Read A Proper Charlie for Free Online Page B

face!’
    Charlie was brandishing the air freshener like a gun. ‘Who’s Susie?’
    ‘ Dunno what you’re talking about.’
    She squirted.
    ‘ Ugh… stoppit… Charl…’ Andy shielded his face and rolled onto his front.
    ‘ Who is Slapper Susie?’ Charlie demanded.
    Andy, on all fours, crawled towards the bathroom as quickly as he could. He closed and locked the door after him.
    ‘ At least be man enough to admit there wasn’t an important deal last night, and the sole reason to getting me out of the way was the footie, your mates and this ... this tart !’ she shouted, her mouth close against the locked door.
    Taps in the bathroom were turned on full.
    Charlie thumped the door.
    The telltale squeak of the shower cubicle told her that Andy was in the shower.
    ‘ Bastard,’ she said, giving the door one final thump.
     
    *
     
    When Camilla hadn’t returned by Sunday and her mobile continually went to voicemail Ben began to feel worried. He even rang his gran to check that Camilla hadn’t really gone back with them after all.
    The elderly grandparents only attended the funeral and not the wake, so it had been easy to lie to anyone who asked saying that Camilla had gone back with them. Even Iris believed she’d gone with her grandparents to help her over the grieving process. But they hadn’t seen her, either.
    His father was in the lounge watching golf on the TV as Ben entered.
    ‘ The solicitor wants to see us today,’ Ben said. ‘Are you up to it? It’ll be contract signing and that sort of thing.’
    ‘ It’s Sunday,’ Donald said. ‘Nobody works on a Sunday.’
    ‘ They’re doing us a favour, Dad. We should have signed last week.’
    ‘ Have they no consideration for the dead?’
    Ben rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Yes, I guess that’s why they agreed to do it today instead of last week.’
    Donald grunted. He pointed to the screen. ‘I think I’ll go to the driving range for a few practise shots today.’
    ‘ Dad, you’ve got to take things easy –’
    ‘ Like heading to the solicitors and signing documents that should have been done weeks ago? If they’re that important bring them back here for me to sign. Better yet, bring them up to the driving range. The girl back yet?’
    ‘ Camilla’s not back, no.’ Ben turned away, and began to leave the room.
    ‘ I could’ve been a better father,’ Donald said, and Ben stopped at the door. He turned wondering if he’d heard wrong but saw the look of helplessness on his dad’s face. It was suddenly clear that Donald had been sitting alone, aimlessly watching TV, while mulling over his devastated family.
    ‘ What’s that, Dad?’
    ‘ I’ve seen my friends bringing up their kids to be spoilt and soft, and I wanted it to be different for you and Cam. I pushed the pair of you thinking I was helping when in fact I was causing untold damage.’
    Ben felt he should say something to comfort his father, but he couldn’t find the words. He came back into the room and sat down on the settee opposite.
    ‘ You seemed such a shy, timid little thing that I was worried you’d never make anything of yourself in adult life. The business was going to be handed down to you, but I thought the business would start and end with me, because you seemed so… so… anxious,’ Donald said at last struggling for words. ‘I felt your easy lifestyles had made you soft, I wanted to toughen you both up.’
    ‘ You made me take up boxing,’ Ben remembered. He also remembered how he came to have his nose broken.
    ‘ You liked it in the end,’ Donald protested.
    ‘ I hated every minute of it,’ Ben said. ‘I carried on with it to please you. It was so hard to please you as a child,’ he admitted. ‘Even now, as a man, nothing is good enough.’
    ‘ I don’t want you to waste yourself,’ Donald insisted gruffly. It was something Ben had come to hear so many times, but had only understood recently. His father had rarely spoken about his childhood, but