He reassures me then, that of course he wants the house and yes he can sell it, he’s got the very person in mind actually! He took one look at me and saw a simpering widow, thought that he had me worked out…
He hasn't a clue!
‘I don't even want to hear about offers below the asking price.’
‘I have to keep you up-to-date if there is a serious offer.’
‘It’s a serious offer if it's the asking price or above,’ I tell him.
Oh, I tell him!
And no, he’s not getting a key.
Do you know how many shagging opportunities estate agents have?
I can hear Marcus now. ‘I’m just taking Lucy to look through a house.’ Then he’d select a key.
I was sixteen.
I’m sure there are nice reputable ones. I just hate the lot of them.
I have him crossing out clauses in the contract.
He tells me he’s already dropping his percentage, when I argue about it.
I make him drop it again.
Oh, I’m a bitch, I know that, but I can use it for good sometimes.
‘Well, thank you for the opportunity,’ he’s so pissed off that he can hardly get the words out. ‘I'm looking forward to working with you, Lucy and selling your beautiful home.’
‘Working for me,’ I correct and watch his shoulders stiffen.
As I walk back in the house I realised that not once did I flirt.
Not once.
He tried.
I’m just not playing that game anymore.
CHAPTER FIFTY NINE
I open the door to accept my online shopping delivery, only to see that walking up my driveway is Simone.
It’s awful when your children fall out. It’s not as if we were ever close friends but it makes things really awkward. I'm angry at Felicity, which means I'm angry with her mum but then I remember how I felt when it seemed Charlotte was the bully. I remember how mortified and embarrassed I was, how I wondered how I could possibly face Felicity. I guess she must be feeling like that too, worse perhaps given all that’s happened.
‘Felicity told me that Charlotte isn't back at school.’
‘She’s started at the local comprehensive.’
‘Because of the bullying?’
“What do you think?” I’m tempted to say but I don't. It would be so easy to, and I'm tempted, so tempted to, because I can walk away with my head held high. I can blame it all on her child, on her parenting. I can say that this has nothing to do with me, or my finances, or all the mess that he left.
‘Because of a whole lot of things.’ I say instead. ‘Come in.’
I put my shopping away as she talks to me.
She tells me she had no idea that Felicity could be like that. She talks about her guilt at not being around enough for her daughter. Yes, she drops her home after school but she then heads back to the office and she feels awful for not having had a clue what was going on.
I get it.
I put on the kettle as I keep putting my shopping away. I’ll make a pot of tea and then, I tell her, we’ll sit down and chat.
‘How do you do it, Lucy?’ Simone asks. ‘Who’s your cleaner?’
‘I got rid of her.’ I don’t offer that I couldn’t afford her any more, because that's not the entire truth either. ‘I do it better,’ I say. ‘And she got on my nerves – she kept using my mug.’
‘Rhonda!’ For the first time since she's been here, in fact for the first time with me, she starts laughing. ‘She uses my mug too,’ Simone says. ‘I’ve hidden it at the back of the cupboard’
‘That won’t stop her.’ I think of me driving around that day with no knickers on and my mug in my handbag and I start to laugh too.
‘I have to get rid of her but I just don't have the time to find anybody else,’ Simone says, watching me put my shopping away, watching as I take my commercial size cling film and separate all the muffins and bread. ‘I keep meaning to try online shopping, it just takes forever to set up the lists.’
‘It's worth it when you do though,’ I say and I admire her for coming over. ‘Do you want me to help you get started?’
‘You don't have to do that.’
‘I've got time today, though it would be easier to do it at your house so we can go through the cupboards.’ I can see her starting to blush.
‘Rhonda hasn't been in, she's not coming until this