Matthew rang Jo to see if she wanted to go out for lunch but once again, she declined. Then their paths crossed when he was going out for ‘his dentist's appointment'. She scurried away from him, which confused him, because he thought they were friends again now, what with all that sex and promise of more. She looked quite worried about something. Maybe it was delayed shock after what he had told her last night. He would buy her a present on the way back from the bank, he decided.
‘Flaming heck!' said Robert Gilroy, Matthew's account handler. He looked about twelve and made Matthew feel the same age with comments like, ‘What a blooming mess!' No doubt he would send out for lashings of ginger beer in a minute.
Matthew nodded regretfully.
‘Is this the full picture or is there more? People do tend to hide stuff and it's hardly wise if you want help.'
‘That's it,' said Matthew. ‘Honestly.'
Robert Gilroy tapped away on his laptop, and then twisted it round for Matthew to see.
‘That's how much interest you're paying per month at the moment on all your debt.'
‘Bloody hell and a half,' gulped Matthew.
‘The thing is, we've given you one consolidated loan already and what did you pay off?'
‘Er … ' said Matthew, feeling that he was going to be asked to bend over in a moment and have a cane applied to his rear end.
‘Enough said, I think,' said Robert Gilroy. ‘For a person who earns this much money per annum, you should have a good amount of disposable income. I'm having trouble believing how you actually manage to eat.'
‘I need help,' admitted Matthew, closer to tears than he had been in years. ‘I'm a spendaholic.'
‘Do you spend to make yourself feel better? Spend to win and influence people?'
‘Yes.'
‘Have you considered counselling in tandem with this?'
‘I can't afford any,' said Matthew despairingly.
‘It's free if you go through your doctor.'
‘I may need to,' said Matthew. ‘But so far as the actual money goes, can you help?'
‘Well, yep,' said Robert Gilroy, and watched as Matthew's tense shoulders dropped with relief. ‘You'll be tied to this debt for at least five years but it will give you breathing space to have some quality of life. The debt will be cheaper if you secure it against your home, obviously. That wouldn't be a problem – you have plenty of equity in the house, I see. How solid is your job?'
‘Rock solid,' said Matthew with absolute surety. He was good at his job, knew what he was doing and the company was financially stable and growing healthily so there were no worries about securing the loan against his house.
‘Right, now get out your plastic,' said Robert Gilroy.
‘What – now?'
‘Yep.'
‘All of it?' Matthew started to cold sweat.
‘On our own card account we can give you zero per cent interest for fourteen months. You will be able to transfer sixty per cent of your debt over to it, but when the card itself arrives, I suggest you cut it up, although I haven't said that. Okay, let's have the cards.'
Matthew felt like a child that had been asked to turn out his pockets and have all his sweets confiscated. For his own good though, before they rotted all his teeth.
Robert Gilroy handed him a pair of scissors.
‘I've got a present to buy. For my girlfriend,' Matthew whimpered as the scissors scraped his emergency Goldfish.
‘Give her a massage,' said Robert Gilroy. ‘She'll only moan that you've made her fat if you buy chocolates.'
‘I was thinking of a gold necklace.'
Robert Gilroy raised his eyebrows. ‘She'll leave you anyway if you continue to wake up screaming and sweating in the middle of the night because you're so debt-ridden. If your heart doesn't give out first. Cut, please.'
Matthew sliced. So severe was the pain, he had to look down because he thought he had cut his finger off.
Chapter 44
When Stevie came home with four big bags of shopping, it was to find Adam MacLean in the sunroom, nearing the middle of a book. He had tidied around and vacuumed up. Something else she couldn't remember Matthew doing much of.
‘Hello,' he greeted her.
‘Hello,' she said a trifle awkwardly. She still hadn't quite got over the embarrassment of their little staged scrabble on the floor. She had kept having burning flashbacks since. Then she realized what he was reading: Winter of Content by herself in disguise as Beatrice Pollen. It was one of her more passionate pieces, in which an imaginary Grand Duke of Russia falls for a servant girl. She tried to ignore the fact that he was reading it. At least he didn't know she'd written it, for then, she suspected, her life wouldn't be worth living.
‘I had a day off today. Didn't bring any books to read with me so I thought I'd have a go at this,' he explained.
‘Oh right,' said Stevie. She refused to give him any ammunition to shoot her with and acted disinterested.
‘I can see now why people buy them. There's actually quite a nice story go'n on here.'
‘Yes,' she said, but not trusting him. There was a sting around the corner, she could almost smell it. He put it down, saving the page he was on with a comb from his pocket.
‘Here, let me give you a hand,' he said.
‘I'm all right.'
He ignored her and started to take things out of bags.
‘No not that one!' she screamed as he put some tampons down on the table.
‘Christ, woman, I do know women menstruate. It's of no great surprise to me!' He moved his attentions to a carrier that looked full of bulky veg to save her further blushes, though. ‘By the way, you had a call from someone called Crystal. Wanted you to phone her back,' he dropped casually.
‘What did she say?' asked Stevie. Trying to sound as casual in return.
‘Nothing really. Funny, she kept getting my name wrong and calling me Damme MacQueen.'
Bugger!
‘Oh … er … she's like that. Bit old and doddery. Thanks for taking the message.'
He grinned behind her back. ‘I thought I might take you and Danny out for a pizza, if you like.'
‘There's really no need.'
‘I want to. I fancy a pizza and didn't want to eat out alone.'
‘Thank you for the offer,' she said, not looking directly at him, ‘but I don't want my son getting too excited about you being here and becoming attached to you. He's already far keener to see you than I ever expected. I don't want him getting hurt.'
‘Okay, I understand,' said Adam and he did, but he could not quite manage to mask the note of disappointment in his voice. He liked the little boy. Danny reminded him of himself at that age, quiet and intense with a head full of stories about outsmarting life's baddies. Not that his mum had been anything like Stevie, and that, he considered, was a great shame.
As a courtesy to Stevie, Adam made himself scarce after saying a quick hello to Danny when he came in from school. He went off for a long run, making sure he wasn't back before Danny went to bed at half-past seven. He returned warm and sweaty to find Stevie outside deadheading a few of the roses that trailed up the front walls of the cottage, twisted up with the sweet perfumed honeysuckle.
‘Hi,' he said, going into the cottage. ‘Can I get you a cold drink?'
‘I'm okay, thanks,' she said, and carried on snipping. He wondered if she was wishing each one was his head. He had gone a bit far the other day, chucking her on the floor and tickling her. Although Matty Boy's reaction had proved the end justified the means. He had seen the spark of jealousy flaring in his eyes, the anger that Adam was messing with something he still considered his. Matthew actually looked as if he might hit him at one point. In saying that, he was still living with Joanna, so they weren't quite home and dry yet.
He heard Stevie yelp and the secateurs drop to the ground and rushed out to see what the matter was.
‘I think I've just been stung,' she said, trying to shake off her glove. Sure enough, in the crook of her arm was a still-throbbing sting.
‘Here.' He pulled out her arm, then pincered out the sting, lowered his lips and started to suck.
‘Ow!'
‘Wheesht, woman, I'm trying to help you.'
He sucked and spat, sucked and spat.
‘Christ, can't they get a fucking room,' said Jo, who had just gone to the sink for a glass of water and seen them in passing. She couldn't bear to stand and watch, but she couldn't move away from the window either. The sight of Adam with her was driving her mad. He was actually kissing her up the arm in full view of the street. They looked bloody ridiculous. She tore herself away and jumped onto Matthew's lap on the sofa, knocking away the newspaper he was engrossed in.