Page 115 of The One Plus One
‘A mistake?’ said Gemma. ‘I don’t get it. How do you do insider trading by mistake?’
Ed straightened his shoulders and gazed steadily at her. He took a breath, and his gaze flickered towards Jess. And then he looked up at the ceiling. ‘Well, I had sex with a woman. I thought I liked her. And then I realized she wasn’t who I thought she was and I sort of wanted her to go away without it all getting messy. And what she wanted to do was travel. So I made a snap decision and told her a way I thought she could make a little extra money to pay off her debts and go travelling.’
‘You gave her inside information.’
‘Yup. On SFAX. Our big product launch.’
‘Jesus Christ.’ Gemma shook her head. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this.’
‘And my name hasn’t come out in the press yet. But it will.’ He put his hands into his pockets and looked steadily at his family. Jess wondered if only she could detect that his hand was shaking. ‘So…um…that’s why I haven’t been home. I was hoping I could keep it from you, maybe even sort it out so that you didn’t have to know anything about it. But it turns out that’s going to be impossible. And I wanted to say I’m sorry. I should have told you and I should have spent more time here. But I – I didn’t want you to know the truth. I…didn’t want you to see what a mess I’d made of everything.’
Nobody spoke. Jess’s right leg had begun to jiggle involuntarily. She found a really interesting bit of skin beside her thumbnail and tried to make the jiggling stop. When she finally looked up, Ed was staring at his father. ‘Well?’
‘Well what?’
‘You’re not going to say anything?’
Bob Nicholls lifted his head slowly from his pillow. ‘What do you want me to say?’
Ed and his dad gazed at each other.
‘You want me to say you’ve been an idiot? I’ll say you’ve been an idiot. You want me to say you’ve ballsed up a brilliant career? I’ll say that too.’
‘Bob…’
‘Well, what do you –’ Abruptly, he started to cough, a hollow, rasping sound. Anne and Gemma lurched forward to help him, handing over tissues, glasses of water, fussing and clucking like a pair of hens. It was as if everyone was grateful for being given something to do.
Ed was standing at the foot of his father’s bed.
‘Prison?’ his mother said again. ‘Actual prison prison?’
‘That’s what he said, Mum.’
‘But this is awful.’
‘Sit down, Mum. Deep breaths.’ Gemma steered her mother into a chair.
Nobody moved towards Ed. Why didn’t somebody hug him? Why could they not see how alone he felt right at that minute?
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly.
Nobody seemed to hear.
‘Can I say something?’ Jess could bear it no longer. She heard her voice, clear and slightly too loud. ‘I just want to tell you that Ed helped my two children when I couldn’t. He drove us the length of the country, because we were desperate. As far as I’m concerned your son is…wonderful.’
They all looked up. Jess turned to his father. ‘He’s kind, smart and clever, even if I don’t agree with all the things he does. He’s nice to people he barely knows. Insider trading or no, if my son turns out half the man your son is then I’ll be very happy. More than happy. I’ll be ecstatic.’
They were all staring at her.
She added: ‘And I thought that even before I had sex with him.’
Nobody spoke. Ed stared fixedly at his feet.
‘Well,’ Anne gave a faint nod, ‘that’s, er, that’s…’
‘Enlightening,’ said Gemma.
Anne’s voice tailed away. ‘Oh, Edward.’
