Chapter 18

Matthew pulled the chair out for his young female companion who kissed him on the cheek. "Drink?"

"Diet Coke," she replied and Matthew beckoned over a waiter and ordered a coffee and a Diet Coke along with two cookies. "I do have a figure to maintain. Especially now that I am single." Matthew rolled his eyes at the wife in front of him but she looked at him stoutly. "I mean it."

"Katie," Matthew soothed and looked at his corybantic friend. "I have something for you."

"Well I hope the thing you have is Gareth's bollocks," she said fiercely.

Matthew opened his back and slid over a book to his friend. "How to live with someone who is kinky," she read out a little too loudly and then put it on the table. "Why?"

"Because it will help. Well it may help."

Katie frowned. "I am not having him back. Do you know what those girls were doing in that video? Oh it makes me sick to think about it. And the dogs. Ughh. What sort of sick bastard gets off on that?"

"Your husband does." Matthew scowled for a moment and then shock his head. "He is bored, horny and kinky. And he is missing you dreadfully."

"Well I am not missing him," Katie said obstinately and was interrupted by the waiter returning with their drinks. "And if he is sorry then he needs to come and say it. Not you, but it doesn't change anything."

Matthew took a sip of his drink. "He is sorry he got caught. But he thinks you don't understand him. He likes his porn, Katie. He always has done."

"Yeah, I know that. I don't like it, but I can live with that. I can just about live with a bit of bondage, but shitting in other people's mouths. Seriously Matthew, is that normal?"

Matthew hummed. "OK. It's a little extreme."

"Would you watch it?"

Matthew sighed. "No. But then I don't think he wanted you to watch it, did he?"

Katie took a slurp of her drink and then a bite of her cookie. "It's such a shock," she admitted. "I mean I know he had a dark side an' all but recently he has gone into sick porn and barely had a job interview. He is self-destructing, I don't want to see it."

"He has a job," Matthew replied. "OK, it is only part-time but does have a job." Katie spluttered and Matthew cocked his head to one side. "And he is missing you. He wants you back. He would beg for another chance, if he was here, and wasn't being so stubborn."

Katie gave a tortured smile and bit her lip. "He can plead and beg all he wants, I ain't having him back."

"OK, now I am pleading with you. Please, take him back." Katie chortled at the desperate pleas.

"Is he getting on your nerves then?"

"Totally," Matthew replied with complete candour. "He is my friend and all that, but he is driving me up the wall."

"So why should I have him back then?"

Matthew pursed his lips and looked at her. "Because your vows said for better and for worse. Talk to him, he is your husband after all." Katie swore at him and buried herself behind her drink. "And for all your bluster, you are missing him as well, aren't you?"

Katie sighed and looked away. "Yeah, maybe. But things would have to be different. I don't want to tie up my husband and whip him until his butt bleeds. He has to understand that. And I definitely ain't doing what's on the videos and..."

"I know," Matthew said calmly. "But talk to him, try and find some common ground, agree on some ground rules."

Katie looked out of the window, tapping her spoon on her cup and then pointed it at her luncheon companion. "I'll talk to him, try and compromise, but if he starts getting the silly stuff again, it's straight back to your spare room."

Matthew bit his lip. "Bloody isn't. He can go sleep at the B&B if he gets chucked out again."

Katie snarled at him. "I haven't said I will have him back yet, I just said I'll talk to him." Matthew bit his lip, he knew if they talked they would make up, he was sure of that.

Katherine groaned. "It's not easy," her mother said as Katherine hesitated. "It's expensive and you know about your father's business. We can't keep paying for everything."

Katherine wiped her eyes. "Well they said I should have had it by now but I haven't. I'll pay you back when I get my benefits." Katherine pleaded, her tax credits and child benefit payments had been delayed due to "technical difficulties" which had meant she was begging her parents for short-term loans to pay for nappies and clothing for little Evie although Matthew had brought around some items earlier in the week; she was lucky to have him as a friend.

"You getting pregnant has really caused a problem," Charlotte told her as she walked back into the lounge. "You need to take responsibility for it all."

"I am trying," Katherine pleaded and adjusted her top. "I mean, I am on the list for a flat and I do want to be independent but it is so hard when they are not paying me what I am due."

Charlotte sat down in the seat next to Lewis and Anna, who were playing cards and looked over at her daughter. "We are really disappointed with you."

Katherine seethed, why was her mother being so cold with her? It wasn't her fault that the benefits people were messing her about, and she had tried to get an evening job at a local bar, but her mother said she couldn't look after Evie every night, she had a life too.

"I am trying," Katherine said firmly. "I tried to get a job at the pub but couldn't find anyone to look after Evie, and I have been in every day to complain about the money not being paid. Charlotte huffed and Katherine took a deep breath. "Well at least I didn't run off to Scotland to get married just for money," she said angrily. "Perhaps I should do that, try and find a non-EU bloke and shack up with him for some cash? Or prostitute myself to the highest bidder? Or–"

Lewis looked up from the card game. "I didn't," he replied, putting a six of clubs onto the table. "We didn't get married."

"You tried to," Katherine replied, her eyes flashing. "It's only because they wouldn't marry you. You only wanted to marry Anna because she would give you some money, you pimped yourself out."

"No," Lewis replied.

"Yes," Katherine snapped. "Yes it is."

"No," he said firmly. "I like Anna. I mean, I really like Anna." Katherine shrugged but Lewis looked at his friend. "I should have said this before, but I didn't just want to marry you for the money, I mean it was a good cover and all that but I just couldn't face you going back to Russia, I liked you too much and it seemed like a good way to get you to stay. And if you stayed we could go out."

Charlotte looked at Anna and then at her son but Anna was the first to speak. "You marry me so I stay?"

Lewis nodded. "I didn't care about the money, but it was the only way you would agree." Anna bit her lip and wiped her nose with her hand.