‘It’s not your home,’ she said, sounding broken. ‘I don’t even have one anymore. Go back to London, Brighton or wherever, and leave us all alone.’
‘I’m so sorry, Aria.’
‘So am I,’ she whispered. ‘Sorry I ever met you.’
51
Aria rang Sophie and downloaded the story in less than sixty seconds.
‘The damage is catastrophic. The hut’s gone. My memories, my family history, my freakin’ childhood. Nic pressurised my dad to sell for years, and when he died, he realised this was the perfect opportunity to work his charm on someone more susceptible. It was such a clever campaign. He persuaded me to move my valuables into his house so most of them wouldn’t be in the hut when it was demolished. He worked on making me fall for him. I reckon he always intended to knock it down after he banged me into submission.’
Sophie listened rapt to the rest of the story before delivering her verdict on the situation. ‘What an unbelievable arsehole.’
Aria fell silent. She’d run out of steam now he’d been correctly labelled. But her friend hadn’t. ‘You need to take him to court. Fight for your right to camp out in the woods. Or send him an invoice for the hut. And never do bits with him again.’
‘I can’t afford to take him to court! And I’m not a bloody boy scout, Sophie. I wasn’t camping. That was the only home I had. And now it’s gone. Of course, I’m not going to sleep with him again. Why are we in this mess, Soph? The shiny new generation. The hope for the future who can’t even afford a roof over our heads.’
‘I know! Everything on our shoulders and yet everything stacked against us. I’d offer you our place, but the builder is living there this week while he’s working. Wales is lovely, in case you wondered, but Grandad keeps going walkabout and the dragons I was promised have spectacularly failed to materialise.’
When they disconnected, Aria sat in Nic’s kitchen with her head in her hands, thinking about her minuscule options. She needed to be out of here by the time he came back. She had told him she had nothing and no one, but the truth was she did have one place to turn. She was pretty sure her stepmother would fall over herself to put her up. And perhaps Aria had been too hard on her, choosing to overlook many moments of kindness in the past. When Aria had disapproved of their foreign wedding, Felicity had insisted she should have the chance to accompany them as a witness, offering to pay for a flight and a dress. She’d always bought in Aria’s favourite cakes when she knew she was coming round. And she was the one who offered to drive her to London in her battered Land Rover when Justin trashed their future, sending her a ‘new home’ card in the post. A lump came to Aria’s throat as she looked up a number she had always refused to dial. And when her last remaining relative answered, she asked if she could come and stay.
***
Aria held herself together long enough to take the bus into town and walk to Felicity’s house, trailing a bag and the dog behind her. But she wasn’t able to keep composed when she saw her stepmother standing at the door. When the tears came, so did the whole story, and Felicity didn’t try to stem either. An hour later, after a hot bath, Aria found herself sitting in front of the fire being pampered, remembering all the times Felicity had offered to run her one before, even promising to throw in her best salts. She felt a wave of shame. She’d never given the woman a chance.
‘I know it’s summer, but I think you need to feel cosy right now.’ Felicity handed her a bowl of chilli con carne, wrapped her up in a blanket and sat on a chair opposite.
‘Aren’t you veggie, these days?’
‘Yes, but the butcher was still open when you phoned.’
‘I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid,’ said Aria, tasting the chilli.
‘Con men are very convincing.’
She offered Felicity a weak smile. ‘You must think I’m pathetic.’
‘There’ll be no judgement from me, and no advice unless you ask for it. I’m here as a friend and my door – your dad’s door – is always open for you. Did Nic really knock the whole thing down?’
‘Yes, but it was partly my fault,’ Aria sobbed.
As Felicity passed her another tissue from the box she’d brought to the funeral, she informed her quite fiercely she was in no way to blame for the disaster.
‘I pretended to be his fiancée,’ Aria gulped. ‘I basically invited him to take what he wanted from me. But I didn’t know he was going to be so corrupt. He’s no better than—’
As she was too choked to finish, Felicity did it for her. ‘The Hetherington lad? The one your dad used to call the twat-in-a-hat?’
Aria glanced up at the older woman, shocked. ‘Dad didn’t swear!’
Her stepmother laughed. ‘He did where Justin was concerned.’
‘He is a dick, isn’t he? God, they’re all the same, the rich and privileged. They think they can do whatever they like.’
‘The question is, what areyougoing to do? You could take legal action. I can put you in touch with someone. You can also go to the council, spread the word Nic’s not to be trusted.’
‘I think what I want…what I need…for now, is to stay here and hibernate. Just for a while, if that’s OK with you.’
‘I wish your dad was here,’ said Felicity, after Aria had calmed down enough to eat the chilli.
