Part 16 (1/2)

'It's...er...a business meeting about Mummy's writing,' said Stevie. 'You go in there with Kate, darling,' and she ushered him towards the lounge before he could see MacLean and get nightmares.

'Come on then, Dans, let's go and watch a DVD with the cinema surround on full vol,' said Kate, taking him into the lounge. 'Give Mums a kiss.'

'Bye, darling, be good for Kate,' said Stevie, although she knew he would be an absolute angel for Kate. Then, as soon as the lounge door closed, there was a battering-ram-type boom at the front door. Stevie grabbed her jacket and handbag and reached for the handle, noticing how much her hand was shaking as it stretched out in front of her. She opened it to find Adam MacLean colour-co-ordinated with her in a pale green s.h.i.+rt and stonewashed jeans.

'Both of us in mintnice touch,' he said appreciatively. 'I took a slow walk from the car to the door,' he went on. 'Now we'll take a slow walk back to it.'

'Okay,' said Stevie. He opened the car door for her (for show obviously), closed it behind her and then climbed in the driver's seat. The CD switched on with the ignitionAlvin Stardust. She had been expecting something a lot heavier: the Prodigy maybe, or some other group with a lead singer who bit the heads off live rodents.

They didn't speak at all. Stevie wished she'd brought a knife to cut the atmosphere between them, though actually, just bringing a knife would have been sensible. Adam drove steadily despite his car being such a long, fast, sleek number. She knew the myth about men and big cars, although she doubted very much that Jo was the sort of woman who would have entertained a man who was short in that area. Matthew was nicely endowednot too big, not too smalland from the size of the rest of Adam MacLean, he looked as if he might have a bit of a monster in his trousers. Then she wondered why on earth she was thinking about Adam MacLean's w.i.l.l.y and cut off those thoughts there and then.

They arrived at the car park, which was just around the corner from the cinema. Still not speaking, they crossed the road and joined the queue for the ticket booth.

'Whit do you want to go and see?' he asked.

There were two films showing. One was something like The Strangulatorno prizes for guessing that would be his choice, thought Stevieor a psychological thriller with Denzel Was.h.i.+ngton, who, Stevie thought, was quite dishy and would certainly take her mind off the fact that she was on an obligatory evening out with him.

'Er...what do you want?' said Stevie diplomatically.

'It's up to you.'

'Well, the, thriller's got good press,' she suggested, hoping he would say that he was off to see The Strangulator and would meet her in the foyer after the film was over, but ( b.u.g.g.e.r! ) he simply said, 'Aye, that'll dae then.'

Stevie rummaged in her bag for her purse but he said, 'I'll get these. You awa' and get the popcorn.'

'Okay,' said Stevie, thinking, Popcorn? This is looking too much like a real date! However, she then realized that he didn't want her to think she was getting away with not paying for anything.

'He thinks I'm a freeloader!' she said to herself. 'Right, I'll show him!'

She was served, just as Adam appeared with the tickets. She was struggling with a 'small' popcorn the size of a mop bucket and a 'large' which was roughly a skip, and had cost as much. She had plumped for the special offer and got two drinks as well. Not having a clue what he wanted, she had chosen Diet c.o.kes seeing as a gallon of Bells and Irn Bru wasn't an option. He had the nerve to look taken aback.

'I wes actually joking,' he said.

'Well, unfortunately I'm not yet fully acquainted with the nuances of your wit,' said Stevie, grappling with a sweet smile as well as with the enormous feast.

'So which is mine?' he grunted.

'This big one, of course!' said Stevie. Is he joking or does he think I'm a hog? She had just found out it was possible to dislike him a little more.

'Ba' Christ, it'll take me aw night to eat this.'

'I didn't want you thinking I was mean,' said Stevie purposefully, with a tight smile. It was, after all, his race renowned for parsimony, not hers. 'Which brings me around to say that I do very much want to get the financial side of our arrangement sorted soon too. I don't want to be in for any nasty shocks.'

'Aye,' he said without elaboration, then turned his back on her and led the way into the darkened cinema.

'Here,' said Adam, picking one of the big cus.h.i.+oned seats with the row in front of them a distance away. 'I paid extra for the superior seats. Ma legs get aw crunched up in the ordinary wans...ones.'

He did have very long legs, thought Stevie, who reckoned both hers placed end to end must equal the length of one of his. He must have to go to special shops for his jeans. 'Big Ignorant Scottish b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 'R' Us', possibly.

The lights dimmed and the adverts and trailers came on and Stevie took a long look around. The place was full of couples, silhouettes of their heads coming together as they pa.s.sed a joke or a sweet nothing, so it felt odd to be part of them, and yet not part of them. How many others here were sitting with people they couldn't stand, and who they knew couldn't stand them either?

She and Matthew loved the cinema. Quite a few times he had rung her from work to say, 'See if Kate can babysit and we'll go and see a film.' Then they would invariably make a night of it and have supper somewhere afterwards and blow the expense. Like he would do with Jo now.

A rush of tears blindsided her and she coughed them down. Then she felt Adam MacLean nudge her to inquire if she was choking on popcorn. It was like being hit by a bus.

'No, unfortunately for you, I'm fine,' she said, and he laughed a big 'ha'.

They munched and watched in entertained silence. Denzel was gorgeous and the plot was twisty and thrilling. It was obvious from the off who was the bad guy but that fact didn't detract one iota from the enjoyment. At the end, the lights came up and Adam got up, stretched, and knocked all the stray k.n.o.bs of popcorn off his s.h.i.+rt into his container. Between what he and Stevie had left, there was enough to feed a third world country for a week.

'That was quite goodwell picked,' he said.

'Yes, I enjoyed it,' said Stevie. 'The film, I meant,' she added. Just in case he thought she meant his scintillating company.

She really doesn't like me very much at all, he thought with faint amus.e.m.e.nt, although he couldn't for the life of him think why that was. Had he not treated her with anything but absolute courtesy, that first meeting excepted? None of this situation was his fault. He had gone over his relations.h.i.+p with Jo with a finer than fine-tooth comb in his head, but he still couldn't work out where he'd gone wrong. It was torturing him, not knowing why she preferred a p.r.i.c.k like Matthew Finch to someone who had treated her like a queen. It was Miss Stroppy Drawers here that hadn't made Matty Boy happy and he had strayed. It was her fault, not his. Slatternly, verbally abusive, p.r.o.ne to violent outbursts when she was drunk, and they were just at the beginning of the list. If she was adamant about flinging blame about, she should look nearer to home.

He led Stevie out and back to the car, where the cheesy seventies CD blasted out 'Wig Wam Bam' and 'Do You Wanna Touch'. It seemed to her that his music taste was as dubious as everything else about him. They both sat in stone-faced silence, each wanting to get away from the other as soon as possible.

'Want me to run your babysitter hame...home?' he offered, as they turned into Blossom Lane.

'No, it's all right, thank you. I'll get her a taxi,' said Stevie, a bit too quickly.

He was laughing now and shaking his head. The nicer he was to her, the more it seemed to annoy her. That made him want to be even nicer, because getting under her skin was the only bit of fun he was having at the moment.

'Okay, spend your money,' he said, 'but don't say I didnae offer.'

They pulled up outside the cottage. The lights were on downstairs in Matthew's house and the curtains were still open.

'We'll sit here for a wee minute,' Adam MacLean said, 'and give them a chance to see us.'

Great! thought Stevie, but then again, the sooner they were seen, the sooner it would all come to whatever head it was going to come to and be over.

'After aw,' Adam went on, 'that's what lovers dae...do, isn't it? Sit in the car and talk and kiss and stuff.'

'There's no way I'm kissing you,' said Stevie, horrified.

'Don't worry yerself, lady,' said Adam, jerking backwards. 'I'm just trying to make this as realistic as possible. Without stooping to bodily contact. Agreed?'

'Agreed,' said Stevie.

He grunted.

'Would this be a good time to talk about money then?' said Stevie.

'Look,' he said, sounding a little bit strained, 'I'll work out some figures. I certainly can't afford to pay for the entire cottage and my mortgage for very long...'