1999
MICHELLE KEANE TOOK a large gulp of wine and for what seemed like the hundredth time, glanced at the clock on the living-room wall. Two a.m. and the no-good fucker still wasn’t home. She wouldn’t have minded if he’d have rung her with one of his cock and bull excuses, but tonight he hadn’t even had the audacity to do that. She knew he was at it, she’d known for a while. He was a clever bastard, though, and proving it wasn’t going to be easy.
As she lay in bed unable to sleep, Billie Jo wondered where her dad was. He wasn’t home yet and she worried about him when he was late. Starving hungry, she toyed with the idea of going downstairs to make a sandwich. Remembering her mum was pissed and on the warpath, she decided she’d rather starve.
Whenever her dad was late home, Billie avoided her mother like the plague. It was the same old story every time. Firstly, her mum would sit clock watching and drinking wine by the gallon. The Patsy Cline CD was the next part of the ritual. ‘Crazy’ was her mum’s favourite song. Problem was, she had an awful voice and to say she murdered it was being polite. At the end of the song, her mum would burst into tears and blame Billie Jo for everything bad that had ever happened in her life.
‘If it hadn’t been for you, I’d still have my nice figure. Size ten I was when I met your dad. He’s only out whoring now ’cause I’ve put on weight and he doesn’t fancy me any more. It’s all your fault, Billie. I wish you’d never been born. Me and your dad used to get on just fine until you came along. If I could have my life all over again, I’d never have a kid. I must have been bloody mad, I should have had an abortion.’
Billie took no notice of her mother’s nasty comments. She’d had years of it, fifteen in fact. Mature for her age, she’d learned to deal with her psycho mum by the age of ten. Before that she used to cry a lot. She could never work out what she’d done wrong or why her mother was so angry with her all the time. When her dad was around she pretended to be nice, but as soon as he left the house, Billie would get the brunt of her mother’s resentment.
Billie’s relationship with her dad was completely the opposite. He was her life, her rock, and would do anything for her. She knew he was a dodgy bastard, she wasn’t silly. That’s why she worried when he was unexpectedly late. If he got nicked and put away, her life wouldn’t be worth living. Pulling the covers over her head, Billie tried to get some sleep. It didn’t come. Sighing, she prepared herself for the row that was bound to erupt on her father’s return.
Terry Keane opened one eye, heard the sound of the birds singing and quickly opened the other. Cursing himself for dozing back off to sleep, he leapt out of bed and hurriedly got dressed.
‘Bollocks,’ he muttered, as he searched high and low for his keys.
Hearing the racket he was making, Jade stirred, switched on the bedside lamp and propped herself up on her pillow. ‘You all right, Tel, what’s the matter?’
‘I can’t find me … oh there they are.’
Jade smiled as she realised he’d been hunting for his keys. Screws carried smaller bunches. They were impossible to mislay, yet he was always losing them.
‘What’s the time?’
Bending over the bed, Terry gave her a short but passionate kiss. ‘Put it this way, if the wildebeest is awake my life won’t be worth living. It’s nearly six.’
‘Christ, is it?’ Jade was genuinely shocked. ‘I don’t suppose you’ll be able to escape again later, will you?’
Terry flashed his sexy smile and winked at her. ‘You never know your luck, babe. No seriously, I’ve promised to take Billie Jo out for the day, just me and her, and I’ve got a bit of business to sort out tonight. I’ll bell you later and let you know one way or another.’
‘OK, have a nice day with Billie. Love you.’
‘Love you too, babe.’
Smiling at his words, Jade put the quilt over her head and lay dreamily thinking about him. At twenty-five years old, Jade Jenkins had crammed a lot into her young life. Having been brought up by her parents Mary and Lenny, along with her younger brother Simon, she’d spent her childhood living in a cottage in a remote village on the outskirts of Somerset. By the age of ten, Jade was bored with her life, by the age of thirteen she was totally disillusioned. At fifteen, the tomboy in Jade disappeared overnight and she turned into a ravishing beauty. Long blonde hair, big green eyes, pert breasts and a size-eight figure, she was the talk of the local lads and the subject of many a wank. At seventeen she started to date the village heart-throb.
Tommy Jones had many a female admirer, was good-looking and knew it. Six foot tall, muscular, with sun-kissed skin and long blond hair, he resembled an Australian surfer. His downfall was, he had the personality of a wet fish.
The son of a farmer, Tommy seemed more at ease dealing with animals than humans. Jade had never seen him as happy as when he was performing his midwife duties, delivering one creature or another. In fact he seemed happier with his hands around their private parts than he ever did with hers. Unbelievably, he proposed to her on her eighteenth birthday. Her parents were delighted, Jade was anything but.
‘Let me sleep on it. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.’
Jade was unable to sleep at all that night, as she pondered her future. The following day she took all her savings out of her building society, went to the nearest travel agents and booked a one-way ticket to Spain.
After a lonely first week, Jade met Kirsty Clark, a bubbly 21-year-old from Romford in Essex. Stuck in a foreign country on their lonesome, they soon became kindred spirits and within a week had got jobs working together in a bar. Inseparable, they went on to enjoy the summer of their lives.
When October arrived, Jade couldn’t think of anything worse than heading back to Somerset and facing the wrath of Tommy and her parents, so she ended up going with Kirsty back to Romford, where they shared a house with two of Kirsty’s cousins.
Four weeks after arriving back, with their small amount of savings rapidly disappearing, Kirsty decided to take up a job offer working in a small recruitment office in the centre of Ilford. Within a week she had found Jade a job. There was a secretarial position available at a car lot in Seven Kings. Jade had done a year after leaving school at a secretarial college back in Somerset, so had a rough idea of what the job would entail. After sailing through the interview, she started there on the following Monday and found it an absolute doddle.
Terry Keane was the proprietor of the car lot and had soon taken Jade under his wing. Married with a child, Terry felt sorry for her being miles away from home. Within a month they had struck up a great friendship. Terry treated her like the little sister he’d never had. She was unflappable, extremely efficient and trustworthy and Terry liked that.
Their relationship changed as the years ticked by and Terry’s marriage to Michelle disintegrated. First, Jade had been a shoulder to cry on, a good listener, but as time passed they had become soulmates. Now, seven years on, they were deeply in love and planning their future together.
Jade had fought hard to stop herself falling in love with Terry. She would never have dreamt that one day she would be involved with a married man. She was a decent girl with good morals and it was against all her beliefs. Working with him every day she couldn’t help her feelings. She’d even contemplated giving up her job at one point, but he’d talked her out of it. She knew he wasn’t lying when he said his marriage was a sham.
She
