Love Me to Death by Susan Gee

Author:Susan Gee [Gee, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788547741
Publisher: Head of Zeus

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Jacob had been walking around for ages, thinking about Jayne and the places he’d seen her before. It wasn’t easy though, the only thing he remembered about her was that he’d see her outside the cinema in the village sometimes and even then he wasn’t sure if that was a false memory.

He wasn’t surprised to see Maggie sat on the bench, her legs crossed, looking down the road as the cars passed her by. In her lap was one of her notebooks. A bus went past and she didn’t get up. She just sat there, staring into the distance.

‘What you up to?’ he asked.

‘Sitting. You?’

‘Standing.’ He smiled.

She smiled back. They’d always been that way with each other. It was always easy to talk to her, natural. They had something special. Something that other people couldn’t understand.

She ran her finger over the cover of the notebook. As more cars moved on towards Stockport he wondered if he should ask her why she didn’t get on the bus, but he already knew why she was there. She was there for the same reason that he used to come and stand by the bridge. He would go and stare at the traffic as it streamed past underneath. The cars so small, flying underneath him so fast that it made him feel dizzy. This was the bench that her cousin was seen sitting on, waiting for the bus to Stockport. It was the last place anyone saw her. Jacob put his hand up to block out the brightness of the morning sun.

‘Just wanted to get out for a bit,’ she told him as she slipped the book into her coat pocket.

He half-smiled, looking over at the houses opposite. The swirls of black graffiti on the bus shelter were like smears across the glass and he pictured Jayne there, sat on the bench staring at them too. He wanted to ask Maggie if she needed to talk, but she started laughing. It was unexpected. She leant forwards.

‘I know I’m ridiculous, OK?’

He frowned. ‘You’re not.’

‘Yeah I am. I just keep thinking about her. Matty says I’m just making it worse for myself, but I can’t help it.’

Jacob didn’t want to hear about Matty. She licked her lips and he wondered if Matty had ever placed his mouth on hers. A pigeon flew up onto the fence.

‘It’s none of his business what you do.’

Jacob kicked a stone and it hit the bottom of the metal bus stop.

‘He’s nice. You should get to know him better,’ she told him.

Jacob wanted to tell her that the Vincents didn’t understand how to be nice.

‘He’s always sniffing around you.’

‘He’s not.’

Maggie got up and he could tell that she was annoyed with him.

‘He has a new girlfriend every five minutes.’

‘Don’t be stupid.’

‘I’m not.’

Maggie shrugged. ‘I need to go to the shop. We’re out of bread.’ As she got up she sighed. ‘She was pretty though, wasn’t she?’

Jacob frowned. ‘Yeah,’ he replied, because he didn’t want to say anything bad. Jayne wasn’t like Maggie.

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