There were several things that Stephanie could think of that she would rather do than sit on a train for two and a bit hours travelling up to Lincoln to confront Katie. Included in them were ripping off her own arm and sitting through a Westlife concert sober. But the way she saw it she had no option. She had to get Katie to stop what she was doing – she just had no idea what she was going to say. Going back to Lower Shippingham was bad enough, running the risk of bumping into people she half knew who would want to offer their condolences for the wreck of her marriage. Funny that only a few months ago she had thought it would be a good idea – a twisted kind of fun, even – to turn up unannounced at James’s birthday party. This time her plan was to get in and out as quickly as possible. If only she could work out how she was going to handle it.
She was walking through King’s Cross towards the platform when her mobile rang. Pauline, her mother-in-law. Neither James nor Stephanie had yet had the courage to break the news of their separation to her and John. It would break their hearts. Twice Stephanie had intercepted Finn when he had started to say something about Dad coming to visit or his room at the Travel Motel. She had ended up telling Pauline that it was best, these days, to call her on her mobile because she was so busy. She really didn’t want to ask Finn to lie.
Now she thought about not answering – she wasn’t in the mood for a cosy chat about how happy they all were and she was always afraid that Pauline would pick up on the fact that she was lying. She felt bad, though. She knew Pauline worried about the cost of making a call to a mobile phone, believing a five-minute conversation would cost her about the same as talking to someone in America for a couple of hours. If she went through to voicemail she would panic about whether or not to leave a message and how much that might cost.
Reluctantly Stephanie pressed the answer key. ‘Hi, Pauline. I’ll call you straight back,’ she said, as she always did.
‘OK dear,’ Pauline said, and Stephanie thought she sounded a little shaky. She stopped herself from asking her if she was all right – she would do that on her own phone bill – and cut off the call without saying goodbye, redialling immediately.
‘Is something wrong?’ she said, as soon as Pauline answered.
‘No. Well, as long as you and James are OK then nothing’s wrong, no.’
Stephanie felt unaccountably nervous. ‘Why wouldn’t we be OK?’ God, they really must get round to telling her. This was ridiculous. She had a faint suspicion that the real reason James had asked her not to say anything to his parents yet was because he was hoping the whole issue might go away and then they’d never have to know. It made her uneasy.
‘It’s just … I got this phone call. I had to go to the hairdresser’s this morning …’ Pauline could never just pass on a piece of information: she always had to give the recipient the whole story of the events leading up to it, what she was wearing, how she had felt. Stephanie had to hold herself back from screaming, ‘Just tell me. Has something happened?’
‘… you know I always go on a Thursday. It’s half-price day if you go before ten o’clock and they open at eight, which really suits me because you know I get up early. Oh, and I was a bit late because I bumped into Mary Arthur on the way. You remember Mary? She came round one day when you and James were here. One Christmas, I think it was. Short woman. Quite round.’
Stephanie rolled her eyes. She looked up at the large clock on the station concourse. She still had ten minutes before the train to Lincoln left. ‘Yes, I remember,’ she said quickly, hoping that the tone of her voice said that she didn’t want to get sidetracked into a conversation about Mary’s virtues.
‘She was taking her dog for a walk. Nice thing. Hairy. I don’t know what breed it is. Anyway …’
Stephanie could stand it no longer. ‘So, then what? After the hairdresser?’
‘Well, the point is that I didn’t get home until after half past nine. By the time I’d been to Morrisons, you know – it gets very busy in there in the mornings, people going in on their way to work.’ She waited for Stephanie to add her agreement. She didn’t, pausing instead in the hope that Pauline would get to the point.
‘And when I got home there was a message on the answerphone. Did I say that John had gone to the post office?’
‘Who from?’ Stephanie said, feeling sick. ‘Who was the message from?’
‘Well, that’s why I’m ringing you, dear. It was from someone who said she was a friend of you and James. Said she needed to speak to one of us. And I thought something must have happened. An accident or something. Goodness, I need a brandy.’
‘Did she say what her name was?’ Stephanie asked, knowing the answer.
‘Katie, I think. But you are OK, aren’t you? Both of you?’
‘We’re fine,’ Stephanie said. She needed to get off the phone. She needed to get hold of Katie fast.
‘Well, I wonder why she was calling us. Do you know?’
‘I have no idea. And listen, Pauline, don’t worry about calling her back. She’s not really a friend she’s … well, she’s just someone we know, but she’s a bit crazy. Not dangerous, not like that,’ she added quickly, suddenly worried that Pauline would have nightmares about an axe murderess, ‘just a bit silly, a bit not quite right in the head.’ As she said it, she thought maybe it was true; maybe Katie was a bit touched.
‘And if she calls you again don’t answer.’ She thought about telling Pauline there and then, saying, ‘Actually, James and I have separated and Katie was the other woman, but I don’t want you to worry because we’re fine,’ but it wasn’t up to her. It was James who had to come clean with his mother and, anyway, she didn’t think she could take hearing the hurt and disappointment in her mother-in-law’s voice.
‘How will I know it’s her?’ Pauline asked nervously.
‘Well, just don’t talk to her, then. Tell her you’re busy and you’ll have to call her back. Meanwhile I’ll get hold of her and find out what she wants. She’s probably lost our numbers or something and she’s trying to get hold of one of us,’ she said, with a sudden burst of inspiration.
‘I can give her your number. Or shall I give her James’s?’
Oh, God. ‘Just try not to get into conversation with her, Pauline. She has a funny sense of humour – she might say something that’d upset you. Like I said, she’s a bit odd.’
There was no way Pauline wouldn’t have twigged there was something wrong. For all her sweet-old-lady act she most definitely wasn’t stupid. But as long as Stephanie could somehow stall her speaking to Katie, then she could tell James he had to go and see his parents and break the news to them right away.
‘OK, if that’s what you want,’ Pauline said cautiously.
Stephanie ran for the train. She had no idea now if going up to Lincoln was the right thing to do, but if Katie was never going to answer her phone or return her calls then she had little option. She had no real hope that she could stop Katie doing whatever it was she was planning but she felt she had to do something. There was no getting round it: she needed James to help her. And asking him for help meant telling him the whole truth.
‘Guess what,’ he said cheerfully when he answered the phone. ‘I’ve got a job.’ He paused triumphantly waiting for her reaction but Stephanie couldn’t let herself be distracted and, besides, she had barely taken in what he’d said.
‘James, I have something to tell you but I can’t go into it now. I need you to ring your mum and keep her talking on the phone for as long as you can. Ideally for about two and a half hours,’ she said, and almost laughed, it was so ridiculous. ‘She just told me that someone called Katie is trying to ring her. I think she’s going to tell her everything.’
‘Jesus! How did she … I mean –’
‘I’ll tell you the details later. I’m going to try and call Katie, get her to change her mind.’
‘Do you need her number?’
‘Actually, I already have it. Oh, and I’m on my way up there. To Lower Shippingham. To talk to her.’
Stephanie heard James splutter in what would, under other circumstances, have been a comical way. This was clearly too much for him to take in all at once. ‘I will explain everything later, I promise. The main thing now is that Pauline and John don’t get caught up in the middle of our mess, OK? Just keep her on the phone for as long as you can and, hopefully, Katie’ll get bored of trying. It’s all we can do.’
‘I’m going to meet you up there,’ James said, and Stephanie found that she felt relieved. In truth, she didn’t want to have to deal with this on her own. ‘I’ll call you later,’ he said, and rang off.
Stephanie sat in the carriage and began the tedious process of dialling Katie’s number over and over again, willing her to answer. She left endless messages, asking her not to stoop so low as to hurt Pauline and John. She had said to James weeks ago that she was happy to keep Katie’s existence a secret from them for ever if that was what he thought best. They could tell them they had simply grown apart, that it was all perfectly amicable, preserve their son’s saintly image. She was happy to do whatever would hurt Pauline and John the least. Why couldn’t he have told them then? At least they would have got used to the news of the break-up by now. They would already have been picturing their son meeting other women. The whole thing would have been altogether less heart-attack-inducing.