darcy spun around to face him.
‘How dare you!’ 

Sophie was still in her chair,
facing away from them. She cricked her neck to look for the source of the
commotion.

‘Keep it down,’
Ged
hissed.

‘Keep it down?’ Darcy replied,
lowering her voice anyway. ‘Do you think this is all a game?’

‘No but you seem to. Some of us
have better things to do than swan around the beach all day watching sports and
chit chatting.’

Darcy drew a steadying breath,
doing her best to keep her temper in check. ‘Ok,’ she said in a low voice, ‘why
don’t you enlighten me? What was so urgent at home that you had to spend all
morning there instead of here supporting me?’

‘Work called, they needed
something sorting.’

‘Couldn’t you tell them that you
had important family things on today? It is Saturday, after all. Surely you get
weekends off once in a while?’

‘It’s easy for you to say, you
don’t have a boss to answer to.’

‘And while this was happening,
what were the kids doing?’

‘I don’t know… watching TV or
something.’

‘Great…
All
morning?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And this thing for work had to
take all morning?’

‘It needed sorting.’

Darcy folded her arms across her
chest. I don’t believe you.’ 

‘What?’

‘I think you wanted an excuse to
stay away. Either work didn’t really need you or whatever it was could have
waited. I don’t believe for a minute anything was that
urgent.
’

‘Believe what you want; there’s
no arguing with you when you’re in this mood.’

‘Is it any wonder I’m in a mood?
I had to lie through my teeth to that reporter about where you were and he knew
it. We’re supposed to be showing a united front, we’re supposed to be a solid
family working together for our daughter but you can’t even be bothered to turn
up on time for the biggest fundraising event we’ve ever planned. What does that
say about us?’

‘That we’re busy?’

‘
Argh
!’
Darcy stamped her foot. ‘I hate it when you
patronise me. I’m not a child,
Ged
!’

‘Then stop acting like one. I’m
sick to death of your hair-brained schemes, and your constant need for everyone
to do what you want.’

‘And I’m sick to death of you not
caring about anyone in this family.’

‘I never asked to be a dad!’

Darcy winced. It had been a long
time since he had trotted that particular line out and she had hoped, however
misguided that hope might have been, that he was over it. The truth was that it
was Darcy who had wanted kids, where
Ged
had not. Reluctantly, he agreed to Jake, but when Jake was born Darcy realised
just how much she didn’t want him to grow up without a sibling.  Then
followed more heated discussions (that felt more like marriage shattering
arguments) and some time afterwards Sophie arrived. But for the first few
years, particularly as Sophie came with her own unique problems,
Ged
had made it known at every opportunity how much he had
been opposed to their having children at all.

‘Perhaps you’d like to shout that
a bit louder,’ Darcy said quietly, ‘a few people over the far side of the Cobb
didn’t hear it. Your daughter most certainly did though.’

Sophie twisted around again,
eying them silently as she often did. Darcy could almost see the thought
processes behind her wide-eyed gaze.  But as she always did, whatever
Sophie was thinking, she kept it to herself.

‘Stop goading me then,’
Ged
hissed back. ‘I’m doing my
bloody best here but it’s never good enough for you, is it?’

‘Are you doing your best? Because
all I see is someone doing their best to be awkward. You’re certainly doing
your best not to get involved in what could be the single most important thing
to happen in your daughter’s life.’

Ged
paused. ‘I don’t have to listen to this. Do you
want me to stick around today or not?’

‘It’s not like anyone would miss
you, as you haven’t been here long enough for anyone to notice you’ve arrived
anyway.’

Staring straight ahead,
Ged
ground his teeth.
‘Fine.
But I’m only hanging around now because Jake is
watching the boats. After that I’m going home whether you come or not.’

‘I can’t come straight away. I
have to help pack up.’ Darcy levelled her tone in a stiff attempt at civility.
‘But if you could take the kids back that would be a huge help.’

‘Right, I’ll do that.’
Ged’s
polite reply was equally as
forced. Without another word, he grabbed the handles of Sophie’s chair and
began to wheel her in the direction of Jake, who was squinting out to sea, the
surface now glittering with a sun that had burned through the early cloud to
beat down on the beach.  He didn’t look back once and Darcy could almost
see the hostility in the aggressive hunch of his shoulders.

Her eyes burned with tears, but
she sniffed hard and shook them away. There would be a time to dwell on their
conversation, on all the things that were wrong between her and
Ged
, on the fact that her marriage
seemed to be unravelling faster than she could keep up with, but that time
couldn’t be now when she had so much to do.

Amanda made her way over with two
takeaway coffees. ‘It took an age to get served.’ She handed Darcy a paper cup.
‘So
Ged
finally showed.
What
was his excuse?’

‘Something work needed urgently
this morning,’ Darcy replied, peeling back the lid and taking a careful sip of
her coffee. ‘He’s apologised and Ethan managed to get a word with him, which
was the main reason I wanted him here.’

Amanda looked at her, the doubt
obvious in her expression, but she made no comment on whether she believed
Darcy was really ok with
Ged’s
no-show. ‘Two more games to go and then we’ll be packing up. It’s been a great
success, don’t you think?’

Darcy nodded. ‘I think so. Has
Julia still got your bucket?’

‘Oh, I completely forgot about that!
She
has,
poor sausage. I bet she’s cursing me for
running off and leaving her.’

‘I’m sure she doesn’t mind, but
we probably ought to find her and relieve her of the duty.’

‘Probably…’

The rest of the afternoon passed
in a blur of more collecting, more small-talk and gracious smiles, and more of
Darcy trying her best to stifle the negative emotions simmering dangerously
close to the surface. Every so often she would run her gaze across the crowds,
trying to see where
Ged
was
and what he and the children were doing.  A couple of times she tried to
catch his eye, to gauge his mood, but she never seemed to manage it. She often
found herself drawn to wherever Harry was too, watching him chat easily with
his group of friends, Rachel hanging around on the outskirts and laughing at
everything he said. Julia had the odd quick word with him and then went off
again with a spare bucket she had been to fetch from the church hall, having
decided to stay for the rest of the day and maximise the fundraising effort.  Darcy
couldn’t remember the last time her life was that uncomplicated, she mused as
she watched him.  She couldn’t remember her life ever being full of such
promise and opportunities as his seemed to be. Her youth had been entirely
unremarkable and nobody had expected her to amount to anything.  Being
free of those expectations meant that she had nothing to strive for either, no
reason to try to be anything remarkable. When she thought back on it now,
approaching middle age, she wondered whether she would ever come to terms with
all those wasted years.