Page 8 of The Good Girl

Chapter Seven

Wednesday was no better. Julia was up early as always, another flurry of lists and phone calls.

The florist, the club manager, the band.

She fired instructions down the phone and juggled work calls, fussed over the stupidest of things, and barely paused to eat.

Molly hovered at the edge of it all, a reluctant star in a performance she now wanted no part in.

By late morning, Julia had finally calmed down enough to have a normal conversation, and they sat at the kitchen island with iced coffees. Pulling off her favourite cashmere cardigan and draping it over the back of the chair, she turned her attention to Molly.

‘Have you found some shoes to match your dress, yet?’

Molly shrugged. ‘I’ll wear the ones I bought at Christmas for the gala. And anyway, I’ll be dancing most of the night so I’ll probably not wear them much.’

‘Absolutely not. This is a milestone. You need to look the part. Go online if you’re too lazy to look in the shops… use my card, just find some. Order them today so they arrive in time. Why have you left it till the last minute?’

Molly sighed. ‘I’m not being awkward, Mum, I swear, but I don’t need new shoes or a big fuss. Just a night out with my friends and family.’

‘Well, you’re getting one. So you might as well choose something nice. It’s not every day my eldest child leaves home and one day when you look back on the photos, you’ll thank me.’

Molly sipped her drink, watching her mum scroll through her emails. ‘Mum…’ She paused, not sure whether to speak, then had a fuck-it moment. ‘You hate him, don’t you?’

Julia froze. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Shane. You hate him.’

Julia’s jaw worked, then she set her glass down and looked at Molly properly. ‘I don’t hate him. I just don’t trust him or want to be around him anymore. There’s a difference.’

After hearing her mother’s barefaced lie but not wanting to admit she’d been eavesdropping, Molly met her gaze. ‘Why?’

‘Because he lies. And he cheats. And he thinks he’s cleverer than he is.’

Molly looked away. Her throat felt dry. ‘Are you sure, about the cheating?’

‘Yes, yes I am but I don’t want to go into that now.’

Molly wanted to probe but didn’t dare. ‘So why have you stayed with him this long?’

‘Because… because it was easier. And because I didn’t want to unsettle you when you were doing your GCSEs, then your A-levels, or Christmas and birthdays and holidays and bloody everything.

’ Julia paused and sucked in a deep breath, then continued.

‘It just kind of goes on and on and time passes until suddenly you’re exhausted by the effort of it all.

Keeping the peace and putting on a front. ’

‘But, Mum, you shouldn’t have had to do that. Loads of your friends and mine have dealt with divorce in their family and they got through it so I don’t understand why you didn’t just call it quits with Shane ages ago.’ Molly hoped that if she kept pushing, her mum would tell the whole truth.

‘Well sometimes it’s not that simple. Things can be complicated, Molly. Marriage is tricky and there are things you don’t understand.’

‘Try me.’

Julia stood, pushing her chair back with a scrape.

‘Love, please can we leave this for now. It’s bad enough muddling through each day and I really am looking forward to your party and spending time with you in America, so for me at least, can we pick this up another time?

Just focus on finding some shoes. Let me deal with the rest.’

But Molly couldn’t. Not now. The quiet war between her mum and Shane was pecking at her head, then the revival of her mother’s alliance with Nancy, the secretive phone calls, the party that loomed was becoming a stage, set for something bigger than a goodbye. It was all too much.

And somewhere, beneath all that, the sickening truth of what she’d done. Of the person she’d become. The house was like a giant pressure cooker, steam building, waiting for the lid to blow. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that if it did, nothing would ever be the same again.

Molly stepped off the tram, tugging at the sleeves of her mini dress and checking her reflection in the mirrored window of a nearby café. She looked, to all the world, like any other teenager enjoying a day out. She’d left her car at home, pre-empting some cheeky cocktails later.

She was meeting her best friend and rebel-child, Phoebe, who’d quit school after her GCSEs to work in Affleck’s Palace where she was now training to be a tattoo artist like her boyfriend.

They had grand plans to have their own tattoo parlour, full of snakes and spiders in glass cases.

Molly would not be a regular visitor for both of those reasons.

Horns honked in the distance, a busker played his violin outside Primark and shoppers filed in and out of the stores along Market Street. As she neared the Northern Quarter the scent of street food lingered in the air, mixing with traffic fumes that swirled inside a bubble of humidity.

Phoebe spotted her from across the street, waving enthusiastically from a table outside an artisan coffee shop.

Her dyed red hair was tucked beneath a straw cowboy hat, eyes hidden behind giant bug sunglasses.

Her silver wedges peeped out from below her rainbow-coloured maxi dress.

As if anyone could miss her crazy friend Phoebe!

‘You took your time,’ she teased as Molly approached.

‘Tram was slow. Had to stop for a protest. I was half-expecting you to be in the crowd if I’m honest.’

They kissed cheeks and fell into easy chatter as they waited for the coffee Phoebe had pre-ordered, oversized frappuccinos to counteract the weather.

Molly loved her best friend, who had always been her own person, breaking the mould and shrugging off the trappings that came with having a rich mum and dad, who’d sent her to private school and paid for elocution lessons.

That was a complete waste of money, thought Molly as she listened to Phoebe chatter on in the gentle Mancunian accent she’d adopted.

It made Molly aware of her own voice, Cheshire through and through, modulated and some might say a bit posh, which was one of the many things Shane adored about her.

‘So, how’s it going at home?’ Phoebe asked as Molly moved her chair out of the sun.

Molly shrugged. ‘Same as usual. Bad vibes and silences. Shane had to sort some big mess out at work so he was in a grump. Dee’s sulking about some drama with a friend, and Mum was holed up in her office doing whatever she does in there.

I have been ordered to find a pair of shoes I don’t even need so escape and a catch-up with you seemed like a good option. ’

Phoebe grinned. ‘Lucky me.’

They wandered after coffee, trailing through shops, trying on sunglasses, spritzing perfume testers, and laughing over a display of absurdly expensive dog coats.

‘This one costs more than my rent,’ Phoebe said, holding up a puffer jacket designed for a dachshund.

They ended up in a small ramen place tucked off Tib Street, slurping noodles and sharing a bowl of dumplings. It was noisy and alive with the comings and goings of customers, and for a while, the ball of worry in Molly’s chest eased.

‘So,’ Phoebe said, leaning in with a mischievous smile. ‘Tell me what’s going on with you. I reckon you’ve got a guy on the go, either that or you’ve been a right ignorant cow for the past few months. I was actually thinking you didn’t love me anymore.’

Even though Phoebe had winked mischievously, Molly froze with her chopsticks halfway to her mouth. ‘What?’

‘Oh come on. I might not be psychic, but I’m not blind either.

Last time we met, when we hung out with Jilly and Rolo, you kept disappearing to have secret chats with someone, your phone lit up with texts that made you smile, and you had this look on your face half the time, like you had a very juicy secret.

I was too wrecked to probe for details but I’m sober as a sausage now, so dish. ’

Molly flushed and lowered her gaze. ‘Okay, you got me, but it’s nothing serious.’

Phoebe squealed, slapping the table. ‘So there is someone? God, I thought you’d die a virgin the way you bat off admirers like they’re scary wasps.’

Molly laughed, but hesitated. Phoebe was on the money because since it all began with Shane, she’d separated her life into two parts.

Having fun with her friends and steadfastly acting like she didn’t have time for dates and romance – the need to study was her cover story.

The other half was totally devoted to Shane who sated all her raging hormonal needs.

‘Yes… but it’s just a bit of fun and it’s deffo not going anywhere, seeing as I’ll be in the States by the end of the month.’

Phoebe tilted her head. ‘Well I for one am glad that you finally allowed yourself to have some guy-fun before you turn sixty! Anyway, who is it?’

‘Just someone who works at Mum’s company.’

‘Come on, Molly-Moo. I need more than that. Have you got a photo? Is he older?’

Phoebe instantly read Molly’s expression.

‘Oh my God, he is, isn’t he? How old… like, in his twenties old? Urgh, it’s not one of your mum’s mates, is it? Or worse, a married man?’ Phoebe’s eyes were like an owl’s, wide and watchful but loving a bit of gossip.

‘He is quite a bit older than me.’ Molly could feel herself blushing at her crafty avoidance of the truth.

‘Oh my God,’ Phoebe whispered. ‘How old?’

Molly laughed, but there was no humour in it and suddenly her courage waned, causing her to lie, again. ‘He’s nearly thirty, twenty-eight to be precise so… if I said he was married, too, would you flip?’

Phoebe’s hands flashed up to her cheeks, her face pure shock as she pondered for a second or two then answered, ‘Only if it was my dad but as if anyone would want to get it on with him!’ She gave a little shudder for effect.

‘So no, as far as I’m concerned it’s a free world and none of my business so crack on, tell me everything. I want all the gory details.’

Despite the awkwardness of the dad comment and the shudder, it suddenly felt so liberating, talking about Shane, but without actually mentioning his name, so Molly answered from the heart.

‘He’s just… more mature. He understands me. Makes me feel special.’ Molly twisted her napkin into a tight coil.

Phoebe reached out, serious now. ‘Hey. Don’t look so worried. I’m not judging I swear. You can tell me anything, you know that, right?’

A long silence passed before Molly spoke again. ‘We’ve been seeing each other for a while. Sleeping together. Meeting up in secret when we can.’

Phoebe blinked. ‘Whoa. Okay. So you’re actually really into him, not just, like, a fling?’

Molly bit her lip. ‘I think I was, into him, at first. He made me feel… grown up, I suppose. He makes me laugh and when we’re together it’s like we’re the only people in the world, which sounds like a line from a movie we watched when we were thirteen. But it’s true.’

Phoebe nodded slowly. ‘Do you feel bad about the wife?’

Molly paused. ‘Yes, I do but they were on the verge of splitting up before me, so I put her out of my mind and to be honest, that’s a whole separate thing I don’t want to talk about, if you get me.’

‘Yeah, I get it.’

Molly felt the need to explain, desperate now for Phoebe not to think too badly of her.

‘Having him in my life filled a space. And it made all that studying more bearable, having him to look forward to and… you’ll think I’m weird but it makes me feel powerful. Like I have this secret, you know? Something no one else has.’

Phoebe’s brow furrowed. ‘I get that. It’s a distraction, too, from what’s going on at home with your mum and Shane and if he helps you get through that, then good for him. You say you met him at ClearGlass?’

Molly nodded. ‘I used to work in the warehouse, a few hours a week when I was at school. Remember, Mum always insisted I earned my pocket money. She said that my dad believed kids should understand the value of money and hard work, and he left school at sixteen and grafted with his dad before starting the company so I loved being part of that. I always feel close to him there.’

‘And that’s where you met this guy, while you were sealing up boxes with your big tape gun?’ Phoebe gave Molly a nudge. ‘ Très romantique .’

Molly laughed at Phoebe and her interpretation of a barefaced lie. Then the mood dipped suddenly when she changed tack.

‘Then you’d better hope your mum and most of all psycho Shane doesn’t find out who it is because he won’t be happy, I can tell you that for nothing.’ The minute Phoebe said it, her eyes widened and her neck and face flushed crimson.

‘What do you mean by that? Phoebe… tell me… you’ve gone bright red and I know something’s up.’ Molly couldn’t believe her best friend had kept something big from her.

They fell quiet. Outside, the city marched to its own beat, keeping time with Molly’s pounding heart.