Page 20 of Love at First Sight

‘I can’t build Lego,’ Cal says, quickly. ‘I was just saying it’s good Jessie can help with Henry’s Lego, because I’m absolutely useless. Always have been. Just don’t have the patience.’

‘Calling him pathetic is a bit harsh!’ Ali laughs. ‘I can’t do Lego either!’

I don’t want to play along, but I don’t see what choiceI have. ‘Good job you keep me around then, isn’t it? Although I will have to duck out soon, if that’s okay, Ali? So the rest of the Lego building will have to happen tomorrow, if you don’t mind the bits staying out.’

‘Of course not,’ she says. ‘And yes, you get off. You’ve been a lifesaver, sticking around.’ She turns to yell inside: ‘Henry? Jessie is going!’

Henry comes outside and gives me a hug, and I whisper in his ear: ‘Do you need the special code word or is it all going to be okay?’

‘It’s okay,’ whispers Henry. ‘But canbanana-poo-headbe our code forever? For everyone?’

I look at Cal/Vinnie as I whisper back, ‘Of course it can. Some people arebanana-poo-heads, aren’t they?’

Henry giggles, and I leave them to their evening as I slip out the front door, where I have to lean against the railings to catch my breath.

Unbelievable.

Absolutely un-fucking-believable.

8

India is incensed.

‘You have to tell her,’ she says, on a 6.45 a.m. phone call before work the next day. I’m walking down to Ali’s and my stomach is doing flips. I’ve barely slept. Ali said she thinks Cal is marriage material, and I know she’s hell-bent on getting her ducks in a row before she gets into doing press. But also: Cal is bad news. He’s the worst news.

‘I don’t know how to tell her,’ I counter. ‘You know what she’s like. I love her, but she lives in her own world, has her own rules. I’m worried I could somehow lose my job over this.’

India scoffs, ‘I think you say,Hey, you know that magical date with the handsome stranger I told you about? Well, turns out, he has a girlfriend. And the girlfriend is you.’

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I always get a migraine if I don’t sleep, but this one is compounded by trying to solve the problem of how to tell my boss her boyfriend nearly cheated on her with me, without making her mad. None of this is my fault, I can see that, but I’m in a pickle here, no two ways about it. Ali gets hurt no matter what.

At least I don’t feel sad any more. That lasted about two hours, and then I got home, stared at the ceiling all night,and got madder and madder. How do men like him get away with pulling such shit?

‘Maybe he’ll out himself as an arsehole,’ I say. ‘And I won’t have to get involved.’

India gives ahmmm. ‘There is that,’ she says. ‘To be fair. Arseholes gonna arsehole.’

‘I think you should get that printed on a T-shirt,’ I quip.

‘Plenty of women need the warning,’ she says.

We let that sink in.

‘Okay, well, I’ve got to go, I’m here now,’ I say, the house in view. ‘See you at the gym later?’

‘Yeah,’ India says. ‘Good luck.’

I let myself in and am immediately cornered by Ali in the pantry.

‘Well?’ she says, and she’s so perfect, even with coffee breath and in her pyjamas, that I wonder why on earth Cal would so much aslookin anybody else’s direction, let alone mine. Maybe he needed somebody average to pander to his charm and good looks because Ali’s charm and good looks make him feel less-than? Could that be it? The more I ponder it, the less I have answers. Thinking about it only leads to more questions.

‘Well what?’ I ask, popping Henry’s bagel in the toaster.

‘Vinnie!’ she says. ‘What did you think?’

‘I thought …’ I begin, but then Henry yells out, ‘Jessie! Can I do the toppings?’

I grab the jam and butter dish, and leave the pantry to get the cream cheese from the fridge. I put down achopping board and a couple of kids’ knives in front of Henry, and give him a wink. When I scoot back into the pantry to get the toasted bagel, Ali has her hands open in a shrug-like gesture I take to mean:well?!

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