A December to Remember (29)
Simone could hear the hesitation in Star’s voice and so, it seemed, could Stu.
“You wouldn’t.” His smile was cocky, as though this was a game they had played before, one which he was sure was going to end in very good makeup sex.
“I absolutely would. I mean it, Stu. I have tried to be kind. I wouldn’t mind if it was only me you hurt, but you hurt my sister, you violated her home and her trust in me, and I’ll never forgive either of us for that.”
Simone felt her spine stiffen.
“What?” The cocksure grin was becoming a sneer. “You’re choosing your stuck-up sister over me?”
Star leaned so far out of the window that Simone’s heart gave a stutter of alarm.
“Every time!” Star hissed.
The boulder of resentment that Simone had been lugging about for the last two years suddenly felt like a pebble. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Maggie watching her.
Stu rocked on his heels for a beat as though in shock and then grabbed a fistful of shingle and hurled it up toward Star, yelling, “Don’t you turn on me, you bitch! Who else is gonna want you—”
But he didn’t get to finish his tirade because Simone had broken cover and was striding toward him with her arms swinging and Maggie half running to keep up. Stu, suddenly aware of the two women barreling toward him, one of whom he definitely remembered robbing and last saw shooting death stares at him across a courtroom, stumbled backward into the large concrete planter.
“What!” he quavered, trying to scrabble out of the planter. “What do you want?”
Simone reached him and bent over his cowering form. She could feel Maggie beside her, acting as adjudicator to make sure things didn’t get out of hand, and she was vaguely aware of being grateful for her presence; left to her own devices she would very possibly crush Stu like the cockroach he was.
“I’m going to make this clear for you because I can see that you’re having trouble understanding the word ‘no.’ Leave. My. Sister. Alone,” she snarled. All the anger and hurt she kept dammed up was bubbling out of her.
“Or what?” There was no mistaking the crack in his voice.
“Or I will make you sorry. Unlike my sister, I won’t hesitate to call your probation officer. In fact, if you don’t leave Rowan Thorp right now, I’m going to call the police.”
“And tell them what?” Stu was breathing fast; after his initial surprise his bravado was returning. Maggie piped up.
“And tell them that you are being abusive and harassing and stalking our sister.” Maggie waggled her phone at Stu, close enough for him to see the numbers 999 and the green phone button waiting to be pressed. “I’ll also add in ‘disturbing the peace’ and ‘aggressive behavior.’ Have you had an electric ankle tag yet? That could be next on your list of achievements.”
Simone beamed at Maggie, proud. She stood up straight, allowing Stu the space to shuffle out of the planter, shingle skittering onto the pavement. He dusted himself off.
Up close, she could see the addiction that held him in its grasp. His eyes were bloodshot, darting too quickly from one thing to another, his movements jerky. She’d worked with addicts and ex-addicts, tried with physiotherapy to ease the ravages that the drugs had taken on their bodies. It wasn’t only the damage done by the drugs themselves—bones that became chalky and fragile—but the lifestyle: bad diet, dangerous crowds, and rough sleeping caused skeletons to crick and crumble. It was a slow and painful way to kill yourself.
Simone the sister still wanted to knock seven bells out of Stu, but Simone the health-care professional knew that Stu had a hard life ahead of him and a short one if he didn’t get clean soon.
“I’m only going to give you one chance. Just one. Go now and leave Star alone. Don’t try to find her again, don’t try to speak to her or contact her in any way. If you leave now, I won’t take this any further, but if you don’t, I will bring the full force of the law down on you. And next time you’ll be banged up for a lot longer than two years.” She pushed two twenty-pound notes into Stu’s hand. “Train fare,” she said, though they both knew that money was unlikely to ever see the inside of a ticket machine.
Stu took a few seconds to compute this information before nodding just once and shoving his hands deep into his pockets. He had only walked a few paces when he stopped and turned. “I do love her, you know.”
“Then you need to leave her be,” she said with as much firm kindness as she could summon. “You and I both know there’s no future for her if she’s with you. And I don’t think you really want to drag her down where you’re headed.”
Stu’s eyes darted between Simone and Maggie, his hands still in pockets, shoulders hunched forward as though walking against rain. He nodded again and walked away. They watched him until he rounded the bend in the high street and fell out of view.
Maggie rubbed her arm. “Well done,” she said. “You handled that really well. Even though I could tell you wanted to chop one of his ears off and dance around him singing ‘Stuck in the Middle with You.’?”
Simone snorted a laugh, and when she breathed in the cold air felt fresh against her lungs, as though she’d been breathing shallow for the longest time. Star was standing on the doorstep of the shop, an oversized chunky knit cardigan wrapped around her. Simone marched over with Maggie a step behind.