Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (17 page)

‘You were just talking about Rebecca,’ I said, forcing a smile at him, even though I didn’t feel like it.

Dom looked alarmed.

‘Was I?’ he said. ‘God.’

Quietly Harry got up and left the kitchen, leaving me alone. I knew what I had to do.

‘Are you going to leave her?’ Dom looked down at his desk, then back at me. There was a light in his eyes that I couldn’t interpret.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. Suddenly he looked very young and a little bit scared. ‘I thought I knew what I wanted, but I don’t.’

‘What’s happening, Dom?’

‘I love you,’ he said simply. ‘But I love Rebecca, too. I think she knows about us.’

I was horrified.

‘Does she? But we’ve been so careful.’

‘Well, she knows I’ve been up to something. I’ve got form, Esme. This isn’t the first time I’ve cheated on her.’

‘It’s not?’

Dom laughed without humour.

‘No, it’s not. But last time she said if I did it again I’d be out.’

I stared at him through the screen. Seeing him for what he really was.

‘Are you cheating on me?’ I said, knowing the answer.

‘No,’ he said. But some of Harry’s truth spell must have lingered because then he looked down. ‘Well, Vicky and I… you know, we were drunk, it was late…’

‘You horrible man,’ I said. ‘You horrible, mean, shitty man.’

Dom did manage to look slightly sorry.

‘Are you going to leave Rebecca?’ I asked.

Dom looked straight into my eyes, through the screen.

‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I’m not.’

My stomach lurched and I thought I was going to be sick. But almost immediately I realised that hearing the words I’d dreaded for so long wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

‘Then you need to fight for her,’ I said. ‘Make her see that you’re there for her. That there’s no one else. And you need to make sure that there is no one else. Not me, not Vicky, not anyone.’

I felt very close to tears, but I didn’t want Dom to see me cry.

Dom nodded.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

‘No you’re not,’ I said. ‘Not really.’

Dom shrugged.

‘I’ll see you around,’ he said, reaching over to turn off his computer.

‘See you around,’ I said.

I closed the laptop, then I put my head in my hands and cried.

Chapter 31

At some point, Harry came back into the room. She put her arms round me and I wept on her shoulder while she stroked my hair and muttered meaningless words of comfort into my ear.

Then she phoned Chloé, who came up the hill with two bottles of wine and a supersized bar of Dairy Milk like an avenging angel and she and Harry sat patiently and listened – and drank the wine – as I wailed and wept and cursed myself for wasting so long on Dom.

I spent the whole of the next day in bed, only emerging to make cups of tea before heading back to my room. I didn’t want to see anyone. I was heartbroken, and angry, and embarrassed and I needed time to myself to get things straight in my head.

I would have stayed in bed the next day, too, but Harry came into my room and opened the curtains.

‘Up,’ she said. ‘We need you.’

I turned over to face the wall and pulled the duvet tighter round my shoulders.

Harry yanked it off the bed completely, leaving me exposed to the elements.

‘Harry,’ I whined. ‘I’m not up to it. Give me the duvet back.’

‘No,’ Harry said. ‘My mum needs someone to go to hospital with her, Nell’s been to her first meeting and wants to tell us about it, and I have to open up at the café.’

Furious at not being allowed to wallow in my despair, I dragged myself into the shower and threw on some clothes. Then I went downstairs to talk Harry into letting me open up at the café instead.

‘I’m just not up to making small talk with Brent,’ I said.

But Harry wouldn’t budge.

‘I’ve got stuff to do,’ she said. ‘I need it done by the end of the week.’

‘What’s the end of the week?’ I asked. Harry shrugged but she didn’t elaborate. It was Halloween at the end of the week. I wondered if it had anything to do with the strange magic I’d seen in Suky’s room, but I didn’t much care. I didn’t really care about anything except Dom.

When Brent pulled up outside, I listlessly helped Suky into his car, then I climbed in as well.

‘Are you OK?’ he asked as we drove off.

‘Fine,’ I said shortly. I didn’t want to explain.

‘I don’t blame you for being worried about the café,’ he said. ‘It’s your family’s livelihood and it’s at risk.’

I looked at him wearily.

‘What?’ I said. ‘What are you saying?’

‘The café,’ he repeated. ‘It’s at risk.’

It was what I’d been worried about all along, but to hear someone else voice my concerns gave me a jolt. I sat up.

‘Do you think so?’ I said.

‘I know so,’ Brent changed gear and swung round a corner on to the main road out of town.

‘I know a bit about business and I know how much is built on reputation,’ he said. I remembered Harry’s fears about the threats made against her business and thought he was probably right. ‘In a town like this, you’ll be fine in the summer – there will always be the tourist trade. But that’s not going to sustain a business through the winter. For that you need a good reputation.’

‘Do you think we’re losing that reputation?’

‘Definitely,’ he said. ‘The gossip those women are spreading is ridiculous but if it’s stopping people coming to the café then you’re in trouble. And,’ he paused.

‘What?’

‘From what I’ve heard it’s getting more personal,’ he said. ‘People are beginning to think you and your family are sinister. Satanists. Weirdos, anyway. They don’t want you living near them.’

‘Oh that’s just silly,’ I said. ‘It’s not like they can do anything to make us leave. What are they going to do? Run us out of town? Just for being a bit different?’

‘It happens,’ Brent said darkly. I thought he was being a bit overdramatic.

‘It’s just gossip,’ I said. ‘Sticks and stones…’

Brent looked at me uncomprehendingly.

‘Oh never mind,’ I said, glancing into the back seat where Suky sat silently, staring out of the window as always. ‘I’ll worry if they come up with a concrete plan to get rid of us. Until then, I’m going to concentrate on Suky.’

We pulled up in our usual spot and I helped Suky out of the car. She was so sore now – her treatment had left her chest battered and raw – that walking was difficult.

She hung on to my arm as we walked to the oncology department and I felt so sorry for her. She was a shadow of her normal self – I just hoped she’d get her spark back when this was all over.

It was the beginning of her third and final week of radiotherapy.

‘Knowing it’s nearly over is all that’s keeping me going,’ she told me as she put on the hospital gown. ‘This time next week, it’s finished.’

I did up the ties at her back.

‘You’re doing so well,’ I said, knowing it sounded terribly patronising. ‘Just a few more days.’

Once again, Suky fell asleep almost as soon as we got into Brent’s car. I’d decided to sit in the back with her, so I held her hand all the way home and thought about what Brent had said. I still thought he was being a prophet of doom. I just couldn’t see how a few women, led by an Englishwoman in a tartan hat, could get the better of us.

But I’d underestimated the Housewives’ Guild.

We got home and I bustled Suky into bed.

‘I’m so bored,’ she complained.

‘I know,’ I said, as I tucked her in like a child. ‘Maybe later you could go for a walk if you feel up to it?’

‘Whoopee,’ she said.

I left her to sleep and went downstairs to do a bit of work. Then I went for a run along the shores of the loch and when I came home Suky was gone. I smiled to myself, thinking she’d gone for that walk after all, and decided to go down to the café to see what was going on. Weirdly, Brent being so bleak about it all had made me feel a bit better. I just couldn’t see that it was as bad as he was making out.

Bit when I turned to go down the path towards the café I stopped in shock, all my fears coming true at once. The Housewives’ Guild most definitely had a plan – and it was happening right in front of me.

Chapter 32

I blinked in disbelief. Outside the café was a group of perhaps twenty or thirty women, wrapped up in cagoules and wellies, and shouting. Loudly.

I took a step closer, willing them to be a figment of my imagination. But no, they were real all right. I picked out Stringy Hair, and scanned the crowd for Millicent. She was there, standing at the very edge. I imagined she’d spread the word to get the women riled up and was now standing back and watching her poison work.

‘Our village, our homes and our families are at stake,’ one woman was saying. ‘Are we going to stand by and watch while these tricksters take our money and undermine our values?’

I gasped as the women cheered in agreement. It was a bit like being at a One Direction concert only the screaming tweenage girls had been replaced by screaming middle-aged women.

Another woman spoke up.

‘We’re all generous, thoughtful, welcoming women,’ she said, her words carrying over the wind. ‘But even we have limits. This café is a risk to our moral, emotional and spiritual health and we won’t stand for it!’

The women whooped.

Whooped.

Slightly nervous for my own safety, I slunk into the shadows, trying to think of a way to get into the café without being seen.

‘We want this café shut down! And we want its owners gone!’ another woman shouted.

The women were whipping themselves into a frenzy. They were waving placards – placards for heaven’s sake – which said CLAW! I had no idea what it meant, but I knew it wasn’t good.

Zipping up my jacket I twisted my hair into a knot and tucked it into my hood. Then I fished in my bag, found my sunglasses – it was drizzling and overcast but never mind – and stuck them on too. As disguises went, it wasn’t brilliant but it would have to do. I was hoping the women were so wrapped up in their literal witch hunt that they would ignore me.

Staring straight ahead, I walked confidently past the women. None of them saw me. Cosy in their
North Face fleeces and fluffy ear muffs, they were bouncing up and down, waving their placards, and shouting: ‘Claddach Ladies Against Witches!’

Ah. CLAW. Now I understood their slogan. Keeping my head down I hurried to the door of the café, but just as I put my hand on the knob, the shouting stopped. I froze.

‘There she is!’ Stringy Hair called over the heads of the CLAWs. ‘Take a good look at that face! She’s not welcome in our village.’

In shock I stared at the hostile faces of the women that surrounded me. Their eyes were wide, their teeth bared in primal aggression. I stood up straighter, and, for a moment, I considered taking them on. But the moment passed as quickly as it had arrived and instead I pushed myself through the door, slammed it behind me and bolted it tight shut.

Breathing deeply I leaned against the doorframe and gazed in bewilderment at the empty café.

‘What is going on?’ I gasped.

Out of nowhere, Mum appeared, grasped my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. Suky and Eva were sitting round the table looking worried. I hugged them all, being especially gentle with Suky because I knew how sore she was.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked her. ‘I told you to go for a walk, but I didn’t mean for you to come all the way down here.’

‘I just felt like getting out of the house.’ She gave me a weak smile. ‘And look what happened.’

‘Where’s Harry?’ I said, looking round. ‘Does she know what’s going on?’

‘I’ve left her a message,’ Mum said. ‘But she’s not rung back yet.’

‘She’s doing some work,’ Suky said, a little defensively. ‘She said she’d be down later…’

Harry hadn’t been at home when I was. I thought about mentioning it, but changed my mind as the noise outside increased.

Suddenly I was furious. What were we doing, hiding out in the kitchen like criminals? I pushed open the kitchen door and looked out of the café’s long windows. The women were still there, their shouts carried away on the wind.

Angrily, I stomped out into the café and peering through the window I did a quick headcount. There were twenty people outside. Right.

Working quickly, I made twenty lattes, then I dumped twenty cupcakes on to plates and laid them all on trays. Mum, Suky and Eva had come out of the kitchen and were
watching me in silence. I beckoned to them.

‘Come on,’ I said, waving my arm over the trays. ‘Let’s try something. Anything.’

Mum shook her head.

‘No magic, Ez,’ she said quietly. ‘Not now.’

I looked at Eva and Suky who were nodding in agreement with Mum. They had a point, maybe doing magic now wasn’t the best idea. But with or without enchantments, the cakes were still delicious. And those CLAWs must be hungry and freezing cold. I chewed my lip thoughtfully, then picked up a tray and made for the door.

Trembling slightly, I pushed the door open with my hip and laid the tray on one of the tables outside.

I cleared my throat.

‘Em,’ I began. My voice was weak and shaky and none of the CLAWs even noticed I was there.

‘Excuse me,’ I tried again.

‘SHUT UP!’ I bellowed. ‘Just for a second. Please!’

There was a shocked silence and twenty heads swivelled round towards me. My bravado deserted me and my legs started to shake.

‘I thought you might be hungry.’ I took the plates and mugs off the tray and laid them on to the table. Then I scarpered back inside and brought out the other drinks and cakes. The CLAWs were standing still, silently staring at the table.

‘Help yourselves,’ I said mildly. ‘It’s on the house.’

Backing away from them I hurried through the door and locked it. Mum, Eva and Suky were sitting on one of the sofas and I collapsed down next to them, giggling with nerves.

‘Do you think it’ll work?’ I asked.

Mum nodded towards the door. The noise level had dropped and I could see one or two of the women had put their placards down and were moving towards the table.