You, Me and Him by Alice Peterson

Author:Alice Peterson
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780552773034
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2007-06-25T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

‘Clarky, I know she’s with you,’ Finn says on the answer machine. He pauses. ‘Ask her to come home. Please, Josie. I’m sorry.’

The phone rings again. It clicks into answer-machine mode. ‘Hi, Justin, it’s Kelly.’

‘What’s she like?’ I ask when she’s finished leaving a longwinded message about meeting up.

‘OK.’

‘What does she do?’

‘Er, marketing or something.’

‘You were clearly paying attention. Is she pretty?’

‘She’s all right.’

‘Clarky, make the most of this time. How I’d love to be single again. Want to swap roles?’

‘And be Finn’s wife? No, thanks.’

I kiss him on the cheek. ‘I should go. Why are you always so together, Clarky?’

‘Hardly,’ he mutters.

I look around the kitchen which is painted a pale blue. Nothing out of place, the latest gadget on every surface. This time it’s a very high-tech wine-bottle opener although Clarky doesn’t drink wine. I put on my coat. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blue. I mean, really blue.’

‘I’ve had my moments.’ He looks at me. ‘Maybe it’s plain sailing because there’s nothing in my boat that I care enough about to make it rock? You and Finn, you’re living, even if it is stormy at times. I’m just drifting, not sure what matters to me.’

I take his hand firmly and kiss it. ‘You are my rock, Justin Clarke.’ He shifts awkwardly from one foot to the other. ‘Thanks for tonight. I wish Finn understood me as well as you do.’

‘Let me walk you.’

‘No, it’s not far.’

Clarky hands me an umbrella. ‘Here, take this.’

I am about to leave when he says, ‘Can I ask you a simple question, Josie?’

I nod. ‘As long as it is.’

‘Do you still love Finn?’

*

I run down the floodlit street as fast as I can, avoiding the puddles. There are plenty of people still out, newsagents still open, restaurants lit by candlelight. Do you still love Finn? I had laughed out loud. ‘You call that simple!’

‘Yes. If you love someone there shouldn’t be any hesitation, should there?’

*

‘Why did you have to run to Clarky?’ Finn asks me when I return. I found George asleep in his school ­uniform; he hadn’t let his father undress him.

‘You made me so angry, I can’t speak to you when you’re like that.’

‘But don’t you understand that running to Clarky every time we have a problem doesn’t make it go away?’

I let out a strangled cry. ‘Well, don’t you get it that I wouldn’t need to if you weren’t so pig-headed all the time? You haven’t asked me about my meeting, about George’s headmaster. All you do is shout and criticise the moment you come home. You don’t listen to me!’

‘And, let me guess,’ Finn says in defeated tones, ‘Clarky does?’

We both sit down on the edge of the bed. ‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbles. ‘I know I fly off the handle sometimes.’

‘I hate us fighting.’

‘How was the meeting?’

‘Do you love me, Finn?’

‘What?’ He looks as if I’ve asked him something impossible.

‘If you love someone there shouldn’t be any ­hesitation, should there?’

‘We say it to George all the time, without even thinking,’ I go on.

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