The Affair by Hilary Boyd

Author:Hilary Boyd [Boyd, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405943918
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2021-06-09T18:30:00+00:00

17

‘I’m going to ring Dr Wright,’ Caitlin said, as she tucked Connie into the spare-room bed in their Shoreditch flat, which was in a converted warehouse, with huge casement windows, high ceilings, exposed brick, and a roof terrace where she had installed terracotta pots of all sizes, filled with herbs and other plants.

‘I’ve seen a doctor,’ Connie protested. ‘I’ve got the drugs.’

Caitlin looked worried. ‘He was probably from some dodgy out-of-hours service the hotel uses. He’d have just thrown you the first pills that came to hand so he could get back to bed.’

‘He seemed to know what he was doing,’ Connie said, although her memories of his brief visit were sketchy. ‘He said it might be a virus, but he didn’t know. He gave me antibiotics just in case, because the cough was so bad.’ When her daughter still did not look reassured, she went on, ‘If it’s a virus, we can only let it run its course.’

‘Hmm …’ Caitlin sat on the bed. ‘I still think we should get her to check you out.’

Connie, who just wanted to sleep, replied, ‘There’s really no need. I feel much better, sweetheart. I think I was just exhausted from holding it together on the tour.’

Caitlin nodded slowly. ‘You should have called me, Mum. I could have fetched you.’

‘I knew Ash was in Paris this week.’ Although the thought had not occurred to her last night.

‘Yes, but I could have bundled Bash into the car. How on earth did you get a doctor, anyway?’

‘I can’t remember much. I was so out of it …’ Which is true, she thought, before she added the lie. ‘I must have phoned Reception and they sent one.’

Her daughter got up. ‘Right, well, what can I get you? Tea, maybe … Are you hungry?’ She checked her watch. ‘Dad said he’d be here around three. But I think you should stay tonight at least – as long as you want, Mum.’ She gave Connie a sympathetic smile. ‘It must have been so scary, being ill and alone in an unfamiliar hotel room.’

‘I think I was too far gone to mind,’ Connie replied, although she remembered the relief she’d felt, seeing Jared’s face.

‘Tea?’ Caitlin repeated.

‘Maybe just water for now. I think I’ll sleep.’

When Caitlin had set a jug of water and a glass on the bedside table and gone to fetch Bash from nursery, Connie rolled over on the clean, smooth pillow and closed her eyes. But she found she couldn’t sleep. Jared’s face kept coming back to her. He had been so frightened for her.

Never before had he shown Connie any signs of what she meant to him. He’d come and gone in such a casual way – his past, his emotional life, pretty much a closed book. Once, in Warsaw, she’d mentioned to him that her mother had died recently, and asked about his parents. He’d looked away. ‘Nothing special,’ he’d said. She could feel the sudden tension, but she persevered, ‘Are they still alive?’

There had been a long pause.

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