Page 36 of Love Punch

“Then you dropped your hobbies for me?”

Arthur was silent for a second. “…no,” he finally managed. “That’s not it.”

“Do you want to tell me whatitis, then?” I asked. “Because I’m coming up blank. If you want to have secrets…”

“I don’t want to have secrets,” Arthur muttered, cutting across me. “But there are some things that I just don’t think you’d understand.”

“Let me try.” I risked putting one hand over his thigh, and a second later his came to rest on top of mine.

“You know how I always say you pay me enough…well, that’s true. If I kept every penny you paid me, I would have enough money to get my own place. Even have a couple of months off.”

“So that’s what’s going on, you’re leaving?”

“No, stupid. I’m trying to tell you something, so please let me talk.” I couldn’t see the expression Arthur was giving me as I kept my eyes on the road, but I could imagine its ferocity. “Itold you about my parents not having much money. Well…I do my best by them, you know. But the more they know I have, the more they think they have a right to take.”

It had always seemed difficult for Arthur to talk about his parents, and I remembered that he’d been reluctant to invite his father to my last boxing match. “Do they ask you for a lot?”

Arthur laughed, but it was completely hollow. “When I started working for you, I was three grand into my overdraft and struggling to pay my landlord. In the last three years, on a more than adequate salary, I’ve managed to pay off my overdraft, just about. So I’ve gone from less than nothing to….nothing, I guess.”

“Shit, Arthur. Why don’t you just stop sending them money? ” I asked. He snatched his hand away, and I immediately regretted my choice of words.

“That’s why I said you wouldn’t understand. Would you ever deny your parents?” he asked, and my moment of hesitation was all the answer he needed. “Exactly. You’ve never needed to, have you?”

“I’ve always done my best to impress them,” I countered.

“But that’s notthe same. When you’ve got money, your parents are your parents. They provide for you, no matter what. You get knocked out in the ring, your mum throws the doors open for you and moves you back home. You could ask your parents for anything now, and they would give it to you. With my parents, they did the bare minimum for me not to get taken away by Social Services and once I hit sixteen, our relationships reversed. Half of my university debt is because they were asking me for money. For the last ten years, they have needed me. And I won’t deny them that help. Because one day, I might deny them when they truly need it.”

“You don’t think that letting them make their own mistakes would help them learn?” I asked.

Arthur was quiet for a moment. I indicated off the motorway and drove towards the shopping park.

“Maybe,” he said. “But would you ever take that risk with your parents? That if you didn’t help them just once, and they lost their house? Or couldn’t eat?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I knew that whatever I did, my parents would always be there to take me in. I’d never had to consider the reverse—never would.

“So, you couldn’t afford to replace your iPad because…you’ve been supporting your parents?”

Arthur’s hand found mine again, even as I shifted gear. “I couldn’t do anything else,” he said quietly. “You can tell me you think it’s stupid. I don’t think it’ll change anything, but if it makes you feel better—”

“I admire you,” I cut in. “I don’t know that I could do the same in your situation. But that’s what makes you the person you are. You’re selfless to a fault, always putting other people first.”

I pulled the car into the big car park for the shopping centre, and Arthur’s eyes went wide. “What are we doing here? Do you need something?”

“In a manner of speaking,” I said, unclipping both our seatbelts and not giving him time to respond before I jumped out of the car. He followed, as I knew he would, as I made my way across the car park and into the mall. I only noticed that I was alone when I stepped into the electronics shop.

“What are you waiting for? Comeon,” I said, gesturing for him to follow.

“This better be because you need a new phone,” he said, hovering in the entrance.

“Nope,” I made a beeline for a wall display of tablets of different sizes and specifications.

“Which one?” I asked, gesturing at the various options.

“For what?”

“For you to draw on.”

Arthur’s face darkened. “I already told you I can’t afford it, Bradley. This isn’t funny.”

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