Then I noticed the other expensive car parked in the street. She was here already.
Sally lived in flat 1A. I had to go down a walkway to the door at the side of the building. The path was dank, and moss grew over it, making it slippery. Still, I flew to the door, half sliding, and smashed my fist against it. I knew that Dee wasn’t in physical danger but my mother didn’t need to use violence to cause permanent damage.
The door opened. Mother sat at a table. The air was tense but, at least, Dee wasn’t in tears.
“Thank goodness, you’re here. We need to talk.” Mother stood up. “I’m just about done here.”
“What’s she been doing to you?” I asked Dee, ignoring my mother.
“Let her alone. We need to go, Alex. I’ve tried reasoning with her and it’s impossible.” Mother grabbed me by the arm but I shook her off. “You need to stay away from her altogether.”
She gave Dee a sweeping glance as though to dismiss her.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just look at her. She’s not the kind of girl you should get involved with.”
I did look at her. She’d tied her hair back in a scrappy ponytail. The singlet she wore had food stains on it and was well past needing a wash. She had on skimpy little shorts that showed her long, tanned legs.
Those shorts could drive a man crazy.
Far from being the girl I shouldn’t be involved with, she was the perfect girl. The only girl. If it wasn’t Dee, it’d be no one.
“You leave. I’m staying.” I folded my arms. There was no way I’d leave, unless it was to get Mother far away from Dee.
“You can both leave,” Dee said. “I’m sick of your entire family.”
Even though she said that, the way she looked at me ignited a glimmer of hope in my heart. All wasn’t lost. If only my mother didn’t fuck things up.
“I will be going but things will go my way, you’ll see.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“I want you home and working in the business by the end of the week. Enough of this fooling around. You’ll be thirty in a few years and we need someone to carry things on. Your father isn’t getting any younger.”
“I’ve got plans of my own,” I said.
“Yes. That stupid music contract. I know all about that and, believe me, with one phone call from me, that will all be history.”
She folded her arms and smirked at me with a smugness that suggested she’d won. There would be no winning for her, though. I’d not be going back to work in the business. I’d not take orders from her either. She thought she could rule people with her money but that was no longer the case.
“Too late,” I said. I hadn’t wanted to discuss it like this, in front of Dee, but there was no way out of it. “I’ve cancelled it myself.”
Mother clapped her hands together. “Thank goodness. See, all that stupid music business was just a kid’s dream. You have to be realistic.”
I turned to Dee. Since it was coming out anyway, I needed to explain.
“I’ve cancelled the contract, Dee. They wouldn’t go ahead unless we released ‘Fifteen Minutes of Sunshine’ and I couldn’t do that. It’s your song.”
She shook her head. “It’s not mine. It’s Jake’s.”
“It’s Jake’s,” I agreed. “I need to do things my own way. I’ve screwed a lot up.”
Dee gave me an encouraging nod. That nod meant more to me than anything in the world. It was enough to give me courage for everything I needed to do to start making things right.
“Stop being ridiculous, the pair of you.”
Dee trembled with the force of hatred beamed at her. As much as Dee acted tough, it was horrible to be treated like that. I pulled Dee closer; she didn’t resist.
“This doesn’t involve you,” I told Mother. “It’s my business.”
“If you don’t have that contract, you have nothing. I’ll organise for you to put that dirty dive bar on the market and —”
“And nothing. I’m not selling the club. The club is mine. The band is mine. I’m not coming home. Get that into your head.” I shook my head, trying to get things clear to myself before speaking more. I needed to make this final. “I’ll never come back. You have nothing I need. You think you’re protecting me but that’s not how it should be.”