Chapter 5

Seth Grimshaw was a handsome man. Girls loved him on sight, from his blond hair, which tended towards red, to his baby blue eyes and wide mouth, the smile of which made them weak at the knees. He was slim, bordering on lanky, which made his hands look large, and girls glanced knowingly at each other when they saw his large hands, rehearsing the myth that large hands meant endowment elsewhere. They also drooled over his tight round buns.

Susan always wondered what he saw in her. Although she was a very pretty, no, a beautiful girl, she never thought of herself as such, and perhaps this accounted for her gratitude when she felt he chose her as his live-in partner.

Now, having caught her eye he smiled, but this time, instead of that delicious warm glow spreading to her loins, she felt anger and resentment. His abandonment of her was foremost in her mind. She scowled at him.

Even so, he came over to her, and spoke, but the music was so loud that she heard nothing. However he understood her scowl well enough to know that he was in deep trouble with her. Indeed he expected as much, and he knew no endearing expression on his face would cut it with her. So he gestured to her to go to the entrance of the club, and she could lip-read his ‘please’. She nodded and then gestured to the bags on the table, and he understood she could not go until the others came back.

He went ahead and when she arrived in the foyer he was waiting for her. He didn’t get the opportunity to speak, before Susan began.

“I’m with the girls tonight, and I haven’t time to talk to you. I go back home the day after tomorrow, and I want an explanation from you about how you behaved.”

“Would you walk with me back to Abe’s place after?” he asked plaintively.

“I don’t know what their plans are, but if everyone’s going home, I’ll come with you. If they’re going on somewhere you’ll have to catch me tomorrow.” There was no smile on her face or in her voice; it sounded hard and brittle. He agreed and said he would wait until they left.

When she returned to the table, the other girls started in on her, telling her not to pick up with him again, and she told them that she had no intention of doing so, but she wanted an explanation and he needed to know what he had put her through.

They enjoyed the evening. They danced most of the time, and Susan was a star attraction among the men. The girls had made a pact that they would not pair off with anyone, but stay together in Susan’s honour. So as the music turned to slower, more romantic themes, and the volume dropped, they talked freely with much laughter, turning down all invitations to dance.

It was mid-week, and the others had work in the morning, so it was early, only just past midnight when they left the club. Seth was waiting for them, and the group cut him dead, but Susan said her thanks and goodbyes to them with hugs and kisses and turned to Seth.

They fell into step together, and he took her hand, but she snatched it away.

He began, “You seem to have done all right for yourself.”

“No thanks to you. I want to know why you did what you did.”

“I can’t tell you the details. I got in with a bloke and worked for him. He paid very well, which is why I was able to get the flat. Some of his deals were borderline dodgy, and he dealt with some nasty characters. He fell foul of one lot and we were in deep shit.

“He told me to disappear and he told me how to do it. I wasn’t to tell anyone, not even you. I got my mail transferred to Abe’s address and went somewhere no one could find me. I had a bank account you didn’t know about and cashed it in. It tided me over. Anyway, they found my boss and worked him over. He’s still in hospital. It meant that they weren’t looking for me any more, so I came back here – it’s about as far away from them as I can get.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“If they’d come to find me, and you knew I’d run, they’d think you’d know where and it wouldn’t have been pleasant.”

“No one ever came. I was left without money, not knowing anyone. Even if you’d said you had to disappear but couldn’t tell me where, you could have warned me the rent wasn’t going to be paid.” Her voice rose as she recalled the scene, “I had bailiffs at the door, and they nearly raped me, Seth!”

Seth stopped dead. “God no!” he whispered. “Suzy, I’m so sorry. I had no idea!”

“And for God’s sake, Seth, stop calling me Suzy. You know I hate it!”

“Sorry,” Seth murmured. “They nearly raped you?”

“The landlord was in the porter’s office looking at the CCTV and saw and heard them. He called them off. Otherwise I’d have been raped by two blokes in return for a week’s grace.”

They had arrived at Seth’s brother’s house, and stopped at the gate.

“Come in Suz ... an,” said Seth correcting himself just in time. “Tell me how you’ve been doing.”

Susan was not at all sure she wanted to go in, but deep down there was a desire pushing her. She rationalised it by thinking that he seemed genuinely sorry for what he’d done, and anyway he seemed to have tried to protect her by keeping her in ignorance.

“All right, just for a minute.” She knew it wasn’t for a minute.

They went in and Seth poured two large glasses of red wine, which he knew she liked. She’d had a few drinks at the club, but didn’t feel at all tipsy, and so she accepted it with a smile – the first smile since she met him that evening. It did not go unnoticed.

He was most attentive, asking her about the children, and about her new job. As the wine went down, and he refilled the glass, she felt more and more relaxed, and told him all the details – the anonymous landlord, her success at running the place, her promotion – and Victor Freeman.

“You serious about this – Victor?”

“He’s a good friend – for quite a while he was my only friend. He’s supported me with the children – he’s very good with them and they love him, but he’s never shown any interest in me in that way.”

“Biding his time?”

“I don’t think so. He’s a good deal older than me.”

“If he did come on to you, what would you do?”

“I don’t think it’s likely after all this time, but,” here she smiled wickedly, “I’d have to give it very careful consideration. He’s a rich man and really fit!”

Seth smiled. This was the old Susan. She’d got over her anger at him and had relaxed. Then the conversation turned.

“So, Seth, what about you. Deirdre said you’d been here a fortnight. What’re you doing? Girlfriend? You were never short of a girl before we went North.”

She thought he paused rather longer than he needed to.

“No girls, Sue,” he said thoughtfully. She wondered if he was lying.

“Ever since you, there’s been no one else,” he added, bordering on the smarmy, but not quite reaching it.

She smiled. Yes, he was lying, but in the gentle haze of the wine, she didn’t care. She’d not had sex for months, and the alcohol fuelled her desire. So when he came and sat by her, she didn’t flinch. When he took her hand she didn’t pull it away, and when he kissed her she kissed him back with abandon.