Death Do They Part by J.D. Whitelaw

Author:J.D. Whitelaw [WHITELAW, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781914480317
Publisher: Red Dog Press

17

Geri was in a world of her own. Consumed by the million thoughts that were washing over and over her mind like a relentless ocean, she didn’t notice when Matt took her hand. They walked down the busy street in the city’s west end for a few paces before she stopped.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking up at him.

“What?” he laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“This,” she said, lifting their joined hands. “This is what I’m talking about.”

“What about it?” he asked.

“What about it? It’s happened, here, in the outdoors, with people all about. It’s in public. It’s affectionate. You might even say it’s a display. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

Matt smiled. The bruising around his cheeks and eyes was fading already. Geri liked his face, she liked his smile. She liked Matt. And she only half-wanted answers.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I just thought that you might want to hold hands as we went for a walk. It’s what people in our position do, Geri. It’s what normal people do, you know that.”

“I’m not normal,” she said. “Whatever that generic, catch-all term is supposed to mean anyway. And you certainly aren’t normal. I think hanging around with dead people all day and all night has fried your brain if you think this is going to cut it.”

She waved their clenched hands in front of his face

“I notice you haven’t let go yet,” he said.

She hadn’t. And in truth, she didn’t want to. She just felt the need—for her own benefit, not his—to at least pretend to be outraged. Geri had always despised such gestures. Kissing in public was a definite no, especially in daylight hours. Arms around each other was equally bad. But holding hands, in the middle of the street, that was about as bad as it could get. Or at least, it used to be.

“I’ll allow it,” she said, dropping their hands down and starting walking again. “But only because you’ve had a rough couple of days.”

“Your generosity knows no bounds, Geri Parker,” he said.

They walked along in comfortable silence, nowhere really to go, and with no purpose. The day was a comfortable temperature, the air crisp and clean. The denizens of Byres Road were all out in force. The huge sandstone buildings on either side of the busy street rose to greet them, filthy student flat windows winking in the winter sunlight as they walked past. Geri felt quite sick that these sorts of days had grown to be so important. She was putting it down to her grief. The world seemed to be awakening from the darkness that had plagued her for the better part of a fortnight. She was starting to awaken too. Despite everything that was going on.

“Have you heard from Martha and Helen?” asked Matt, as if reading her mind.

“Nope,” she said, clicking her tongue. “And I don’t expect I will for a good while now. They’ve got what they wanted.”

“What’s that?”

“You were pumped for all the information they needed,” she shrugged.

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