Double Agent by Tom Bradby

Author:Tom Bradby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic

17

GUS BLEW IN through the door with rare loquacity. ‘I’ve been made captain of the As,’ he said.

Kate sat up, feeling dazed. If she hadn’t slept, she had nevertheless been lying on the sofa in a kind of trance. Perhaps that was where you ended up: perpetually caught between wakefulness and sleep. ‘The what?’

‘The As. Mr Jenkyns just told me. Next term.’ He took in her confusion. ‘Cricket, Mum!’

‘Oh, of course. Yes, sorry. Congratulations.’

‘Do you mind if I call Dad?’

‘Ermmm . . .’

‘I’d really love to tell him. He’ll be so pleased.’

Kate couldn’t see a reason to refuse. Gus dialled from his own phone and it was a revelation to her that he had Stuart’s new number in Moscow. ‘I’ve been made captain of the As,’ Gus said, without introduction.

She watched her son listen for a moment, his face aglow with his own and his father’s pleasure. ‘Mr Jenkyns said it was between me and Horsington and that I had shown a much greater degree of maturity. I’m still going to open.’

Gus laughed at something his father said. ‘It’s cool,’ he said. ‘Thanks, Dad. I wish you could come and watch. Maybe we can do a tour to Venice!’

Kate felt like she was intruding, but she couldn’t drag herself away. She watched her son revel in the news with his father in the full knowledge they would never share in the game. For the first time, she wondered if she had been right to insist so resolutely that she and Stuart could have no future together. Gus looked up at her and handed her his phone. ‘Dad wants to talk to you.’

With that, Gus discreetly disappeared into the kitchen. ‘Hello . . . Stuart?’

‘Kate . . .’

‘Yes, what is it?’

‘Isn’t it great about Gus? He’d never have admitted it to either of us, but he’s been holding out for that. It’ll mean the world to him.’

‘The pleasure on his face was something to behold.’

‘He needs a bit of a boost. They both do.’ Kate didn’t know what to say to that. ‘All I have to do now is persuade the school to televise all under-fourteen A games and we’ll be away.’

‘Is there something I can do for you, Stuart?’ There was a coldness to her tone that did not, she thought, reflect the way she felt.

‘I just wanted to hear your voice.’

Kate closed her eyes. ‘Please don’t do this.’

‘I’m not doing anything, love. I’m just lonelier than I’ve ever been in my life and hearing you or the kids on the phone is all I live for.’

‘I’m sure there are many women in Moscow who would be only too pleased to console you.’

‘That’s a bit beneath you, if I may say so. I’m not here wallowing in self-pity, just telling you the truth. Do you have any idea when I might be able to see the kids again?’

‘You mean after the last time went so well?’

‘That was hardly my fault. And, from what I could gather, it might have been the making of your career.

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