CHAPTER 4

Abby

The beeping of my morning alarm was so annoying when I didn't want to get out of bed. I groaned and slapped at my bedside table until I hit the off button. I had learnt long ago to use old-fashioned alarm clocks, not the alarm on my phone. It became expensive when you had to keep replacing them because you kept knocking them to the floor when you slapped them off the bedside table.

Sighing, I swung my socked feet to the floor and rubbed my hands over my face and then through my dark brown hair scraping it back from my face. Grabbing the hair tie on my wrist, I tied it up in a sloppy bun. Standing up, I pulled my boxer shorts straight and made sure my boobs hadn't escaped my tank top before going to the bathroom I shared with my fourteen-year-old son Sam. I took a quick shower before entering the dark, smelly pit my son called a bedroom. Wrinkling my nose, I crossed to the window and opened the curtains to let the weak morning sun in. Glancing around at the dirty, strewn clothes on the floor, I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, ‘For a boy who can hit a cricket ball every time, he sure as shit couldn't hit the laundry basket'.

Going to bed, I grabbed his big toe and shook it. My son took after me and hated being woken up and usually came awake fighting. Sure enough, his arms came swirling out of the duvet as he punched the air around him, making me snicker. He groaned at me and pulled a pillow over his face.

"Don't go back to sleep, Sam. We have lots to do today. Can you still help me out this afternoon?"

"Okay, mum. And yes, I can still help you out today," he muttered sleepily, and I could see he was being pulled back under.

Grabbing his big toe, I gave it another tug. He threw his pillow down on the bed and glared at me. I grinned at him. My boy was good-looking and, thank fuck looked nothing like his arsehole sperm donor. My boy was all me from the top of his dark hair, dark eyes and slightly olive skin tone courtesy of my Greek mother. The only thing he got from his father was his height. At fourteen, he was already hitting six feet with the shoe size and appetite to match.

"I'm not leaving this room until I know you are definitely awake. I can't be late today. I will pull this duvet off if I must," I told him.

"I'm naked under here," he smirked at me. As if that would stop me.

"Boy, I carried you for nine months, pushed you out and cleaned that arse up all by myself. Seeing you bare-arsed naked is not as much of a threat to me as it is to you and your embarrassment. You know not much embarrasses me," I told him.

Groaning, he sat up. "That will probably be more embarrassing for me than for you. I am awake now, though, so it's safe to leave. Why are we rushing again?"

I grimaced, "The Jones job is finished, and I don't want to go by myself to get payment. You know what a sleaze he is. I'm hoping with you there. He won't try to feel me up this time."

That made my boy straighten up and look at me, "He did what?"

"Don't worry, I accidentally stepped on his toes with my steel toe caps, and he quickly moved his hand. I don't want to put up with his bullshit today and want to get it over and done with quickly. Brody can't come as he has an emergency call and is going to see Becky and the new baby at the hospital. He isn't even meant to be working today."

"Okay, I'm up. Give me twenty minutes to shower, and we can leave."

"Thanks, Sam, I hate putting you in this position, but Brody made me promise not to go by myself."

"It's no problem, mum. We're a team. I was going to help you today, anyway."

Nodding, I left his room and went to the kitchen to get the coffee machine on for Sam and a pot of tea for me. I grabbed my phone to check my calendar and noticed three text messages from my friend Noni. Seeing it was past seven, I decided to phone her instead of replying to her text to save time.

I got my phone hooked up to my Bluetooth earphones, so my hands were free to continue with breakfast, as a call to this particular friend could last anywhere from two seconds to two hours.

She finally answered on the fifth ring, "Hi, babes, thanks for calling me."

Just hearing this woman's voice always made me smile. She was three years younger than me, but she and Avy had been my rocks. When I fell pregnant at sixteen, all my friends had fallen away. They had found me in tears in the school bathroom when I had come in to take the last of my exams.

Friends of the sperm donor's new girlfriend had said some horrible things about me, and I'd not been able to take it anymore.

Noni and Avy had a few choice words to say when the girls tried to follow me into the bathroom. Avy had called her mum, who had come to pick us up but not before laying into the teachers and the head. I had wanted to take my exams somewhere other than my old school, but we were a small village, and there was nowhere else for me to take them. From that day on, we had been firm friends. The two of them and their families had helped with just about everything, babysitting when I needed to study for my exams to getting my electrician's licence.

Kate and Maggie had taken my mum's place and shown me how to change nappies, bathe my baby and feed him. I didn't know what I would have done without them. My mum had done a runner when I was six leaving dad and me alone. And while he was a great dad and grandad, he wasn't always practical.

Their whole family had stepped in and helped when dad got ill and had left me with a mess to sort out with the company and overdue bills to pay. They and Brody supported me in getting the company back up and running and in the black.

"Hey Noni, I thought it was better to call than to reply to your text message. What exactly do you need? The wiring on the house is good. We checked and replaced it all last year."

She laughed, "I know. It's not the house. Can you come over this afternoon to talk about three-ish? Avy, myself and Avy's brother Kane, I'm not sure if you remember him, need to ask you some questions and get you to check some wiring out at the barn, and we also need a reliable plumber and carpenter," Noni said in a rush, finally taking a breath.

I shook my head. This woman could talk for England.

Grabbing my diary from the table, as I preferred old-school rather than my phone, I looked at what was happening to see it was mostly callouts after meeting Jones.

"Yeah, I can stop over around three. I'll have Sam with me, though."

"That's okay. I will make sure I bring a few things from the bakery for my godson."

"If you aren't careful, he will eat you out of all your profits. Although with you feeding him like you do, it's saving on my grocery bill," I tell her smiling.

She laughed, and we chatted for a few more minutes before I heard Sam clumping down the stairs in his work boots. I let her know I had to leave and feed him breakfast. He grabbed the phone from me and spoke to his godmother for a bit before hanging up and taking a couple of mugs from the cupboard. He filled them while I finished making bacon sandwiches. Then, picking up the plates, I joined him at our kitchen table. Like everything else, we can see the wear and tear on it. I didn't think dad had replaced anything in our house since the eighties, and I wasn't one for decorating, not that I had the time even if I wanted to.

I filled Sam in on my conversation with Noni regarding going over there this afternoon.

"Do you want me to drop you back here, or do you want to come with me?" I asked him.

"I'm coming with. Aunt Noni already said she was bringing me snacks from the bakery. And anyway, I want to have a look at the barn with you. I know I'm young, but do you think they would consider me doing the carpentry?" he queried seriously.

God, when did my baby grow up and become a young man? He had been coming to work with my dad and me since he was six and had picked up so much from us. On one job, when he was about ten, a carpenter made a bespoke bookcase, and my son was hooked. As the carpenter, Larry was a local man. I had arranged lessons with him every weekend. The two of them had recently done a show and had made some serious money with some of their designs.

"I don't see why not. The family knows you. We can also have Larry speak to Avy's brother Kane if he's worried, and you can show him some of the photos of the pieces you sold last weekend. You can also take him to your workshop if you need to."

To say I was proud of my son was an understatement. I had none of the usual bad behaviour you would expect from a lad his age to deal with. In fact, some of the time, I worried that he wasn't having enough fun. He was in his workshop if he wasn't at school or playing sports. I had built him a workshop behind our offices. As our house was attached to our business, I was always on hand if he needed me.

"Okay then, grab your tool belt and tools and let's get going. First to Jonesy, then to a few other jobs, some groceries, and then to Crow Manor."

Locking up the house, we jumped into the work van with our Bright Spark Electricity logo on the side of the van. It was a light bulb with a lightning bolt shooting through the middle of it. I remember designing it with my dad when I was a kid. I had been so proud, now I looked at it and cringed, but dad would never hear of changing it.

Checking both ways, I pulled out into the morning traffic such as it was. We drove past the bakery and waved at Noni, who was standing at the bakery window serving a line of people getting their morning sustenance on the way to work. I knew their next stop would be the café.

Getting to the one set of traffic lights we had in our small village, I noticed that the lights were on in the café, and Bella was opening up the blinds and turning the sign around to show they were open. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Sam had sat up and watched Bella as she moved around the café. I felt my stomach clench, ‘Oh shit, I wasn't ready for this,' I thought to myself, nearly groaning out loud.

We'd had the sex talk and how protection wasn't just to prevent pregnancy. That talk had just about killed me, but I wasn't going to leave him unaware of all the pitfalls.

I had never kept from him how he came about. He was aware that condoms were not foolproof, and while I loved him with all my heart and wouldn't change him for all the world, I also told him how hard it had been and that I wanted more for him.

I knew it was coming. He was a good-looking boy with a sense of humour and kindness. The girls at school flocked towards him, but he hadn't seemed interested. He had a thing for older women, as Bella was sixteen and leaving school this year.

"What are you grinning at?" he queried, his browns pulled into a frown.

"Nothing, just thinking."

"You can be so weird sometimes, mum," he said, shaking his head slightly.

Flicking my indicator on, I turn the van into a run-down driveway. I noticed the bins were overflowing again for some reason. Mr Jones, or Jonesy, as most of the village knew him, never seemed to remember to leave his bins out for collection.

I groaned when I noticed his car was not there. That meant we had to go to his club in the next town over.

Muttering, I put my van in reverse and left his yard, deciding to get the rest of our chores out of the way before trying to pin down Jonesy.