Two-Faced, page 34
Uttering a surprised ‘Oh’ because she hadn’t even noticed them, Mia gave him a grateful smile. ‘Thanks. I’ll try them on while you’re at the shops.’
Liam winked at her and went out. When she heard the front door open and close a few moments later, Mia pushed the bed covers off and lowered her feet to the floor. Feeling like a little old woman because her legs seemed so weak, she walked slowly out onto the landing and along to the bathroom. The only time she’d been out of bed in the entire time she’d been here had been to go to and from the toilet. As she ran a bath now, she decided to explore the second bedroom and see where Liam had been sleeping while he’d been refusing to take advantage of her.
His bed was neatly made, his clothes folded and laid on top of his rucksack – as if he thought he might need to pack them in a hurry. His green army jacket which he only ever wore with jeans was hanging on the back of the door. Resting her head against it, Mia inhaled the scent of him before sliding her hand into a pocket. Disappointed to find it as empty as the rest of his pockets, both in that jacket and his suit coat, which was hanging on the door of the old wardrobe, she switched her attention to his rucksack. Finding nothing in that, and unable to get into his Samsonite case because it was locked, she glanced around the room itself.
Mia pulled a disdainful face at all the old man’s things that were lying around, then spotted a stack of newspapers and magazines sticking out from on top of the wardrobe. Thinking that it would be nice to have something to read while she was soaking in the bath, she stood on her tiptoes and reached for them, but they spilled over as she was pulling them towards her and fell messily onto the floor around her. Cursing under her breath, she squatted down to scoop them up. But, just as she was about to pick up a magazine which had fallen open, she hesitated when she saw her own face smiling up at her.
Snatching it up, she looked at the cover, frowning when she saw that it was a TV Quick from a couple of months earlier. And the frown deepened when she went back to the picture inside, because it was part of an advert for a company called Blaze Cosmetics, and she didn’t remember doing a shoot for them.
But she must have, because there she was.
Either that, or it had been taken from a reel of unused shots from a different campaign and sold on without her permission.
Staring intensely at the picture now, Mia scrutinised her hair and her make-up, trying to remember when she’d been made up exactly like that in the past. People thought that you always looked the same when you were made up, but it wasn’t true. A shade of eyeshadow or lipstick, or just the angle of the eyeliner tail could change the entire look of your face. And Mia knew her face in every form better than anybody, but she just didn’t recognise this shot. And that surprised her, because it was really good, so she should have done.
Liam had arrived back from the shops, but she’d been so busy concentrating on the picture that she hadn’t heard him. She jumped when he came into the room to tell her that he’d turned the taps off because the bath had been about to overflow and spun around with the magazine still in her hand.
Laughing at her expression, Liam came towards her. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you. I shouted twice, but you mustn’t have heard me.’ He glanced at the magazine and said, ‘What’s that you’re reading?’
Mia opened her mouth, about to tell him that she’d been trying to remember the shoot this picture had been taken at. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be Michelle and clamped her lips shut again.
When he saw the picture for himself, Liam murmured, ‘Ah . . . your sister.’ Sitting down on the bed now, he said, ‘I’ve actually seen that picture loads of times, but I didn’t want to mention it in case it upset you. I thought you might think they were just getting on with their lives without you, or something. But I’m sure it’s not like that. Mia’s probably just got commitments she can’t get out of.’ Snorting softly now, oblivious to the raging fire of jealousy that his words were igniting in her, he went on, ‘I must admit I was pissed off when I saw her on the TV the first night I was back in Manchester. But she’s your sister, so I can’t hold all that old shit against her for ever, can I? Anyway, we’re back together now and nothing’s ever going to get between us again, so I think we should just let it go and be happy for her.’
Mia couldn’t speak. She desperately wanted to be with Liam, but at the same time she desperately didn’t want Michelle taking her place in the limelight. It was Mia’s face they wanted, not her sister’s. And it was Mia who had worked her backside off to get her name known, so why the hell should that ugly bitch be allowed to walk in and steal the glory from her? It wasn’t fair!
Sensing that she needed to be left alone to put her thoughts in order, Liam stood up, saying, ‘I’ll get you a clean towel for your bath. Oh, and I got some cooked chicken from the deli; thought we could just have butties – if that’s okay?’
Mia nodded, then waited until he’d gone out of the room before standing up. Still clutching the magazine, she went into the bathroom, dropped her dressing gown and stepped into the water.
Soothed by the heat of the bath and the sheer luxury of just soaking after weeks of Liam wiping her face, arms and legs with a soapy flannel, she exhaled long and slowly to release the tension, and came to a decision as she stared at the picture.
Liam was buttering bread on the kitchen ledge when she came downstairs. Turning, he smiled when he saw that she was dressed. She’d been naked when he’d rescued her, and he’d carried her out wrapped in the sheet from the bed she’d been imprisoned on. And she’d been wearing Darren’s late grandmother’s dressing gown since she’d been here.
‘You look good,’ he said. ‘I guess I didn’t do too bad on the sizes after all, huh?’
‘They’re perfect,’ Mia told him, pulling a chair out and sitting down at the small table. ‘There’s, er, something we need to talk about,’ she said now, picking nervously at a crumb that had caught her eye. ‘I’ve decided to go and see my mum.’
‘Really?’ Tilting his head to one side, Liam gave her a questioning look. ‘You sure you’re ready for that? You don’t want to start with a phone call?’
Mia shook her head and smiled sadly up at him. She needed to reclaim her life before Michelle started to think it belonged to her. But, at the same time, she really didn’t want to lose Liam.
Silently chiding himself for asking the question, because he knew deep down that it hadn’t been out of concern for her but because of his own selfish desire to keep her to himself for a little longer, Liam nodded, and said, ‘Of course you should go home. I’ll make the arrangements soon as I’ve done this.’
‘We need to talk first,’ Mia repeated.
‘We’ll have plenty of time for that later,’ Liam told her, wanting to keep her focused on seeing her family in case she changed her mind again. ‘And if you’re worried about me,’ he went on, placing her sandwich in front of her, ‘don’t be, because I’m not going anywhere. Well, actually, that’s not strictly true,’ he corrected himself, grinning sheepishly. ‘I have got to go back to Ireland. But if you’re going home, I might as well arrange it around that. Give you a bit of time on your own with your folks before I get back.’
‘You are coming back, though, aren’t you?’ The panic was stark in Mia’s eyes. ‘You promise you won’t just go and leave me?’
‘Never,’ Liam assured her, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. ‘Now, eat that. I’ll be back in a minute; I’ve just got to make a call.’
As she picked at the sandwich while he went out to make his call, Mia rehearsed what she had to tell him – praying that he would understand that she hadn’t done it deliberately this time; that it had been his assumption, and she’d been too ill too correct him.
But she didn’t get a chance to say anything when Liam came back, because, sitting down opposite her, he reached for her hand and launched into the speech that he had just been rehearsing.
‘I know you’re scared of what will happen when we leave here, Michelle, but I never dreamt that I’d get a chance to be with you again. And now that I have, I’m not going to walk away from you.’ His beautiful green eyes twinkling with sincerity, he went on, ‘I know I’ve done most of the talking since we got here, so you probably think I don’t really know the real you, but I remember everything about you from the first time we met. When I knocked you over in the park that night, and you got all uppity with me ’cos I was being a gentleman and you thought I was patronising you. And outside the library: the look you gave me when I got your book wet. And then when you saw me with the crew that night and thought they were hassling me. You were so sweet, and I knew then that I wanted you.’ Eyes darkening now, he squeezed her hand. ‘All that shit with your sister was just a terrible mistake, and I’ve regretted it ever since. But, believe me, it could never happen again. I love you, and I want you to be well again so that we can get to know each other as the adults we are now, and not as the kids that we were then. Okay?’
Tears were streaming down Mia’s cheeks, but she couldn’t speak. What was there to say? If she went ahead and told him who she was as she’d planned to, she knew exactly what his reaction would be.
Sitting back now, relieved that he’d had the chance to tell her how he felt about her before they went their separate ways – albeit temporarily – Liam winked at her.
‘Don’t cry, gorgeous. Everything’s going to be great from now on – you’ll see.’ Then, glancing at his watch, he said, ‘Anyway, hurry up and eat ’cos the car will be here in fifteen, and I need to straighten the place up.’
‘I don’t want to go,’ Mia blurted out, knowing that as soon as she did this would be the end.
‘You’re just nervous,’ Liam said, getting up and giving her a hug. ‘But don’t be, ’cos I’ll be right behind you every step of the way.’
Unable to eat, Mia tossed the sandwich into the bin when Liam went upstairs to pack their things. She lit a cigarette and chewed on her nails, her mind reeling. She had to find a way to make him see that it was her that he really loved – but how?
Still no clearer about what she was going to do when the car arrived to pick them up, Mia dragged her feet as Liam ushered her towards the door. But when he opened it and she came face to face with Darren Mitchell, she froze.
‘This is my mate Darren,’ Liam told her, touching fists with him. ‘I know you don’t really know him, but he used to go out with your sister.’
Murmuring ‘I know’ as the blush flared across her cheeks, Mia looked down at her feet.
Embarrassed, because he was aware that she probably knew all about how badly he’d treated her sister, and because of their own last meeting when he’d accidentally exposed her drug habit, Darren said, ‘Nice to see you again, Michelle. You’re looking loads better than last time.’ Cursing himself for saying that last bit out loud, he shrugged. ‘Anyway, best get going. I’ve only got the motor for a couple of hours. My old man’s taking my mam to Blackpool. Sad, I know,’ he added, rolling his eyes sheepishly. ‘But they’re both mad on karaoke, and there’s some big competition going on over there that he’s convinced he’s going to win.’
Shaking his head in amusement, Liam pushed Mia gently out and pulled the door shut behind them. Handing the keys to Darren, he said, ‘Cheers for letting us stay here, mate. I don’t know what I would have done without you. But I’ll see you right.’
Darren took the Samsonite case from him, shrugged, and said, ‘No worries. It was the least I could do. Mia’s sister, innit?’
In the back of the car Mia gazed out of the window as the two men chatted quietly up front. She had no idea what area they had just been staying in, but her heart began to feel heavy as they left it behind and the unfamiliar streets they drove through gradually started to become familiar. She was feeling almost suicidal by the time they turned off the Princess Parkway onto her road and she closed her eyes tightly, not even wanting to see the house. But seconds later Darren had stopped.
‘Michelle?’ Liam said quietly, thinking that she’d fallen asleep. ‘We’re here.’
Inhaling deeply, Mia opened her eyes.
‘Don’t panic,’ Liam said now, reaching through the seats to take her hand, ‘but Darren’s just told me there’s a rumour going round that you’ve been burgled, and your mum and Mia haven’t been staying here for a while. So I want you to stay in the car while we go and check it out – okay?’ Nodding when she did, he said, ‘Give us your keys. It should only take a minute.’
‘I haven’t got them,’ Mia said, staring up at the house now and wondering – as Liam and Darren just had – if Steve had had anything to do with it.
‘Ah,’ Liam murmured. ‘Of course you haven’t. Oh, well, it doesn’t matter, I’m sure we’ll be able to get in.’
‘Round the back,’ Darren said, flicking glances at the neighbouring windows. ‘They’re a right load of beaky gets round here; they’ll probably call the pigs if they see us.’
‘I don’t want to stay here by myself,’ Mia squawked as they began to get out of the car. ‘I’m coming with you. What if he’s got Vern watching – like last time. I’d only been back two minutes and he had me the minute I walked out of the door.’
Liam exchanged a hooded glance with Darren, both of them sure that Vern definitely would not be watching, even though there had been no reports of any bodies of shot black males having been found recently. ‘All right, come with us,’ he said. ‘But stay behind me. And if anything happens, run.’
As Darren took a screwdriver and a hammer out of the boot, Mia clutched at Liam’s arm and cast terrified glances around while they made their way down the alley to the back of the house, petrified of what would happen if Steve got hold of her again.
The door had obviously been kicked in recently, because there were shoe prints all over it, and while it had since been boarded up it was easy for Darren to shoulder it open.
‘Shit, what a mess,’ he said when he stepped into the kitchen and saw all the debris still littering the floor.
‘My clothes!’ Mia gasped, heading for the stairs.
Going after her, Liam pushed past her and raced up the stairs to check that nobody was hiding in the bedrooms. He didn’t think anybody was there, because when you walked into rooms where somebody had been recently you could still feel the dust settling and hear the phantom sounds of TVs or conversations which hadn’t yet soaked into the carpet. But this house had that still air of abandonment about it – like Darren’s grandad’s place. Still, it was safer to be sure.
‘Oh, no,’ Mia cried when she saw her precious designer clothes torn to shreds. She snatched up her favourite Chanel dress and clutched it to her chest. ‘This cost two hundred quid! And it’s vintage. I’ll never find another one like it in a million years!’
As he gazed down at Mia while she gathered up the rags, naming the labels and quoting the prices, it flashed through Liam’s mind to wonder why it had never occurred to him that she might be as image-conscious as her sister. But the thought went as soon as it came. Girls were like that, so there was nothing funny about it.
‘Oh, thank God for that,’ Mia exclaimed, spotting the suitcase under the bed. If it hadn’t been opened it would still contain all the clothes that she’d had with her when they’d stayed at Sammy’s house that time.
Sammy! She’d bet that was where her mum and Michelle had gone. And she’d bet that little trickster bitch of a sister of hers had plenty of Mia’s nice designer clothes with her, too. And more that she’d probably bought from the money she’d been earning in Mia’s name.
‘I think I know where my mum might be,’ she told Liam now, looking at him as he waited patiently in the doorway. ‘I’m not sure of the exact address, but if we can get to the place I’ll know it when I see it.’
31
Eyeliner brush poised, Linda, the make-up artist, sighed and gave Michelle a mock-pained look. ‘If you don’t stop it, you’re going to end up looking like Amy Winehouse.’
‘Sorry,’ Michelle murmured, her nostrils flaring as she sucked her top lip between her teeth to prevent herself from laughing again.
‘It’s my fault,’ Kim admitted, sounding like a guilty little girl as she sat in the chair facing Michelle’s, having rollers put into her hair. ‘I just get these urges to itch when I’m supposed to sit still. But you should control yourself, Mia,’ she scolded Michelle, no longer having to think before she called her by that name because it felt so natural to her now.
‘Oh, right, blame me, why don’t you!’ Michelle exclaimed indignantly.
‘Will you both just shut up and let us get on with this before we make a complete mess of it!’ Carmel, the hairdresser, chuckled, pulling Kim’s head firmly back into position.
Exchanging a That’s told us! look with Michelle, Kim twisted her head right around when Sammy ambled into the room carrying a tray of coffees.
When he heard Carmel sigh, he said, ‘Are they being naughty again?’
‘When are they ever not?’ Linda asked, raising Michelle’s chin to get a better angle on her eyes.
‘They’re just excited,’ Sammy explained, taking his own cup from the tray and sitting down on his chair by the window. ‘It’s a big thing, this charity do. Great honour to be asked to hand over the cheque to the mayor.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ Linda murmured, her eyes firmly fixed on the job at hand. ‘Us lowly beauticians never get invited to fancy parties – do we, Car?’
‘Do we buggery,’ Carmel snorted.
‘Ah, sorry,’ Michelle murmured, trying not to move as she spoke. ‘I wish we could take you, but they didn’t give us any spare tickets.’
Smiling, knowing that she probably meant it, Linda said, ‘We’re only teasing, hon. You just make sure you tell us all about it next time we see you, ’cos we’ve heard there’s going to be loads of stars there.’
