Selling the Drama (20 page)

After a week of nothing to go on, Iris
retreated to her upstairs parlour and stayed there, rattling
around, barely eating, saying almost nothing, crying endlessly.
Charlotte was at a loss on how to help her.

"I don't know what to do." Charlotte looked
at Toby sadly, the helpless feeling within her bringing her to
despair. "She seems to want to just stay locked away."

"We have to go home. We have exams soon. We
can't wait around for your mother to get her head together. That
may never happen." Toby's assessment was harsh, but Charlotte had
to acknowledge the truth of his words. "See if Jenna will come and
stay with her," he suggested.

Charlotte pulled a face. "I can't see that
helping."

Toby shrugged. "Then leave her. We can't
stay here indefinitely. He's not coming back. She's not going to
get over it until she's good and ready. I've got so much work to
do, being here is stressing me out."

"I'm sorry." Charlotte looked over at him;
he did appear wrung out.

Toby shook his head at her apology. "It's
not your fault. Don't apologise. I'm just pointing out that the
time has come for us to leave. You have work to do as well."

Charlotte nodded and without warning, to
herself or Toby, she began to cry. Burying her face into her hands,
her tears turned into noisy sobs within seconds, stealing the
breath from her body and triggering a pain, so deep, within her
chest.

Toby got out of his seat and leaned over
her, pulling her up into his arms. "Shh, come on. It's going to be
alright."

"No matter what was going on between them,
how could he do this to me?" Charlotte wailed into Toby's chest,
clinging to him. "To just bolt like that. I don't understand it!"
It was a betrayal that physically hurt. So much.

Toby stroked her hair as she cried against
him. "I don't understand it either."

Iris was sitting on the couch in her bedroom
staring out of the window with a glassy expression. Toby took a
seat beside her, reaching over to grab a hold of her hand. He
squeezed it gently in order to get her attention.

"Hey, look at me, Iris," he coaxed. She
slowly turned her head towards him but said nothing as her eyes met
his. "It's just you and me here right now. Charlotte is downstairs
getting ready for us to leave. You remember that we're leaving
today, don't you?"

Iris nodded.

Toby pressed on, concerned he might get
busted for this at any given moment. "While it's just you and me, I
want you tell me why Royce left." Toby was not convinced in the
slightest that Iris had no idea about Royce's motivations.
Charlotte might be reluctant to press her mother for details, but
Toby had no such inhibitions.

Iris just shook her head though, tears
filling her eyes. She tried to pull her hand out of Toby's grip,
but he held on firmly.

"Iris, why did Royce leave? I don't believe
you don't know."

She shook her head again and Toby began to
lose his temper. He had neither the time nor the patience for this
act. Yanking on her hand, he leaned in, putting his face closer to
hers. "Cut the crap. Charlotte isn't around right now. Tell me what
you know."

"I don't know anything," she whispered.

"I don't believe you."

There was a silence between them then, long
and heavy. Toby stared at Iris, releasing her hand before standing,
his frustration mounting. "Charlotte will ring you when we get back
home. Make sure you answer the phone. She doesn't need the
distraction of worrying about you while she tries to finish off her
exams."

"What about you, Toby? Will you worry about
me?" She looked up at him with one of those unreadable expressions
she liked to arrange her face into.

Ever the manipulator. Toby looked down at
her dispassionately. "No, Iris, I won't worry about you. I think
you've got it all under control." He leaned down and kissed her
cheek, his fondness for her over riding his irritation for her
antics. She grabbed a hold of his wrist as he made to leave.

"It's because of Jenna," she whispered.
"It's always because of her. She's a curse."

Toby straightened up, pulling his wrist out
of her grasp. "Iris, you're under a lot of strain. I think you need
to maybe see a doctor."

She smiled then, a twisted sort of grin that
did nothing to diminish his alarm. "Goodbye, Toby. You take care of
Charlotte for me. This will be hard for her. She always was a
daddy's girl."

Toby left her then, eager to be gone from
that room and the sadness she was wearing like a second skin. He
met Charlotte at the foot of the stairs.

"I was just coming to say goodbye to her."
She put a foot forward, making to nudge past him on the stairs.

Toby took a hold of her elbow and shook his
head. "She's asleep. We should just go."

"Oh, well I'll just check on her before we
do."

Toby tightened his hold and began to steer
her back to the hall where their bags were waiting. "I tucked her
in, made sure she had some water beside the bed and turned the fan
on. We should just go."

Charlotte stared at him. "Do you think
she'll be alright on her own?" Her eyes filled with tears
again.

"Yeah, I think she'll be okay. Come on, I
just heard the taxi pull up." Threading his fingers with hers, he
steered her towards the front door. "You head out so they don't
leave and I'll just check that everything is locked down here."

Charlotte nodded, hoisting up one of the
lighter bags and picking up her handbag before heading out the
door. Toby gave the downstairs a once over before following her
out. As he loaded their bags into the boot, he looked over at
Charlotte, effecting a casual tone. "You didn't ring Jenna to
suggest she come up, did you?"

She shook her head. "No. I didn't think it
was such a good idea in the end. Jenna stresses Mum out too
much."

Toby nodded as he shut the boot. "Good
call."

Toby waited until Charlotte was in the
shower before calling Jenna. He was under no illusions that this
was probably a dead end, but there would be no satisfaction until
he had at least covered all of the bases available to him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Toby."

"What do you want?"

"Nice to talk to you to," he interjected.
"I'm well, thanks for asking." His sarcasm generated a light laugh
from Jenna.

"Yeah, yeah, all that with a cherry on top.
Now what do you want?"

"So, you heard about Royce?"

"Who's Royce?"

"Jenna!" He shook his head at her even
though she was unable to see him. She would likely drive a person
insane if they ever spent any length of time in her company.

She laughed again. "Okay, sorry. Of course
I've heard about Royce. Tragic. I'm still in shock."

"Yeah, you sound all torn up. Do you have
anything to do with why he left?" Toby was straight to the point.
He could still hear the shower running, but Charlotte was known to
veer from five minutes to twenty five under the spray and he wanted
this conversation over with before she got out.

"Excuse me?" There was a haughty tone to
Jenna's voice now that Toby did not miss.

"Did you sleep with him or something? Is
that why he left?"

Silence. Toby waited, yet the silence
stretched out into that place of discomfort that exists between two
people when one person says something to the other that they really
shouldn't have. He knew she was still on the line, yet she was
giving him nothing. "Jenna?"

"Did she say that to you?"

The 'she' in this, clearly being Iris. "No.
I'm just going through the possible scenarios." He hoped Jenna
would be satisfied with that lame response because that was about
all he could come up with.

"And me, sleeping with my brother in law,
who is eighteen years older and let's be honest here, not all that
hot anymore, is a viable scenario?" Her tone was filled with
incredulity.

"No. Sorry. Forget I even brought it up. But
hey, it's good to have that one struck off the list." He winced in
preparation for her backlash, yet all that came instead was a heavy
sigh, the sadness within evident. He felt awful then for even
buying into the suspicion. Iris was full of crap and Jenna copped
far too much of it as it was. "Hey, I really am sorry."

"Sure. Whatever. Why should I expect
anything different from this family?"

As sorry as he was, he was not interested in
a poor me session with Jenna right now. "Do you have any ideas on
why he left?"

"Well, aside from his affair with me," she
retorted, and Toby could not help but smile at that, because for
all of her shortcomings, she was not without a thick skin. "I think
that he's been stuck up there on his own with Iris for a few years
now since you and Charlotte cleared out and the thought of another
wet season rattling around in that house with just the two of them
was enough to do him in so he took off. First smart thing he's ever
done."

Toby paused. "You think he left because of
the weather?" This suggestion was a classic example of why he never
indulged in deliberate conversation with Jenna if he could help
it.

"No, I think he left because my sister is a
bitch." She laughed then, with genuine mirth. "I just threw that
bit in about the weather so I didn't sound quite so callous."

Toby smirked into the phone. "Yeah, well,
whatever his reasons, it's harsh for Charlotte."

"Yes it is. But Royce is a weak man. He
always was. It's how he lasted so long with someone like Iris." For
once, Jenna sounded as though she could be possibly on the verge of
making sense. "In the end Toby, weak men cave. They hurt the people
they love because they're too weak to stand up and fight for them.
They bow out."

"Deep philosophising right there from you,"
Toby remarked, mildly surprised.

"Well, I've become something of an expert on
men lately, given how many of them I've gone through."

He laughed at that. So true. He had lost
count now how many men she had let move in with her over the last
few years, only to have them move out and be replaced before you
even had a chance to remember the current guy's name.

"How is Charlotte, anyway?" Jenna's voice
was laden with concern. Charlotte was probably just about the only
person Jenna actually gave a damn about. Toby supposed though, that
from Jenna's point of view, Charlotte was probably the only person
who gave a damn about her.

"She's really upset. She doesn't understand
how Royce could have left her with no explanation. She doesn't want
to believe he's not coming back even though all the signs point to
that very conclusion. She's worried about Iris, naturally.
Sometimes it's hard not to," he replied dryly.

"I wasn't talking about that. I expected her
to be crushed about Royce. I meant, how is she after her surgery? I
haven't spoken to her since she had her neck done. Is it all
good?"

"Oh, yeah. It's perfect." Toby had finally
been able to make good on his long ago promise to Charlotte, and
she had gone into the hospital to get the scar on her neck fixed a
little over three weeks ago. "It's just about all healed but you
can tell the mark is all gone. You'd only know there was ever
something there if you knew to look for it. I just wish I hadn't
had to wait until I turned twenty one to be able to fix it for
her."

Jenna laughed out loud, an undignified snort
coming down the line. "Listen to you! You'd think you'd done the
surgery yourself the way you go on! I have never come across
someone with a greater God complex."

"I do not have a God complex." Her
unjustified barb further soured his mood. Jenna had a natural
talent for pissing people off with the minimum of effort. "I just
meant that I promised her I would fix it for her and I wish it
hadn't taken so long because she's really happy now it's done."

"Yes," Jenna replied, laughter still filling
her tone. "Well, you have come to the rescue. Thank you. On behalf
of my disintegrated family, and the world, I thank you for your
heroism."

"Fuck off."

"With pleasure. You've kept me on the phone
for far too long anyway. Be careful, or people might think I'm
sleeping with you as well."

She was probably never going to let him live
that one down. "Goodbye, Jenna." She hung up in his ear with no
further response.

Charlotte graduated with an Arts Degree in
Journalism. She applied for jobs all over the city and was thrilled
to bits when she was offered a place at the ABC radio station. Jobs
such as these were highly sought after, but she had the personality
and voice for radio, coming to them also armed with a prestigious
University broadcasting journalism prize that spoke volumes for her
talent and skill. A celebration was in order, so she and Toby got
together with Jake and Ellie for a night out on the town.

Jake was full of his own importance, having
just finished his degree in Psychology and about to take his place
at the police academy the following month. Jake armed with a
Psychology qualification was amusing to say the least, but it
verged more towards irritating as the night wore on. He of course
knew, just by looking at a person, their entire psychological
profile.

"You can't know these things about people
just from looking at them. If you actually found out anything at
all about the people you're sitting here making up garbage about,
you'd see how far off the mark you are." Charlotte rolled her eyes
at him and shot a grin in Ellie's direction.

"You're just pissed because I won't do you."
Jake was at that loud, just about drunk but not quite there yet,
stage of the evening.

"If I wanted to be psychologically profiled,
it would not be by you. So, what are you going to do for the rest
of your life? Comb the streets looking for criminals before they
commit a crime by reading their minds? And to think, in twelve
months' time, you will be loose on the streets with a gun. Do they
psychologically profile you at all? Because if they knew you like
we do, they might just be inclined to give you a desk job."
Charlotte took great pleasure in the look of outrage fixing itself
onto Jake's face.