Lola felt sicker than ever. ‘I need the money.’
‘Eleven thousand,’ Adele retaliated. ‘And that’s it.’
‘Fourteen,’ said Lola. What if she threw up all over Adele’s Persian rug?
‘Twelve.’
‘Thirteen.’
Twelve and a half.’
‘Done: That was it, she’d haggled her way up to twelve and a half thousand pounds.As far as Dougie’s mother was concerned, she was now officially despicable beyond belief. But it was enough to get Alex out of trouble; his boss at the garage was able to loan him the rest.
‘I hope you’re proud of yourself.’ Adele dismissively wrote out the newly agreed sum.
Lola could so easily have burst into tears. She willed herself to stay in control. ‘I’m not. I just need the money.’
‘And hallelujah for that.’ Adele, for whom twelve and a half thousand wasn’t that much money at all, smiled her chilly, unamused smile. ‘So what are you going to be spending it on?’
As she said it, her gaze slid disparagingly over Lola in her turquoise vest, jeans and flip-flops.
It was all over now. No more Dougie. She no longer had to try to impress his mother. ‘Moving abroad,’ said Lola. ‘New bikinis. Silicone implants. Isn’t that what you’d expect?’
‘It’s your money now. I don’t care what you do with it, so long as you keep out of my son’s life.’
Adele paused. ‘Will you tell him about this?’
‘No.’ Lola shook her head and took the cheque which Alexwould pay into his account this morning. He had arranged an overdraft to cover the days before it cleared. In exchange she handed over to Adele the letter she’d written this morning, the hardest letter she’d ever had to write. ‘I’m just going to finish with him. You can give him this when he gets home. I’ll be out of the country by then.’
‘Delighted to hear it. Dougie will be over you in no time, but I agree it’s best to put some distance between you. Well, I’ll show you out.’ Adele rose to her feet and ushered Lola back through the house. Evidently relieved that Dougie wouldn’t be discovering the part she had played in seeing off his undesirable girlfriend, she smiled again at the front door and said,
‘Goodbye, Lola. It’s been an education doing business with you.’
This was it, this was really it. Lola’s throat swelled up and for a moment she considered ripping the cheque into tiny pieces.
It was what she wanted to do. But then what would happen to Alex?
‘I do love Dougie.’ Her voice cracked; she still couldn’t imagine living without him. ‘I really, really do.’
Opening the door with a flourish, Adele said cheerfully, ‘But you love money more.’
The moment he arrived home three days later, Dougie had only one thing on his mind.
‘Hi, Mum, you OK?’ He dumped his rucksack in the hall and kissed Adele on the cheek. ‘Just going to shoot over to Lola’s.’
Adele hugged her clever, handsome eighteen-year-old son, the light of her life. ‘Actually there’s a letter here for you from Lola.’
It had almost killed her not to steam open the envelope.
Now, as Dougie scanned the contents and she saw the colour drain from his face, Adele knew she’d been right to do as she had. He was far too fond of the girl for any good to come of it; at his age it was ridiculous to have let himself get so involved with any girl, let alone one as unequal socially as Lola Malone, the cheaply dressed daughter of a mechanic.
‘What does it say?’
‘Nothing’ Pain mingled with disbelief in Dougie’s dark eyes as he crumpled the letter in his fist and headed upstairs.
Adele didn’t want to see him hurt, but it was for his own good. It was for the best. Calling up after Dougie she said, ‘Are you hungry, darling? Can I get you something to eat?’
‘No’ He turned abruptly, his jaw set. ‘How did you know the letter was from Lola?’
Adele thought fast. ‘I was upstairs when I heard something coming through the letterbox.When I looked out of the window she was running up the road. Why don’t I make you a roast beef sandwich, nice and rare?’
‘Mum, I’m not hungry.’
Adele’s heart went out to him. ‘Sweetheart, is everything all right?’
‘It will be.’ Filled with resolve, Dougie nodded and said evenly, ‘I’m going to my room, then I’m going out. And yes, everything will be all right.’
But it wasn’t, thank God. Lola had kept her part of the bargain. The moment Dougie left the house, Adele infiltrated his room and found the crumpled-up note under the bed.
Dear Dougie, Sorry to do it like this, but it’s easier than face to face. It’s over, Dougie, I don’t want to see you any more. We’ve had fun and I don’t regret our relationship but my feelings for you have changed recently, the magic just seems to have gone. I don’t want to move up to Edinburgh with you, it’s not my kind of place, and the thought of all that travelling up to see you is just too much. It’d never work out – we both know that, deep down. So I’ve decided to go abroad, somewhere hot and sunny. Don’t bother trying to contact me because I’ve made up my mind. You’ll find someone else in no time, and so will I.
Have a good life, Dougie. Sorry about this but you know it makes sense.
Cheers, Lola x
Adele nodded approvingly, crumpled the note back up again and replaced it under the bed.
