You, Me and Other People by Fionnuala Kearney

Author:Fionnuala Kearney
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007593989
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

On the way home, my head hurts, my heartbeat is irregular, I have a nagging pain in my arm and I’m driving a car. Not a good combination and, since having a heart attack at the wheel is not something I want, I pull over and try to breathe deeply.

Kiera rings and I press the Bluetooth. ‘What happened to you?’ she asks.

‘I had to go, sorry.’

‘Are you all right, Adam?’ She sounds concerned.

‘I’m fine, it’s just been a long day.’

‘Look, there’s no easy way of saying this without nagging, but I need to know if you’ve asked Meg.’

Kiera’s concern for me is now making sense.

‘Meg hasn’t spoken to me since I asked her, Kiera. She told me we’re finished – never to speak to her again.’

Kiera makes a gasping sound.

‘I’ve texted her, emailed her. Told her what she has to do. She knows the urgency and I know she’ll do the right thing.’

‘Thank you. I’m sorry.’

There is nothing else to say. I mutter a goodbye, start the engine and flick the radio on. Not in the mood for music, I turn to LBC, where there’s a debate in full flow. The voice of a woman, identified by the host as Rabbi Rebekah Morley, speaks in clear tones.

‘It’s because of the absence of God in most people’s lives!’ She seems outraged. ‘It seems like most people nowadays are happy to sin as long as they’re not discovered. For too many people, it’s not the “doing something bad” that bothers them, it’s the fear of being found out. It seems to be okay as long as that doesn’t happen.’

A softly spoken man interrupts.

‘Hold on, let’s be clear here. What’s a sin? Do we go by the Ten Commandments?’

I switch channels and unscrew the cap from my bottled water. The soft harmonies of the Eagles do not distract me from the earlier mention of the Ten Commandments.

Honour thy father and thy mother.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

I’ve never envied Sylvia or any other ‘neighbour’ a thing and I’ve never thought of killing someone – not really. I have committed adultery and I did honour my mother and father – to a point. That is, until their last double act – but that’s something I don’t want to think about right now. I simply haven’t got the head-room left.

At home I pour a large Jim Beam, no ice. I swallow it in three gulps and pour another. I pull a seat out at the tiny table. Opening the letter I’d found in my pocket earlier, I see it is two pages long. Sybil’s flowery handwriting stares up from the pages, which smell of her home in the Cotswolds – something like lavender and rosemary mixed together. I haven’t had a handwritten letter in over twenty years; if it wasn’t from Sybil, I’d be quite excited. I straighten out the many creases on the page, take another gulp of whiskey and begin to read.

Dear Adam,

Yes, you are and have been dear to me, despite the fact that you’ve been a total idiot.

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