The Birds and the Bees(44)

When he found her cornered in the corridor, she looked so utterly  defeated and helpless, and something flagged up in his subconscious that  today was the wedding day that never was. He didn't know why he had  been so hard on her outside the loo, when it quite obviously wasn't her  fault. He had wanted to stride in and rescue her from that slimy little  man, but something had twisted inside him and he had ended up accusing  her of causing it all. He hadn't liked seeing her so vulnerable and it  confused him. Her pale little face had haunted him all afternoon and he  knew he wouldn't have slept, had he not driven over to see if she was  okay. It was the right thing to do after he had behaved so rudely.

‘Is Well Life Man staying for tea?' said Danny, appearing round-eyed with fascination in the doorway again.

The two grown-ups looked at each other. Stevie's thoughts had never been so perfectly at war. On the ‘No' side was:

1) this was Adam MacLean

2) she didn't want Danny getting confused

3) she didn't want Danny getting eaten



But on the ‘Yes' side was:

1) Adam needed to be there at least another hour for maximum effect

2) the damage had been done – he and Danny had met

3) Danny appeared to remain psychologically intact

4) she was doing all this for Danny as much as for herself



The argument was clearly won.

‘We're going to have fish and chips!' said Danny.

‘Ooh, one of my three hundred favourites!' said Adam, rubbing his hands together.

It looked as if he was staying then.

‘Cool,' said Danny, stroking Adam's tie as if it was as precious as a national treasure. ‘I love Superheroes, you know.'

‘Is that what you're going tae be then, when you grow up? A Superhero?'

‘No,' said Danny, as if that was the most stupid question in the world.  ‘I already am a superhero. I'm going to be a window cleaner.'

‘Oh I see.' Adam suppressed a grin. ‘So, have you got a name, fellow Superhero?'

‘I'm Dannyman.'

‘Glad to meet you, Dannyman,' said Adam, holding out his hand. Danny's little mitt was swallowed up in it.                       
       
           



       

‘So when did you last save the universe then?' said Adam.

‘Thursday,' said Danny, and off he trotted to watch the rest of Crocodile Dundee.





Chapter 35




Matthew stood at the window and tried to process the information his  eyes were sending to his brain. Stevie with a man. Not just any man. A  huge ginger man. And not just any huge, ginger man. Him. She had pulled  his head down towards her with his tie. So it wasn't a casual call then.  How bloody long had that been going on? Matthew asked himself. This was  supposed to be their wedding day and she was snogging MacLean! His  brain was busy speed-reading the events of the past few weeks for any  enlightening information. The irony of his thought processes was lost on  him.

So that's how Stevie got hold of Jo's Visa bill … That mysterious  connection had been bugging a back part of his brain since it happened.  He moved closer to the window. The scene being played out in front of  him raised a hell of a lot more questions than it answered.

He had been waiting to see something bizarre from MacLean and Stevie.  Her ultra-cool reaction to being rejected hadn't been normal, but he  didn't expect this! Was this why his leaving had seemed to cause such  little interruption to her life then? Had they embarked on their affair  first? Stevie and MacLean? NO! HOW? Is that why they were dancing  together so clumsily at Pam and Will's wedding – double-bluffing to throw  him off the scent? There were so many question and exclamation marks  bombarding him, he thought his brain might go into punctuation overload  and pop out of his head like a jack-in-a-box. Then, just as he thought  it might be a hallucination, there they were engaged in Part II by  canoodling in the window – and not right next to the window, as if they  were showing off to a would-be audience either, but back from it, lost  in each other. It couldn't be! They weren't a match. She was what – five  foot two – and he was the bloody BFG! Well, a BVG – a Big Violent Giant!  Although they had looked pretty matched up, snogging like that. Too much  so for comfort.

Matthew was shocked, puzzled, confused, bewildered. Matthew felt like he had just been punched in the stomach.



‘Sorry, it'll just be fish and chips,' said Stevie. ‘I haven't been shopping these past few days, I've been a bit … preoccupied.'

‘It would be better if you went for the fish and chips,' said Adam. ‘It looks then as if I'm already established in the house.'

‘Okay,' said Stevie, seeing the sense in that. ‘Danny, get your shoes on, pet.'

‘Aw, Mummy, can't I stay here with Well Life Man?'

‘No, of course not,' said Stevie.

‘Pleee-ease!'

‘He's okay,' said Adam, not immediately seeing the problem. ‘We can talk about hero stuff.'

‘Cool!'

‘I don't want my son used as a tactic, Mr … Adam,' said Stevie quietly  near his ear. Well, three foot beneath it, which was as close as she  could get without stilts.

‘He won't be. If the wee guy disnae want to go, I'll look after him till ye get back. I don't mind at all.'

‘Absolutely no way. No chance. Impossible.'

Stevie shook her head again and in such a way that it switched on a three-million watt light bulb in Adam's head.

‘You think I might hurt him, is that it?'

‘Well, I don't know you all that well, do I, to leave my child in your capable or incapable hands?'

‘Surely you wouldn't think that your child isn't safe with me?' MacLean  looked genuinely taken aback, as if she really had hit him where it  hurt.

No, she didn't think that at all, really. Ignoring the fact that he  looked like a primitive heavyweight boxer-cum-maniac-savage, in her  heart of hearts Stevie didn't think Adam MacLean would hurt her child.  Even if he could duff up a duplicitous adult bitch in the comfort of  their own home.

‘Please, Mummy!'

‘Here, take this,' said Adam, stretching a ten-pound note out to her.

‘Don't be silly,' said Stevie, pushing it back. ‘I owe you one for helping me out earlier anyway.'

Adam ignored her and stuffed it in her handbag whilst she was preoccupied with calming down her son.

‘Please, Mummmeee!' whined Danny.

‘No, you come with me.'

‘Awww!' Danny's face creased up and threatened tears, but Stevie did not give an inch.

‘Look, Superheroes need er … privacy to set the table. We'll only be five minutes. Come on, get your shoes on.'

‘Please, Mummy!' With the non-negotiable obstinacy of a four year old, Danny was not going anywhere.                       
       
           



       

‘C'moan, leave him, you'll only be five minutes,' said Adam.

Danny turned on his most charming blue-eyed smile. Stevie knew when she was beaten.

‘I'll be less than five minutes,' she said, making it sound more like a warning than a statement of fact.

Her boy would be okay. Her maternal instinct had no doubts on that  score. But still, she ran up the road like a hungry Linford Christie.



Across the road, Matthew had just about shut his jaw when he saw Stevie  come out of the house, on her own. That meant she had left Danny and  MacLean alone together. She would do that? After all she knew about him?  Then again, it hadn't stopped her snogging him, had it? Or worse. My  God, he was a true charmer, that much was true, and Stevie must be very  vulnerable at the moment, especially today, the perfect time for such a  manipulator to take full advantage of her. Matt felt a huge pull to go  over there and check everything was all right. He really would never  forgive himself if MacLean hurt Stevie too. Or Danny.

‘What are you looking at, babe?' called Jo from the sofa, where she was painting her toenails.

‘Er … nothing, darling.'

It crossed his mind to tell Jo her ex had just been snogging his ex, but  he couldn't gauge what her reaction would be. Recently her selfless,  caring consideration for Stevie's welfare had segued into jealous sulks  every time her name came up. So Matthew kept to the safe path, buttoned  his lip and came away from the window. He didn't want to spoil this  lovely weekend they were having, although a letter from the bank to  inform him that his loan payment had bounced had rather done that  already. Could he please rectify the situation immediately? Oh, and he  had been charged fifty quid for the letter.



There was a queue at the chip shop as a fresh batch of fish had only  just gone in. The shop-owner made a joke about it, and though Stevie  smiled politely, she didn't find it in the least bit amusing. Her nerves  were as tight as harp-strings.