Page 67 of Gold Digger
Hayley looked at her friend and then glanced behind us as well. Now my sister’s expression wasn’t just grim, it was furious. I turned to see Claire and Blake walking towards the pool. He had a hold of her upper arm. It could have been seen as solicitous to help her across the uneven ground. But as she winced and shook him off, I realised it was anything but. I frowned, my nails digging into my palms.
To be honest, I was really, really hoping that I was wrong about Blake. For once, I wanted my intuition to have failed me.But versions of Blake had littered my childhood; I knew exactly what he was. My mother’s boyfriends may not have had posh accents, but they were the same deal wrapped up in different packages. My childhood had gone through cycles. Mum would be sober for a few months then I’d notice the smell and her speech would change. Gradually there’d be less food in the house and more men. The men were often nice. One even bought me a McDonalds after he caught me eating frozen peas out of the freezer. But a couple were… not so nice. Luckily, I had really good instincts. I only got backhanded once when I didn’t manage to dodge, and I screamed so loudly when one came into my bedroom late at night that the neighbours came round. So I knew a bad man when I saw one. I knew the vibe they gave off, and I knew deep down that I wasn’t wrong about Blake.
By the time they reached us, Blake was all smiles and charm. Claire was reaching for her usual bubbly personality but falling short. Something had clearly happened that morning. I was glad Hayley had left with Florrie. The last thing I needed was for her to be around a man like this one. Whilst hugging Claire hello, I glanced at Blake and saw what most people would miss: the slightly bloodshot eyes, exaggerated, jerky movements and the smell. This really wasn’t something someone else would notice, especially as we were outside, but Iknewthat smell; I’d lived with that smell – it was like sour vinegar, and as the wind changed direction, blowing his scent across the lawn to me, I almost gagged.
Despite Mum’s perfume, no matter how many showers she took, I could always tell if she was actively drinking or hungover. Later, when she got sick, it was an almost sickly sweet smell mixed with the vinegar as she became increasingly jaundiced. The vinegar smell from Blake could just be there from a hangover, but this guy had had a few this morning – of that, I was completely sure. I moved back slightly, putting the sunlounger and small table between me and him. Blake needed to be avoided. There was no way I would ever voluntarily be within grabbing distance of a mean drunk again.
Ollie and Felix had got out of the pool now. Felix went straight to Lucy, making her squeal when he gathered her into his wet body. Ollie was clapping his brother-in-law on the back now and smiling at him. They were talking about a redesign of one of the bars that Blake was managing.
“I trust you with it now, mate,” Ollie said. “I know you won’t bugger it up.”
I pressed my lips together and looked to the side in the direction the girls had gone. They looked over at me, waved, and then darted off. Personally, I wouldn’t trust Blake as far as I could throw him. I found it strange that Ollie could be so perceptive about some things, but not this. I always thought Ollie was so different to Vicky, but I was starting to realise that blind spots when it came to reading people might be a common character trait in all three of the siblings. After all, Claire had married this guy, and apparently Florrie’s dad had also been a waste of space and barely saw her now.
It was actually Vicky, in this instance, who seemed the most perceptive. She certainly didn’t have much time for Blake. But then that may have been because he was unrelentingly crap at his job, and Vicky hated incompetence.
Margot rounded the corner then in her riding gear having clearly come from the stables and walked towards us.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see the girls emerging from the pool house dressed and ready to go. Florrie had pink leopard skin leggings paired with a crop top and a matching Alice band, whereas Hayley was rocking her baggy jeans and Nirvana t-shirt. They both glanced over at us, Florrie whispered something in Hayley’s ear and to my delight Hayley whispered something back. In front of everyone and notbehind a closed door. I was smiling when I turned back to the others. I opened my mouth to interrupt Ollie and tell him but caught myself just in time. He was deep in conversation now. Yes, this was momentous to me, but to him… Don’t get me wrong, I knew he’d care, just not quite in the breathlessly excited way that I did. So, I bit my lip and held my tongue. Despite my joy at seeing Hayley speak to another child out in the open, I felt my chest compress. There just wasn’t anyone as invested in Hayley as me, and it felt so very, very lonely, even surrounded by people.
“I’m just going to go and check on the girls,” I said, keeping my voice low so as not to give away my excitement. There were a few muttered acknowledgements, and my chest felt even tighter. I looked down at my feet but blinked as a pair riding boots came into view in front of me. Before I could look up, my hands were grabbed and I was pulled up into a hug.
“Did you see?” Margot said, her voice breathless and excited as she swayed me side to side.
“W-what?” I asked, hugging her back automatically, even through my confusion. Maternal hugs hadn’t been a feature of my life in so long I’d forgotten how good they felt.
“Hayley and Florrie,” Margot said, pulling back to look at my face. “Hayley spoke to her. Didn’t you see it?”
“Y-yes, but I?—”
“Hayley’s speaking to Florrie? In front of everyone?” Ollie put in, abandoning his business chat to come over to us. “You saw it?”
I looked at Ollie in surprise. Margot gave my hands a squeeze again. “We both saw it.”
“Fan-bloody-tastic!” Ollie said through a wide smile. “I knew she could do it.”
“Well, I… she’s actually been speaking to her peers for a while now.” Everyone had come over to us now. Ollie blinked at me.
“She has?”
I nodded slowly as his wide smile faded to a frown.
“That’s why I was happy crying outside her room the other day. I could hear them through the door.”
“I just thought you were happy she was with her friends. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Oh… I guess I…” I shrugged. “I guess I didn’t think it would be headline news. You guys are so busy, and I just…” Ollie was looking angry now, and he’d crossed his arms over his unfairly muscular chest, which still had some rivulets of water running down it – I wished he’d put a shirt on. It would be easier to think if he weren’t half-naked. Especially after the way he woke me up this morning. “I just didn’t think you’d be that interested or?—”
His eyes flashed as he reached for me, his arm going around my waist to pull me away from his mum. He half carried me off into the pool house, then set me down on my feet, slamming the door behind me.
“Why the fuck wouldn’t I be interested in Hayley speaking to her peers?” he snapped.
“Ollie, you’re really kind to Hayley. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it – how much it means to us. And I know what you said before, but I also know this is still a temporary arrangement. I know you care about Hayley to a certain extent, but you don’t have to pretend to?—”
“A certain extent?” he said in a low, dangerous voice.
“Yes, well, maybe I?—”
“I want to renegotiate the terms of our deal.”
