Page 81 of Never Too Late
‘Nope,’ I said with a laugh, knowing that he was exactly right. ‘Although I might tell her you have, just to enjoy her reaction.’
‘At my expense?’
‘Obviously.’
He tilted his head as if in acceptance.
‘I’m glad you don’t dye it, though. It looks good on you.’
He touched the place where the silver strands lay and shrugged.
I burst out laughing. ‘Oh, come on. You were never insecure about your looks. You know it does.’
Tomas slowed for a junction and waited for the short line of cars crossing us to pass. He took the time to turn towards me.
‘People change, Kitty.’
‘True. But I find it hard to believe you lost all your confidence. Especially now you’re the big, successful artist.’
He pulled out onto the road and I noticed his jaw was tight, a muscle flickering under the dark stubble.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
I let out a sigh. ‘Tomas, if we’re just going to be tiptoeing around and being polite all afternoon, you may as well turn around now. I’ve done that for the last thirty years with people, and you know what?’ I felt my face flushing, surprising both of us with the sudden flash of anger. ‘I’m done with it. I’m done with being the person that people want me to be.’
Tomas pulled the car over.
Well, that was a short lunch, I thought to myself, deciding whether I was upset about it or not and finding that, if I was going to be pretending, trying, all afternoon then, as I’d told him, I wasn’t upset at all. At least I’d know where we stood.
‘Did you ever consider that I never had the confidence you’re talking about?’
‘Oh, come on.’
‘Why do you think that I didn’t stand up for you all those years ago? Why do you think I nearly ran our family business into the ground because I was flailing? Why do you think I studied business even though I had absolutely zero interest in it and promptly failed my degree?’
‘You failed?’
His face scrunched for a moment. ‘That’s what you took from all that?’
‘No. Sorry. I was just… surprised.’ I’d left Paris before the results were received and I’d just assumed both Tomas and Gabby had passed, as I had.
‘Yes. I failed. Epically, I think was the term used at the time.’
‘I’m… sorry?’
He shook his head. ‘Don’t be. I’m not. I hated every moment.’
‘So why did you study it?’
‘Aren’t you more interested in why I let my parents treat you as they did?’
‘No. It’s ancient history. It doesn’t matter now.’
‘It matters to me.’
I swallowed and looked away, out of the window.
