Playing Nice

I start crying again. “Like father, like daughter, then. Will you lend us the money?”

He sighs. “I’m a businessman, girl. A bloody tough one at that. If I’m going to lend you money, I want a return on my investment.”

I don’t understand. “What do you mean?”

“A time limit on how long you’ll stay in the UK.”

I stare at his grainy face on the iPad screen.

“I love you,” he adds. “And I miss my little girl. I miss you like hell.” His own voice cracks. “I can stand another year of this, but then I want you back for good. You can even bring that bludger you’ve shacked up with—I’ll find him a good job in my company if needs be, something to make himself useful. It’s not much to ask, is it?”

“I know you love me, Dad,” I whisper. “I’ve always known that.”

“Well, then. Let me know how much you need, and I’ll wire it to you.”

* * *

—

AFTER THE CALL IS over, I cry some more, then wash my eyes with cold water before going downstairs.

“How’d it go?” Pete asks softly.

“It was fine,” I say shortly. “We’re remortgaging the house.”

51

PETE

WE BOTH TOOK THEO to the Lamberts’ next morning. We’d talked long into the night about whether to go at all, but, as Maddie pointed out, it would be crazy to pay a lawyer three hundred pounds an hour and then ignore her advice.

I was apprehensive but determined. I’d been awake early, even before Theo came into our bed, running through different versions of the scene in my mind. If Miles was there, I’d decided, I’d be icy but polite. I certainly wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he’d managed to frighten us.

Maddie and I were both silent in the car, while Theo chuntered quietly in the back. He hadn’t been happy about going to our neighbor the day before—when we collected him, she’d told us he’d deliberately kicked her son’s prized model of the moon across the room, breaking it. Theo, listening, had only said mutinously, “Want to go to Moles’s house.” Now, when he recognized the buildings on our route, he started chanting. “Moles’s house! Moles’s house! I like Moles’s house!”

“Moles is not as nice as we thought,” I said to shut him up. Maddie gave me a warning glance.

“Why?” Theo demanded. “Why, Daddy?”

“Long story.”

Theo was silent. He liked stories, but not long ones.

When we climbed the steps to the Lamberts’ front door, it felt almost like a rerun of our first visit. But this time, it wasn’t Miles who opened the door, but Tania.

“Good morning, good morning, Theo,” she said in her heavily accented English. For a moment I thought Lucy must have sent her to the door deliberately, to avoid meeting us, but then Lucy herself appeared in the hallway behind her, elegantly dressed as always in a pair of designer jeans and a black pashmina.

“Hello Pete. Maddie. How nice to see you. And Theo, of course. Are you coming in?”

Maddie said firmly, “Yes. I’d like to see David.”

“Of course. He’s in the playroom.” Lucy indicated the way.

“Lucy…” I said, lingering behind.

“Yes?”

I said quietly, “How can you behave as if nothing has happened? You’ve served Notice of Proceedings on us.”

Her vague smile didn’t waver. “Well, it’s just legal stuff, isn’t it? I’m sure you understand. Miles said we have to go through the proper process and it’ll all come out in the wash. I’m not really thinking about that side of things, actually,” she added nervously as she gestured me toward the playroom. “And as you’ve always said, we should all try to be nice to each other, whatever’s going on.”

“That’s not what I said, Lucy. And I don’t think trying to take our son away from us is being nice.”

Just for a moment, the smile crumbled. She said in a small voice, “If you’d only been a bit more receptive to the school thing. And then Cornwall. Miles—he’s very fair. He just doesn’t like it when people aren’t straight with him.”

“?‘The school thing’?” I stared at her. “That’s what this is about? He’s going to all this effort to take Theo away from us, just so he can pack him off to boarding school?” I actually found myself laughing, a short hollow bark at the irony of it all. “Well, it isn’t going to happen.”

“Miles says…” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “I’m sure you’ll love the Dragon School when Theo actually goes there. Miles is usually right about these things. And anyway, the decision’s made now, isn’t it? We’ve got parental authority or whatever it’s called. So really, there’s not much point in getting worked up about it. Would you like some tea?”

I sighed. “No. I really wouldn’t like some tea.”

Maddie reappeared. She had tears on her cheeks, which she flicked away angrily. “Let’s go.”

Outside, we lingered on the pavement, delaying the moment when I’d get in the car and she’d head for the Tube station. “Incredible,” I said, shaking my head. “Incredible. It’s like he’s brainwashed her.”

“I guess if you’re married to Miles Lambert, you have to give him your absolute loyalty,” Maddie said drily.

My phone pinged and I checked the screen. “Who’s that?” she asked.

“Greg, seeing if we can meet up. I’ll tell him no. I want to spend the morning researching CAFCASS.”

“Makes sense. I’ll see you tonight, then. Love you.”

“Love you,” I echoed.

She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and was gone. I called after her, “Have a good day,” even though I knew that wasn’t possible, not with everything that was going on.

Then I lifted my phone and replied to the text from Bronagh.

52

Case no. 12675/PU78B65, Exhibit 26: deleted texts from Peter Riley’s iPhone, (a) from Bronagh Walsh to Peter Riley, and (b) from Peter Riley to Bronagh Walsh in reply.

Pete, it’s me. You probably don’t want to see me right now but I really need to see you. It’s all gone to s**te at St A’s and I’ve been suspended pending investigation. Can we meet? x Just dropped Theo off, so I can do this morning. Say the Pret near Great Portland St station? At ten?

53

Case no. 12675/PU78B65, Incident Report, submitted by Miles Lambert to CAFCASS as part of Applicants’ Supporting Documents bundle, pp 32–36.

The following day, the respondents brought Theo to our house to use our nanny and facilities as usual. In response to a comment from my wife that we should try to be civil to each other during the legal process, Mr. Riley’s response was to shout that she was “trying to take our son away from us,” and that our choice of school “wasn’t going to happen.” (8:47 A.M., captured on tape.) My wife offered them tea, which they forcefully declined.

54

PETE

“THAT JOB’S EVERYTHING TO me. Everything. Ah, shite. There goes my makeup, for the fifteenth time today.” Bronagh attempted to slide the tears out of her eyes with her knuckle.

“You’re good at it, too. I don’t know how we’d have gotten through those first weeks without you. What the hospital’s doing to you is just plain wrong.”

Bronagh looked at me fondly. “There you go, Pete. Always thinking of someone else. When what you’ve been through is ten times worse.”

I shrugged. “I was made redundant eighteen months ago. So I know what it’s like, thinking your bosses appreciate what you do, then discovering that actually they’ll kick you out without a second thought if it helps save their own skins.”

She nodded ruefully. “It’s like one of my friends always says—Love your job, but don’t expect it to love you back.”