He threw his glass against the wall.
How can I make this work? I need her in my life.
The phone ringing pulled him out of his thoughts.
‘Hello?’
‘Oh, you’re home. I was afraid you’d be at work and I’d have to leave one of those dreadful messages. Do you even get them? You never call back.’
‘Yes, Mother. I get them. I’m just really busy. Is everything OK?’ He rolled his eyes.
‘Since you asked, no, everything is not OK. I need help. Why can’t you come round and help me with the shopping? My arthritis has flared up and I can’t do things by myself you know.’
He cringed at her moaning. ‘You have a carer to help you with all that. I’m really busy, Mother. Anyway, I don’t feel up to it.’
‘Pffft. Too busy for your mother. After all I’ve done for you … It’s not like you have any other family to look after, and you seem to be well enough to help everyone else. I gave birth to—’
‘Enough!’ He hadn’t meant to raise his voice but sometimes he had no choice. ‘I’ll pop round this weekend, OK? Now, I really must go.’
He hung up before his mother could say anything further. She demanded so much time. But that would change when Kate was here. She’d get all his attention and his mother would just have to accept that. His mother would love Kate. She was perfect.
He needed a plan. Now that Kate was staying at that police officer’s house, he’d have to change his whole direction of getting her. He’d show his mother; he’d do things differently. Someone did love him.
He took his notebook from his drawer and scanned over the pages. Everything he knew about Kate was written in this book – her clothing size, the make-up she wore, her favourite food, even details about her cat. He couldn’t always trust his memory lately.
Wait. He thought back to when Kate had moved into that police officer’s house. He hadn’t seen Kate take Salem with her in the car. That either meant she wasn’t planning on staying for long or she’d left the feral fiend with a neighbour.
He’d find out. This could be exactly what he was looking for.