‘You stay put. I’ll make you some crumpets and a cup of tea.’
Her hangover had kicked in when she first woke up but it was as though it was onto round two already.
The first bite of crumpet was heaven, the second even better and when she’d finished and drunk half of the tea, Marianne came back in from the hallway where she’d gone to try calling Gio again.
‘I’m pretty sure the pub isn’t a place recommended at your AA meetings,’ Bess said sheepishly.
‘No,’ Marianne smiled. ‘And it wasn’t easy to walk inside. But my focus was different last night. I wasn’t there looking for a good time; I’d gone to get you.’ She shrugged as if embarrassed. ‘I may have overstepped. You’re my landlady, after all. Tell me if I’m interfering.’
‘Don’t say landlady; you make me feel old.’ Bess hoped that the humour would take away any guilt for Marianne that she absolutely should not be feeling. ‘And thank you for coming to help. I don’t think I was doing much for my reputation getting so drunk; I bet it was noticed and I could be the talk of the town today.’
‘Actually, there were hardly any people left by that point; all saving their pennies in January.’
‘Which is precisely what I should’ve been doing. That’s what got me into all this trouble.’
‘You’ve got money worries?’
‘You could say that.’ It would be easy to deny that anything too major was going on, simple to skate over it like she’d done with Maya for such a long time. But Marianne had come out with it, disclosed that she was an alcoholic, and that was huge. She hadn’t had to make the admission; she’d done it to explain and perhaps to help Bess realise that all alcohol would do was mask problems she couldn’t ignore.
‘I’m in trouble, Marianne. Big trouble.’
‘A girl like you, with a great job, friends, a wonderful home?’
‘I’ve kept up a front, hidden it from most people, but the shit has really hit the fan.’
‘Well, the shit hit the fan several times for me over the years. Nobody gets it quite like I do, my girl. But I also know that the truth can set us free. If we admit to our mistakes, our problems, it might be how we turn them around.’
Bess didn’t say anything for a few minutes, neither of them did until Bess said, ‘I’d like to tell you about what’s been going on if you’re willing to listen?’
And Marianne relaxed back against the sofa too. ‘Lovie, I’m all ears.’
21
Gio yelped in pain when he did a squat against the wall that took his knees to 45 degrees and he held it so long that by the time he pushed himself to standing, he knew he’d taken it too far.
‘All right, rest time.’ Aysha would have had a chair under him and pushed him down on it if he hadn’t taken a seat on the weights bench of his own accord.
‘You’re trying to do too much too soon,’ she told him. ‘It’s a risky approach.’
He’d called her over for a session today even though he wasn’t due another just yet. He had the exercises to do, he was working through them, but he wanted pushing to the next level. He needed it. To get his head to a different place.
‘What’s going on with you?’ she asked.
‘Nothing.’
‘Crap.’
His lips curled into a smile. ‘Just having a bad day, that’s all. I want to get back to work, you know how it is.’ No way was he admitting the truth: that his mother had goneback to her old ways and he’d been the sucker who trusted her that this time was different.
Marianne had been calling him all morning and he’d declined every single call. She’d be showing up here any second, he had no doubt about that, but he wouldn’t be letting her inside.
He wasn’t particularly happy at Bess either for being with his mum, at a pub. But then again, she had no idea, did she? It wasn’t like either of them had been transparent with Bess and for that, he felt guilty. So maybe they were even.
As predicted, he was showing Aysha out the front door when his mother came walking up the front path. He said nothing, waited for Aysha to go and with the front door still open asked, ‘What do you want, Mum?’
‘To explain.’
He leaned closer.
