Thirty-seven
About a month before the wedding, Beth was getting out of her car when she heard a familiar voice behind her. ‘Beth Campbell, are you stalking me?’
She spun round, a smile already on her face. ‘Charlie Morris, you wally!’ He held his arms open and she ran to him. ‘When did you get back?’
‘Just over a week ago. Thought I’d come and see you, and, um … and … catch up with Michelle.’
‘You were away from the UK for ages.’
‘Yeah. I’ve been gone so long my face ought to be on milk cartons.’ He grinned, then added, ‘Don’t say it …’
‘What?’
‘That my face ought to be on bog roll!’
‘I would never say such a thing.’ Beth gave his chin a stroke. ‘Your bum fluff hasn’t improved much.’
‘Nonsense. This is a brilliant beard,’ Charlie snorted.
She’d missed his laugh. ‘Michelle doesn’t live in Tennison Avenue any more. She moved out of her mum’s house.’
‘No one can blame her for that.’ He shuddered. ‘Bloody hell. Her mother. Meddling cow!’
‘Absolutely. Michelle’s not far though. She rents a flat with her boyfriend, Ricky.’
‘OK. Cool.’
‘Do you want to go for a drink or something? You know, to catch up.’
He gave a casual shrug. ‘Yeah, sure.’
‘I’ll just need to pop in and tell them I’m going out, they were expecting me for dinner.’ Beth gestured towards her parents’ house. ‘Fancy coming in, to see them?’
Again, he was casual. ‘Uh huh.’
She opened the front door and called out, ‘Look who I found loitering outside the house.’
Pat and Don appeared at the kitchen doorway. Don blanched and dropped the tea towel he’d been holding. ‘Oh, Christ.’
‘Is that little Charlie Morris?’ Pat had a closer look.
‘Yep, it’s me. All grown up.’
‘You’re not wrong. How are you?’ She was staring up at him, amazed at his size.
‘I’m good, thanks. Just back from Singapore for a while.’ Charlie held out his hand to Don. ‘Hello.’ With a slightly nervous cough, he added, ‘I’m OK, honest I am.’
Realising he’d been staring, with his mouth open, Don apologised and shook the hand he’d been offered. ‘Sorry, son, it’s just, you know. I can’t help remembering …’
At this point, Nanna came down the stairs. ‘Who’s this, then?’ Examining Charlie’s face, she grabbed the bull by the horns and said, ‘It’s the boy who nearly died. Blimey, you didn’t get like that eating salad, did you?’ Turning to Pat she remarked, ‘You’d never be able to pick him up out of that paddling pool now, would you?’
Charlie grinned. ‘Hello, Nanna. It’s good to see you again.’
‘We’re going to pop out for a drink to catch up. Don’t worry about me for dinner, Mum, I’ll get something whilst we’re out.’ Beth grabbed her handbag and made her way over to the hall mirror. Applying an extra coat of mascara and some fresh lipstick, she then set about adding some cover up to the scars on her chin, a constant reminder not to listen to Lisa’s advice.
‘OK. Just the two of you, is it?’ Pat asked.
Beth looked at Charlie. ‘Um … Charlie wants to catch up with Michelle too.’
‘Well, we don’t have to … I just …’
‘He had no intention of catching up with her, you idiot. Can’t you tell when someone wants to be alone with you?’ Lisa asked.
‘He mentioned her first. I’m just going along with his plan.’
Beth gave Nanna a hug. ‘See you later.’
‘Have fun with the big fella.’
‘You know something, Nanna?’ Charlie said. ‘You haven’t changed a bit.’
Nanna tilted her head. ‘Nonsense, I’ve aged like a sausage in the sun, but thank you anyway.’
They got into Beth’s car. When she’d passed her test, being a nervous driver, she’d decided to buy a small Fiat. She found it easy to manoeuvre and park, and James had agreed it was a good car for her. Plus, it was pink, an added bonus.
Charlie almost filled it by himself. Shoving the seat back as far as it would go, he asked, ‘Bloody hell, Beth, does Barbie know you’ve got her car?’
‘Just sit as still as you can, please. I don’t fancy ending up five feet in the air.’ She drove the short trip to Michelle’s flat as quickly as possible.
Once there, she tried to help him out of the car. Pulling with all her might, she couldn’t stop laughing. ‘No-one’s ever found it this hard to get out.’
‘Is this an audition for Gulliver’s Travels? What on earth made you buy this car?’
A police car sped past the end of Michelle’s road. ‘He won’t sell many ice creams going that fast,’ Charlie joked.
‘Stop. Please? I can’t … breathe!’
In due course, Charlie managed to exit the car. With a shout of, ‘The sardine has landed!’ the pair fell onto the pavement in a tangle of limbs and laughter. This was the sight that greeted Michelle on her way home from work. ‘Beth? Is that you? Who the f‒?’
‘Hi, Michelle. Remember me?’
Once Michelle realised who Charlie was, she couldn’t stop chatting. ‘Oh my God, Charlie Morris. I thought I’d never see you again. It was awful when you nearly drowned. Beth, can you believe it, it’s Charlie Morris?’
‘All right, all right, calm down. We’ve come to take you for a drink.’ Beth placed her hands on Michelle’s shoulders. ‘Just wait a minute. Or else you’ll have nothing left to say to the man.’
They settled themselves at a table in the pub garden. It was a gorgeous warm evening and the chatting never stopped. They ordered chips. Beth felt pure contentment.
‘Do you remember the BMX bike you had?’ Michelle asked Charlie, as she blew on one of her chips.
‘Oh yeah, I loved that bike.’ He reached for the ketchup and squirted a giant amount over his food.
‘Go easy!’ Beth instructed.
‘It’s just a drizzle.’
‘More like a tsunami!’
‘You need to chill out, Beth Campbell.’ Picking up a chip, Charlie dipped it in the ketchup and blobbed some onto the end of her nose.
She grabbed a napkin and wiped it off. ‘Wally!’
He asked, ‘What made you think of my bike, Michelle?’
‘I just remember you riding up and down the road on it. You used to sing that bloody street tuff song. At the top of your voice!’
‘That is a total lie.’ He shoved three chips in his mouth as he spoke, not bothering to wait for them to cool down.
‘You did.’ Michelle looked to Beth for acknowledgement. ‘He did, didn’t he?’
Beth nodded.
‘Oh God, I’ve just remembered …’ Michelle continued. ‘The mouse, the one you found in your kitchen, and your dad caught in a shoebox. He took it to the park to let it go.’
‘And you insisted on throwing a bloody Mr Kipling French Fancy after it,’ Beth chipped in.
‘I didn’t want the poor thing to go hungry. Besides, if it was going to make new friends at the park, it was gonna need cake. Everyone likes a French Fancy, right? Especially the brown ones.’ Charlie grinned.
‘When I told my mum you’d found a mouse in your kitchen, she thought you were as common as muck.’
‘Michelle, your mum thought everything was as common as muck.’ Charlie gave a loud snort. ‘She figured she was better than the rest of us. Despite being the last person in the street to give up using that awful Izal toilet paper. Christ, that stuff hurt!’
Beth was laughing so much her tummy hurt. ‘Yes, the toilet paper! Charlie, I’d totally forgotten about that, and the Rebel MC song. You were such a wally.’
‘He was, wasn’t he? But a funny one.’ Michelle was laughing too.
‘I’m glad I amused you.’
‘You really did,’ Michelle said. ‘And you had that scruffy dog, um …?’
‘Dylan,’ Charlie volunteered. ‘Poor old Dylan, he lived a pretty long life. God love him.’ Ramming more chips in his mouth, he added, ‘He used to bark at “Grumpy Jack’s” syrup.’
‘Sorry?’ Beth was confused.
‘His syrup. His wig. You must remember the fucking rug he wore.’
Michelle was almost hysterical. ‘Dylan hated that thing. I think he thought it was a rat.’
Beth shook her head in disbelief. ‘You’re totally making that bit up.’
‘We’re not,’ replied Charlie. ‘And I’ll tell you another thing. He wasn’t keen on your dad’s comb over either.’
‘My dad never had a comb over!’
‘Really? I was convinced he did when we were kids.’
‘Do you think my nanna would’ve let him do that?’
‘I guess not, no.’ Charlie shook his head.
‘Actually, he did kind of brush it forwards,’ Michelle reminded Beth, with a wince.
Beth smiled. ‘Well, fortunately, he’s stopped that now. Speaking of dads ‒ remember when you were about six, Charlie, and you thought your mum and dad were brother and sister?’
‘They had the same surname. It made sense to me!’ He grinned as he took a swig of his drink.
Catching her breath, Michelle said, ‘You were so funny. We missed you after you moved.’
Charlie continued to cram in chips. ‘Yeah, sorry about that. It was Mum, she couldn’t … you know, after …’
Beth and Michelle nodded.
Michelle and Charlie were drinking a lot. For each half pint of shandy Beth consumed, Michelle had a large wine, and Charlie a pint of Guinness. Since returning from Singapore he’d been for a lad’s weekend to Ireland, and now claimed he loved the stuff. It amused Beth to point out that Guinness was her nanna’s favourite tipple too.
She longed to let herself go, and have a proper drink with them, but she daren’t. Lisa had made it clear she was keen on Charlie, and Beth knew she absolutely must stay in control.
At about ten, Beth announced that she needed to go home. ‘Sorry, guys, I’ve got to be up early tomorrow.’
‘It’s too soon to call it a night,’ Charlie grumbled. ‘Check out your stupid watch, it’ll tell you I’m right.’
‘Honestly, I need to get home.’ It was clear she meant it.
Charlie and Michelle knocked back their drinks.
Walking towards Beth’s car, which was parked outside Michelle’s, Charlie asked, ‘Are you OK to drive?’
‘I’m not sure. I mean, I’ve only had a few shandies, but …’
‘Leave it here. You’re not far away,’ Michelle suggested.
‘OK. But … what about you, Charlie? How did you get to mine earlier?’
‘Bus. It’s no sweat. I’ll get the bus back to Mum and Dad’s.’
Beth didn’t like the thought of him having to traipse home on the bus at night. She reconsidered. ‘I suppose I could drive you …’
‘No. You’re all right.’ He grinned. ‘I didn’t fit in that silly little car before all the Guinness and chips. There’s no bloody way I’d fit now.’
‘But I thought you said your parents moved miles away?’
‘It’s only two buses.’ Charlie smiled. ‘It just seemed a long way when I was a kid, I guess.’
Michelle had an idea. ‘You can come and stay at mine. On the sofa. Ricky will be cool about it. Save you getting the bus.’
‘Sounds good. The sofa’s not leather, is it?’
‘No. Why?’
‘I just tend to wake up with my face stuck when I sleep on leather sofas in the summer.’
‘Tragic! I’ll warn you now, though, it’s a mess in there. Ricky said he always wanted a girlfriend who had long legs and who wasn’t too much of a neat freak.’
‘Not a bad wish list,’ Charlie snorted.
‘Well, I just flashed these babies at him,’ she hitched up her skirt, ‘showed him the state of my bedroom, and told him to be careful what he wished for.’
‘Your room was always a mess at your mum’s house,’ Charlie reminisced.
‘It was. It pissed her right off. Anyway, do you want to come in or not?’
‘Um …?’ Charlie looked at Beth. ‘Do you mind?’
‘Of course not. It’ll be nice for you two to carry on chatting. I’m only sorry I’ve got to get home.’
‘Are you sure you won’t join us? I’ve got a bottle of vodka in the flat.’
‘No, thanks. I don’t drink vodka.’
Michelle was surprised. ‘You never used to be this strict about alcohol.’
‘Well, I have good reason.’
‘She’s a bitch, aren’t you, sis?’
‘I’m not a bitch. I just don’t want you sneaking out and messing up my life.’
‘Oh, stop being such a bore. Go in with them. Have a proper drink.’
‘I don’t need you telling me what to do. I am capable of running my own life.’
Lisa gave a cynical laugh. ‘Yeah, right!’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means – I don’t think you are capable of running your own life.’
‘And why is that?’
Lisa replied, with a smirk, ‘Because, little miss “no alcohol, thank you”, I have remembered something rather significant, that you have not.’