He stood up, scratching his head. ‘But what about my money?’
‘It’s not your money, Phil. Now piss off.’
‘But I still love you, Nina!’
‘Tell that to your new flame.’
‘But she’s nothing like you, babe!’
‘Oh my bloody God, Phil. Will you please get out of here?’
‘You need me, Nina.’
At the thought of that, I grinned. ‘Sure I do. Just like a hole in the head.’
He rolled his eyes, just like Chloe did, and then rubbed his knuckles against a stain down his front. ‘Fetch the kids, I’m taking them out,’ he said suddenly.
I took a deep breath. ‘First of all, you get them every other weekend – when you don’t forget or have other plans. And second of all, you don’t give me orders anymore,’ I said, and, just like that, we were back in the past, when I’d realised what he was and that I’d had enough. That the children and I could no longer live under him like that. We were no longer captives of his dissolute ways, and the children would never again have to be subjected to his mood swings and the erratic behaviour typical of a gambler. Thank God the courts had been on my side, although bi-monthly visitation rights had been even too generous in my opinion.
‘And while we’re on the subject, how dare you talk to my daughter about our relationship?’
‘Our daughter. And it’s true. You,’ he continued, jabbing his index finger into my chest. ‘You with all your frownin’ and worryin’! You’re nothing but a killjoy. And then you took away the sex to top it off! You’ve put me off sex completely! You’ve made me a monk, you have!’
Which I found hard to believe. It was a wonder we didn’t have an army of little Jenkinses running around the place.
In any case, how the hell did he expect me to think about sex and frolicking around in bed with all the worrying I did concerning our very survival? How could I have been the only one seeing the cliff we had been barrelling towards? Of course I worried on a daily – no, hourly basis – about my children’s wellbeing and happiness. No one else would bother to. If I’d had someone to share the burden of my daily grind and worries with, someone to talk to in those brief moments before dropping off to sleep in sheer exhaustion, while he was gambling away all our money, I might have been able to take my foot off the pedal and have a go at living a decent, even happy, life. But now, things were finally going to change.
‘And thanks to you, I’m not interested in a serious relationship anymore!’ he continued to yell.
‘You never were, Phil. And if that’s still true, I’m glad to have been of service to some poor woman who’s just dodged the ill fortune of meeting you.’ And with that, I pulled him up and marched through the front door.
‘Nina!’ he called as I closed the door in his face.
With Phil removed as a major influence, I did my best to educate my children and teach them respect for others and themselves. They went to the best school in the county. They were surrounded by top-quality people with integrity and hearts of gold. I could only do so much on my own, provided he didn’t influence them negatively any further.
There was another knock at the door, and thinking Phil would have the gall to return, I swung it open, ready to resume the battle.
It was Jack, watching Phil getting onto his bike. The last time they had met was when Jack had told him to stay away from us outside visiting days and Phil had told him to, let’s say, Eff Off.
But this time Phil simply glared at him and drove off, leaving a pound of rubber on the tarmacadam.
‘Hey, you okay?’ Jack asked as I moved aside to let him in.
‘God, what I wouldn’t do to erase him from my past. Jack, be very careful who you marry, because once the kids come, that’s it. You can never get rid of your ex.’
‘Can’t you get a court order?’
‘I would, but the kids would never forgive me. They don’t know what he did, and I don’t want to break their hearts.’
‘That’s a mother’s love for you, keeping her children safe at all costs. You are a star, Nina.’
‘To be honest, I don’t feel like one,’ I huffed, suddenly tired of everything. ‘You know what? Maybe I should just dump Chloe on his hands twenty-four-seven. See what a great job he does.’
‘As if you’d ever do that,’ he said loyally, nudging me.
‘Ooh, sometimes I just want to clobber him over the head, so neither of us would have to remember we were actually married to each other once.’
‘Marriage is not always bad,’ he said. ‘If you meet the right person, that is.’
I stared at him. ‘Jack! Are you… in love?’
‘Nina—’
‘Oh, my God, who is it? Tell me, tell me!’
‘There’s nothing to tell.’
‘Ooh, you dark horse! Does Em know? I’ll feel left out if you’ve told her and not me!’
Jack moved away and huffed. ‘Will you just let it go, Nina?’
*
Today was Wednesday, the day that Olly and Joe, Ben’s best friends, always came over to work on a long-standing school project, which was due at the end of the year. They had met at Little Acorns nursery school and had stuck to each other thanks to a common love of cars and crossword puzzles. Yes, ladies and gents, my son is a self-confessed, popular nerd and I am over the moon about it. During some tests at school he scored at university student level, Olly and Joe not far behind. They were not the typical, quiet, isolated nerds, but rather enjoyed everyone’s company and everyone enjoyed theirs. Smart enough to be set as a standard, but not too much so as the other kids would resent them.
Ben was an original
