The Neighbour Upstairs by Kathryn Croft

Author:Kathryn Croft
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Let’s be civilised about this,” Carl says when I finish ranting at him. I’m sure he must be holding the phone away from his ear because even to me my voice is uncomfortably loud. Yet there isn’t a single note of anger in his words.

“You’re a hypocrite!” I yell at him. “When I first told you about moving in with Michael you insisted on meeting him because he’d be spending time with Ellie, yet you let some random woman into her life without me even knowing she exists! What the hell, Carl?” My blood boils and Carl’s calmness only increases my body temperature.

“Calm down, will you? I didn’t bother meeting him in the end, did I? Because I trust you. Anyway, Keira’s a lovely person and Ellie likes her. I wasn’t going to mention it until I knew it was serious. Besides, Ellie meeting her was an accident. The other week we bumped into Keira and her sister at the cinema and I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know her.”

I am amazed at Carl’s excuse. There are a million explanations he could have offered Ellie so he must have wanted her to know who Keira was. I grow even angrier when I think how I kept the truth about us from Ellie until recently, in the hopes of protecting her feelings. I explain this to Carl but as usual he has a convincing response.

“I don’t think we should lie to Ellie. Ever. Yes, the truth hurts sometimes but at least we’re being honest with our daughter.”

Even though I know Carl’s right I don’t want him to win this argument. “Don’t you think Ellie’s had enough to deal with?”

“Yeah, from you!” Carl says, raising his voice for the first time. “I’m not the one who moved in with a stranger.”

I have no choice but to let this comment go because Carl is right. The stubborn part of me wants to remind him that he was the one who destroyed our marriage in the first place but I’m too worn out for this battle.

“Just stop,” I tell him, trying hard to keep my voice under control. “Ellie’s all that matters so we need to stop this right now.”

“I agree.” He pauses for a moment and I am shocked by what he says next. “Look, I know I haven’t met this Michael yet and you need to meet Keira, so why don’t we all get together this week? It might seem a crazy idea but we’d be doing it for Ellie.”

Once I’m over the initial shock of Carl’s suggestion, I try to picture how an evening with the four of us would play out. It would be awkward for everyone and I can’t see what good would come of it. You and Carl will never be friends and I’m not sure I’ll be able to welcome Keira into my life. At least at the moment she is only a name and a description. I don’t want her to be real. “I don’t know, Carl—”

“Come on.

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