Free The Birds and the Bees by Milly Johnson Page B

said Catherine, giving him her customary peck. They had kissed each other hello and goodbye for eighteen years now and saw no reason to ever break the habit. ‘Apparently Matt came in, packed a bag and sodded straight off.’
    ‘Never! Where’s he gone?’
    ‘To a B&B, she said. He didn’t give her the name of it. Told her he wanted a bit of space before the wedding.’
    ‘The wedding? Still on then, is it?’ Eddie shook his head. ‘Blimey.’
    ‘He’s moved out for a few days.’
    ‘Just a few days?’
    ‘Until Stevie moves out.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘He wants her out.’
    ‘Eh?’
    ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself, babe,’ said Catherine, who was wondering when the Doppelgänger had taken over Matthew’s soul because this was so not likethe nice guy she knew. He was everything Mick wasn’t, so why was he acting just as idiotically as him? Had it been anyone else but Matthew, Catherine would have advised her friend to get out and draw a line under it all without so much as a backward glance, but Matt was a great bloke–steady and quiet, well, at least he had been before he went batty. He was fond of Danny too, and that was something of paramount importance to Stevie.
    ‘What’s she going to do?’ asked Eddie, stripping off his orange skip-deliverer’s tunic. He was a plasterer by trade but he’d done a day here and there helping out his old friend Tom Broom in refuse and recycling since they had left school. Tom made even big Eddie look like a midget but he was a really sound bloke. Like Matt used to be.
    ‘She hasn’t a bloody clue,’ said Catherine.
    ‘Well, you’d better ring your Auntie Madge and tell her that Stevie won’t be going to Pam’s wedding on Saturday.’
    ‘I’m doing nothing of the sort,’ said Catherine. ‘Stevie’s going and that’s that. It’ll do her good.’
    ‘Nay, Cath…’
    ‘Eddie, apart from the fact that Pam would kill her if she didn’t go, I’ve told Steve that she needs to be seen enjoying herself and getting on with life, not moping about. That’s not going to attract Matt back to her, is it?’
    Pam was Catherine’s rather formidable cousin. She was getting married to William, the really nice guy who ran Gym Village, and they had all been invited. The tartan-ribboned invitation was on Catherine’s pin-board in the kitchen, as it was in Stevie’s; her own and Matthew’s names on it bracketed together as a still-present couple. Thegroom was a native Scot and getting married in full tartan regalia, and it promised to be a jolly affair.
    Eddie scratched his head. It was all harder to understand than a David Lynch film.
    ‘What if Matt goes and takes that Joanna? Have you thought about how that would make Stevie feel?’
    ‘Don’t be daft, he wouldn’t dare! And even if he did think about bringing her, she wouldn’t be that iron-faced as to come. Besides, I reminded Stevie how she’d promised Danny that he could stay at ours that night with Kate. She wouldn’t dream of letting him down.’
    Kate, who loved the little boy to bits and pieces, and was adored in return, had volunteered to babysit him, along with her other brothers and sisters. Volunteered after being offered a lump sum, that was. Danny was going to top and tail in little Gareth’s pirate-ship bed and he’d had his Mr Incredibles bag packed for a fortnight waiting for it.
    ‘That’s below the belt,’ said Eddie, wincing.
    ‘I know, I’m a total witch,’ said Catherine with a very self-satisfied grin. ‘But it worked. She’s going. I’ll ring Auntie Madge and get her to jiggle the seating arrangements a bit though.’
    ‘Cath,’ said Eddie kindly, ‘are you sure it’s the right thing for her?’
    ‘Sure as eggs are eggs,’ said Catherine. ‘Think about it. If Matt had truly known what he was doing, he would have cancelled the wedding. He’ll come to his senses, I’m totally convinced of it. He’ll be holed up in a grotty B&B wrestling with his conscience and