the Lord. I only had one call and I thought your mobile might be off so I called the house phone and you did pick up. Thank you, thank you,’ said a high-speed Fleur.
‘Uh, Fleur, it’s…’ Charlie looked at the clock ‘ten past two. What do you want?’
‘Um, I need you to come and get me, or I can get a taxi to yours, if that’s easier,’ said Fleur hurriedly.
‘Fleur, talk sense. What’s going on? Are you okay?’
‘Kind of yes and kind of no.’
‘Fleur!’ barked Charlie, her patience worn through already.
‘I went to Rob’s digs and I slashed his tyres, but their neighbourhood watch is really very good so they called the police, who arrested me. I’m in Harold Hill police station and I can’t ring Ma and Pa – they’ll kill me and I don’t think a taxi would risk taking me home as it’s quite far and I don’t have any cash. So I called you and the nice policeman says I need to wind up the call.’ Her voice was getting faster and faster, like someone declaring all the terms and conditions on a lending advert.
‘You prize idiot. Get a taxi here. I’ll pay for it, but you’re paying me back,’ and Charlie put the phone down because, if she didn’t put it down now, in about ten seconds she was going hurl it across the room.
Charlie’s cold feet were pacing the living-room floor, the boiling-mad sensation she could feel elsewhere hadn’t yet travelled that far. When she heard a car pull up outside she sprang towards the front door, grabbing her purse on the way. She opened the door briskly and a startled-looking Fleur stood outside with a knuckle aloft, ready to tap on the door. Charlie held out twenty-pound notes; Fleur took them and delivered them to the waiting cab driver. She slunk back up the steps, past Charlie and into the house. Even in an oversized jumper and her hair roughly tied back she still looked like she could be on the front of a magazine. Her hooded eyes were the only thing that gave her away.
Charlie held the door tightly and, with a lot of effort, shut it silently. She would far rather have let some of her temper out and slam it shut but that would wake the whole house and the children needed their sleep. She was so cross with Fleur she didn’t know where to start.
‘I actually got arrested,’ said Fleur, trying to hide a smile by biting her bottom lip.
‘You idiot! What the hell did you think you were doing?’
Fleur crept onto one of the big chairs, pulled her feet underneath her and covered her knees with her jumper. ‘Come on, Charlie, it’s not really serious. Even the policeman laughed when I told him the story. I think he thought Knob deserved it too.’
Charlie knew that Fleur could charm anyone and a gullible policeman would not be a challenge. A quick flutter of the eyelashes and the ‘I got dumped at my own wedding’ story and he didn’t stand a chance. But Charlie was full of temper and she had to channel it somewhere.
‘They charged you, so you have a criminal record now. What happens when you want to get a job? These things hang around forever,’ said Charlie, speaking from bitter experience. ‘And what will your parents say when they find out?’
‘Knob will drop the charges when he’s calmed down and, well, Ma and Pa don’t need to know. I told them I was most likely going to be staying at a friend’s.’
‘Did you plan to get arrested?’ Charlie couldn’t control the higher-octave voice that escaped.
‘No! I was going to sit outside his flat. I know that’s sad but I wanted to know who he was with, what he was doing. If he was sad or sorry or… I don’t know.’
‘And was he any of those things?’ said Charlie, trying to maintain her temper because annoyingly it was starting to ebb away.
‘No. He pulled up in his car and it was like a party spilled out. He was with Jed and Sophie and two other girls and they were laughing and messing about… and I watched them go inside and I flipped out. You know when you say the red mist descends and you can’t control it?’ Charlie knew exactly what that was like. She nodded and sat on the arm of the chair next to Fleur. ‘I flipped out and I stabbed his tyres with my penknife. I got a bit carried away and then there was this man with a torch shouting at me and then Knob came out and went crazy and then the police arrived.’ Fleur’s bottom lip sagged and Charlie leaned in to give her a hug before she started to cry.
‘You are a prize idiot.’ She hugged her for a bit until Fleur released her grip.
‘I’m tired.’
‘Hot chocolate?’ suggested Charlie.
‘No, thank you. Where am I sleeping?’
‘Sofa or one of the children’s beds – half of them are free as far as I can make out,’ said Charlie, thinking about the warm bodies squirrelled under her duvet.
Charlie could hear the phone ringing again and dragged herself to consciousness. It was light outside but still early. She looked around and realised she was asleep on the sofa. When she had gone back to bed it had still been full of children and dog, so she had settled Fleur in Eleanor’s bed and had taken a blanket and opted for the sofa. It had been adequate and at least she hadn’t spent the night disentangling herself from paws, legs and countless pointy elbows.
She dragged herself upright, picked up the phone and mumbled into it.
‘Who is this?’ asked Ruth.
‘It’s Charlie, the nanny,’ said Charlie, waking up as a shot of something lunged uncomfortably around her system.
‘I want an update on the Social Services meeting,’ she stated firmly.
‘I’d be happy to do that for you,’ said Charlie, relaxing into the sofa. She could feel Ruth’s reaction on the other end and it was quite entertaining.
‘I still don’t see why they wanted to see you at all,’ said Ruth, her voice fading out a little.
Charlie really did dislike this woman. ‘I’m going to be the children’s primary carer so it concerns me very much.’ There, that felt better.
‘What gives you that idea? We can, and will, employ who we like to care for the children. As you’ve brought up the subject, I’ll see if I can get along to you this afternoon…’ said Ruth.
Charlie wanted to reach down the phone and pull her out, like they did in cartoons, and give her a good slap. Count to ten, she thought, count to ten. One, two, three… bugger it!
‘You can employ anyone you like, Ruth, and you can change them weekly, especially if you’d like to totally fuck up your sister’s children. If that’s what you want, you go ahead!’ and she switched off the phone. Charlie instantly wished she hadn’t done it. That may have been tantamount to handing in her resignation. It was stupid and rash. She flung herself back against the sofa. What had she done?
Fleur came into the room wrapped in Charlie’s dressing gown and wearing Ted’s old slippers. She was closely
