Page 56 of Maybe
“But seriously, Isaac?” This was Saffy again, calmer. “Are you okay about this? Have your thought the ramifications through?”
Ed butted in. “Yeah, Isaac. How’s this going to play out? Ezra is like, way cooler than you. When you go to gigs and stuff, everyone’s gonna think he’s dragged his swotty little brother out of the house to get some fresh air.”
“He is Ezra’s swotty little brother, you damned half-wit.” A noise like a sister punching her twin and a twin’s protesting yelp echoed through the airwaves. Saffy giggled. “Listen. Isaac. I’ve got to run. I’ll call you same time tomorrow. But if you want me to tell Mum for you, so you don’t have to, then say the word. And give my love to Ezra.”
“Mine, too,” shouted Ed. “You fucking pair of loser weirdos.”
And then, in a whirl of noise and hollers and gloriously unfettered hedonism, they were gone. Leaving me staring at ablank phone screen, not sure whether to scream or burst into tears.
After I pulled myself together, I texted Ezra. If I couldn’t see him in person, then I needed to have his voice inside my head. To reassure me I hadn’t made the biggest mistake of my life.
Miss you,I texted. I told Ed and Saffy about us.
So there is an us?he replied a few minutes later.
I released a huge exhalation of pent-up breath.Our Ezra.But especially mine. However and whenever I was ready for him.
Not dignifying that with an answer,I typed back.Is Jonty feeling better?
About the same.A few dots followed.He’s quite chesty, more than usual. I’ve given him his meds and treated him to fish and chips. He’ll settle. Were Ed and Saffy okay about stuff?
Yeah, I think so. You should meet them now that they’re grown up (ish). I mean, I think you’d hate them for being such overprivileged spoiled brats, but, you know, they’re funny, and they care about us. And they’re family.
Yeah. Family. Thank fuck we can choose our partners from a much wider circle. Oops!
CHAPTER 21
EZRA
Worrying about Janice sat badly with me. Anger and resentment were much simpler emotions to navigate. But anyone slurping vodka like a protein shake before lunch clearly had some hefty baggage. And when I mentioned visiting her again to Jonty, seeing as our place had condensation dripping down the walls, his eyes lit up.
Today, the biscuit tin held jammy dodgers as well as custard creams. Honestly, she was worse than Carly’s mum. “Just two,” I warned as he salivated over his selection.
“I’m ill, though,” said Jonty with a pout damned hard to refuse.
“Everyone should have treats when they’re ill.” Janice nudged the tin back towards my son, who was looking at her like she was his fairy fucking godmother. Whatever. She certainly hadn’t been mine. “The rules don’t count when you’re ill.”
I found myself smiling back at her anyhow. “Whose side are you on?”
“Can I watch Nemo?” Jonty asked. “In the big pink chair?”
The big pink chair was a fancy chaise longue covered in white-and-pink velvet cushions, as if someone had tipped out a bag of giant marshmallows all over it. Personally, I thought it was hideous, but then I wasn’t a ten-year-old boy.
“Yes, but only after you’ve eaten your biscuits. Janice doesn’t want crumbs everywhere.”
“Oh, that’s all right—they brush off,” she cooed.
Blimey, how she’d changed.
“If he doesn’t get better by tonight, you should call Isaac,” Janice said after we left Jonty swooning over the cushions and licking his sticky fingers. Bruce, the shark, was insisting fish were friends, not food. “He’ll know what to do.”
“He knows Jonty’s off colour already. I said I’d give him an update this evening. He’s sleeping today as he’s finishing a set of nights.”
She pulled a face. “I’ll be glad when he’s moved out of that department. When he starts that cardiac research post Michael and some of Henry’s other old colleagues are arranging for him, he’ll be less tired, able to concentrate on his studies more.”
“Mmm.”
Today was cleaning day. Which meant Janice and I, from the comfort of the conservatory, watched a pleasant woman called Nancy scrubbing at a range cooker which cost approximately the value of my crummy flat. I was drinking tea, and, gratifyingly, so was Janice.
