The Perfect Guest by Ruth Irons

Author:Ruth Irons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black & White Publishing

Chapter Fourteen

Cam left, citing ‘places to be’, and I ambled back towards the pool, relieved to see the cleaners had also disappeared. I went over our conversation about the photograph as I stood alone on the stone steps at the shallow end, my feet in the water. And the more I thought about it, the more I realised my reaction to Cam’s revelation about the photo had been hugely influenced by Cam herself. As I’d attempted to piece together the timeline of Isaac and Sarah’s relationship, Cam was already awaiting my outrage with barely concealed glee. Which made me wonder if perhaps I’d only been so shocked because she’d wanted me to be. After all, there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the photo. For example, if Cam’s father hadn’t been present at that particular moment, it was quite possible a well-intentioned passer-by had offered to take the photo assuming they were a family. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a stranger’s misunderstanding before. And sometimes it’s too awkward to correct, and much easier to nod and smile, so as not to make them feel silly.

I wondered vaguely if there was a friendly local woman in Cornwall, who still walked along that beach to this day, remembering the beautiful family whose photo she’d insisted on taking one cloudy summer’s day. Then I wondered how she’d feel if she knew the golden-haired toddler in the beautiful woman’s arms would one day describe the photo she’d taken as ‘fucked up’.

I decided I needed to see the photo again, so walked in through the glass doors and towards the kitchen. I heard running water from the bathroom at the top of the stairs, but didn’t encounter anyone on my way. In the loo, I locked the door, then turned to stare at the large photo on the wall. It was the first photo that had caught my eye when I was here for my weekend with the girls, and it had certainly been positioned in pride of place, opposite the door and right at eye level. I tried to glean anything I could from the body language and expressions of the three subjects. Sarah and Isaac stood comfortably next to each other, his arm around her shoulder in a stance that looked completely natural. Sarah’s face held an easy smile, as did Isaac’s. Neither of them looked as if they’d been cajoled into posing for an awkward photo based on a stranger’s assumption. Cam was a toddler, and therefore oblivious to everything other than her own pudgy hand, which she waved in front of her face.

Did Isaac’s smile hold something else? Was there something mischievous behind his barely raised eyebrow? It was an expression of his I was now familiar with in real life, and I knew the accompanying glint so well from the times he’d turned it on me, making my stomach somersault. But he was a charismatic man, and it was obviously an expression he used regularly when he was having fun.

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