The Second Life of Nathan Jones by David Atkinson

Author:David Atkinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-06-10T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Hayley phoned me on the way home from Nathan’s and I put her on hands free as I

drove.

‘Sorry, Kat, I can’t talk long. I’m at work catching up.’

‘It’s Saturday, Hayley.’

‘I know, but I had to go into the office for a few hours to prepare for my Monday meetings, then I’m going to the gym. What’s happening with Nathan and his kids? Have you made any plans?’

‘Yeah, we’re going to snatch them back.’

‘Sorry, say that again. I thought you said you were going to snatch them back.’

‘I did.’

‘Uh-oh, that’s not a good idea. Maybe you should just step away now and not get involved in any sort of hare-brained scheme.’

‘It’s my hare-brained scheme.’

‘Strangely enough, that doesn’t surprise me as much as it should.’

‘He looked so sad. I don’t like him sad.’

‘Still, it’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?’

‘His wife’s a cow.’

‘Playing devil’s advocate, you don’t know her – she might be lovely, and he’s just driven her potty.’

‘I don’t think so. How many women do you know would move away and leave her kids behind?’

‘Not many; but she’s not leaving them, is she? She’s now taking them back. It seems like this might have been her strategy all along.’

I hadn’t thought of that until today. Hayley was a much smarter cookie than me. ‘Well, that’s even worse, she’s a devious cow.’

‘My advice is don’t get involved.’

‘It’s too late for that, Hayley, but I need you to do me a favour.’

‘What?’

‘I need to know if Nathan snatching his children is illegal, like kidnapping or a felony.’

‘It’s not a felony.’

‘It’s not?’

‘No, because we don’t live in America.’

‘Oh, okay. What about UK laws? Is it illegal?’

‘Well, as I said earlier, possession is nine tenths of the law, so I don’t think so, as long as they’re not being endangered or missing school or stuff like that.’

‘We’re only taking them for a week maybe, just so his wife knows Nathan isn’t going to sit about for months until she decides he can see them.’

‘He could just ask her.’

‘He says that won’t work.’

‘There must be easier ways of settling things.’

‘You’re right, there probably is. I’ll talk to him again later. We’ll be away for a week, then we’ll come back to Edinburgh.’

‘What happens after that?’

‘I don’t know; we haven’t thought that far ahead.’

‘That doesn’t surprise me either. I say again, you shouldn’t get involved, Kat.’

I knew she was probably right, but I didn’t want her to put a downer on things, not now that we were about to set off on an adventure. I had this nagging doubt that perhaps I had some selfish reasons for the escapade, to inject some excitement into my mundane life, but I felt something special whenever I spent time with Nathan. Most of my life I’d felt inferior, uncomfortable, maybe even unequal, in my relationships with men. I always seemed to be the one compromising and making allowances. I could never just be myself around them. With Nathan things were different. It could be something to do with the way we met.

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