repercussions from any direction, Oliver assumed that Chantal, too, had kept her mouth shut about that evening, and he found it gave him a strange feeling of power to know something about her of which she was ashamed. When the guys at school were discussing women these days,
Oliver said nothing except to Drew Elliott; and to him he simply said,
âYou were right, Drew, itâs great to have power.â
When Annie had called him for the third time to get up and come up for breakfast, Oliver crawled off the bed and dragging on his T-shirt and jeans, went upstairs.
âHurry up, Oliver, do,â Annie snapped as he walked into the kitchen.
â I want to get the kitchen cleared before I go to work.â
Oliver pulled open a packet of Shreddies and piling them to overflowing in a bowl, slurped milk over them, splashing some on to the table. Annieâs lips tightened, but she managed to bite back a retort and said instead, âThereâs a note for you from your dad. He had to leave early.â She passed across a piece of folded paper. With a mouthful of Shreddies, Oliver unfolded the paper and reading it threw down his spoon in disgust.
âThatâs not fair,â he muttered. âHe promised.â
âHe says to tell you heâs very sorry,â Annie began. âHe got a call from work this morning, some crisis or other. He said to tell you heâd take you on Saturday, instead.â
Oliver pushed his unfinished cereal away. âDoesnât matter,â he shrugged. âI didnât really want to go anyway.â He picked up the note and ripping it across threw the pieces back on to the table.
âOliver,â began Annie, âHeâs very sorryâ¦â
âForget it,â snapped Oliver. âIâm going out!â
âWhere are you going?â
âOut.â
âBut you havenât finished your breakfastâ¦â but Annie was speaking to an empty room, thudding feet on the stairs and a slamming front door.
âBloody boy,â she expostulated through clenched teeth, and sweeping the unfinished Shreddies into the dog bowl, she rammed the bowl into the waiting dishwasher and set it off.
Annie had never found either of her husband, Steveâs, children easy. Emma wasnât too bad; with Emma she had an uneasy truce, Emma didnât actually set out to be awkward, but Oliver made her life as difficult as he could. Annie knew that, encouraged by his mother, Oliver blamed her for the separation and divorce of his parents. He believed that Annie had entered an idyllic marriage, where all was sweetness and light, and had ensnared his father luring him away from his family. Annie knew it wasnât like that. Annie knew, because Steve had told her, that his life with Lynne had been hell on wheels. Unending rows and tears andrecrimination for imagined slights; all because he was working every hour God sent to establish his business.
âYouâve no time for me and the children!â Lynne cried. âYou leave me to cope with everything.â
âNo time for you and the children?â bellowed Stephen. âWhy the hell do you think Iâm working myself into an early grave if itâs not for you?â The anger and the bitterness went both ways and ran deep.
Steve ran his own security firm, Hooper Security Consultancy, and like most men running their own businesses with all their financial eggs, plus many belonging to the bank, in one basket, he worked extremely long hours and took little time off. Business was steady rather than buoyant, but by working very hard he managed a comfortable living and was able to send his children to independent schools. Oliver was now in his first year at Chapmans, a large senior school outside Belcaster, and Emma had another year at Beechlands before she moved on to Belcaster High. The strain on his marriage, however, had become almost unbearable, Lynne wanted the lifestyle his
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