Trying Not To Love You

Part Four

Chapter Four

"One of those?"

Martha had pondered that thought as she'd showered, then dressed in what little else she had left that hadn't been ruined by the farm activities. Her phone had been buzzing all afternoon, both her London life and her home town life colliding and wanting more of her. She'd pacified those in London and agreed to go out to the pub that night with the local ones. Her old friends wanted a catch up, and whilst the previous night had been difficult, she hated the attention, she'd dealt with it, tonight would be far easier, the jungle drums would have told everyone that she was home. Now her priority was to find out what Scott Oldbury was up to, and how and why that involved her father. And that meant socialising.

Just the thought of Scott's name had sent shudders of fear up her spine for so many years, but seeing her father ill, she realised for the first time how devastating running away had been for her family. She should have been there, should have been helping him, protecting him, instead he was a shadow of the man he had been lying in a hospital bed. Was she part of this? Was this Scott finally gaining revenge on her? Hurting her in the only way left? Or was there something else afoot? Was she only scratching the surface?

She pulled on her only other pair of boots and gave Aunt Lucy a kiss on the cheek; she was going to her WI meeting, so Martha didn't feel guilty at going out again. She'd fed the dogs, checked on the horses; her fence job was secure so far, so finally she could take the path to the pub.

Unlike the previous night the place was packed, standing room only, and she managed to slip in the back door unannounced.

Helen and James were sat in the corner with a couple of other familiar faces; Martha was swamped by hugs before being able to sit down. When she finally took a seat, she was back to the wall, facing into the busy lounge and could feel so many people staring, but she had to ignore that, even if she had her back to them they'd stare, this way she could at least front things out. Helen was beside her, and pushed an empty wine glass in front of her, before reaching for the bottle that sat on the table.

"Drink up!"

She accepted the chardonnay and sipped it thoughtfully.

"You ok?"

Helen was smiling beside her. When they were in school Helen was the glamorous one, the one who attracted the boys, she had early curves and didn't battle with her weight as Martha had constantly. She was also good at everything that she did, from sports, to dancing, to Physics exams. Martha had always lived in her shadow, been the one to follow where Helen led, so when Scott Oldbury asked Martha out on a date Helen had been the most shocked, after all the older rich boy who zoomed around town in a brand new Range Rover with an entourage was good looking, charming and definitely the ultimate catch. Most of the girls in their year at school had hankered after him, and he'd had more than his fair share of glamorous arm candy over the years. But for some reason he was interested in Martha. She of course refused to date him in the beginning, but he was both persistent and flamboyant and eventually wore her down.

The first time that she appeared in the front seat of that infamous car, Helen had distanced herself. Jealousy? Martha presumed it was that, because no one could have predicted where it was going to end. The very public dressing down in front of everyone, all her dirty laundry being aired in the pub, with Scott snarling and gloating and everyone hanging on his every word.

Had the years washed the distance and the humiliation away? Could she trust her friends again?

An hour in the bookies following the horses in Oz at this ridiculous hour had seen Sonny reap a two hundred quid reward, he loved that whatever time it was, somewhere in the world there was something to bet on. So feeling flush he shouted across to Shirley on the desk, "fifteen to one Shirl, you said it wouldn't pay!"