Page 202 of Save You
“OK, I did.But then I let you share my ice cream.”
“Yours was banana.What kind of a person likes banana ice cream?”
“Not me,” I say.
James points at me.“There, you see.”
“You’re both nuts.”Lydia shakes her head and flicks on.In the next few pages, the twins are six or seven, and now Alistair, Wren, Cyril, or Keshav turn up more and more often.
“It’s mad that you’ve all known each other so long,” I say in amazement.
“Yeah, isn’t it?Sometimes I feel like we’re brothers.”
I nod and look at a picture of a chubby-cheeked Alistair, his golden curls sticking up all over the place.Then my eyes are caught by a younger version of James with mini-Wren in a headlock.
“Did you and Wren ever talk?”I ask James quietly.
“We discussed one or two things.”He hesitates.“He’s got a lot on his mind.”
“Bad stuff?”Lydia asks at once.
James shrugs his shoulders.“I promised not to tell anyone.”
Lydia frowns with concern.I can see that she still has a lot of questions, but after an internal struggle, she just nods.“OK.But do you think it’s going to work out in the end?”
James nods.“Wren’s going to be fine.After all, he’s got us.”
Lydia and I exchange skeptical glances.
All the same, I’m relieved that James and Wren seem to havemade up.During that long phone call on my birthday night, James told me how important it is to him to enjoy this last year of school together with his friends.He wanted to make the most of it and not worry about what will come next.His mum dying changed things, but that makes it all the more important to have friends he can count on.And vice versa.
A little later, I say goodbye to Lydia, and James drives me home.Or rather, Percy drives me home, but James comes along for the ride in the Rolls-Royce.We’re quiet as we leave their property and head for Gormsey.
However little I like it, it feels as though the run-in with Mortimer Beaufort is a shadow hanging over us.I’ve met the man on three occasions in my life, and he’s tried to come between James and me every time.I so hope that James won’t let him do that again.That the thing we have now is stronger than his father’s influence.
“What are you thinking?”he asks suddenly, his voice deep and warm.
I look up and meet his turquoise eyes.My stomach starts to tingle.
I take a deep breath.“That I’d like to spend more weekends like that with you.”
James looks up into my eyes and then down again, as if he doesn’t know how to defend himself against me.
“And at the same time, I’m wondering…” I pause.
James waits, still looking at me.“What are you wondering?”he asks after a while.
“I’m wondering how things are going to work out.For you,” I whisper.“For you and your dad, I mean.With him telling youhow to live your life, and you letting him drive you into a corner where you don’t want to be.”
James lowers his eyes and stares at the car footwells, as if there’s something fascinating to see there.He takes a deep breath.And another.After a while, he slowly shakes his head.
“It’s not just about him,” he begins after a while, his voice rough.“Everything comes down to Beaufort’s, Ruby.It’s not just Dad’s life’s work that I’m going to inherit.”I gulp hard as he glances up again and looks straight at me.“I…I don’t want to disappoint my mum.”
I inhale sharply.
I’d never thought of that.Of course his mum’s death has changed things.I spent the whole time thinking that everything would work out fine so long as James could follow his own dreams, rather than his father’s.But now I realize that that isn’t what matters anymore.James isn’t only tied to Beaufort’s by his dad.The main person keeping him there now is his mum.
“You won’t disappoint your mum,” I whisper.
