Page 158 of Fe
There was no colour to Fen’s face. He looked grey, ashen, shell-shocked.
“I want to talk to you,” Ripley said. “Not here. Come home.”
“You don’t have to go with him.” Morgan stepped between them.
“Yes, you do,” Ripley said. “You ran away. What did I do to deserve that?”
“Nothing,” Fen whispered.
“I don’t want this played out in public. Come back with me. If you still want to leave tomorrow, I’ll drive you wherever you want to go.”
“Don’t go,” Seth whispered. “He’s drunk.”
Ripley wanted to argue about that but instead said, “You should have kept the money.”
Fen sighed.
“What’s he talking about?” Morgan asked.
“Nothing,” Fen said. “It was…a game.”
A game?Ripley shot him a look of despair, then walked out.
Fen didn’t hesitate. He grabbed his bag, coat and crutch, and went after him.
“Don’t go.” Seth stepped in his way. “You don’t owe him anything.”
“He needs me.” Fen went as fast as he could after Ripley.
When he reached the street, he thought he’d lost him, but when he glanced right, he saw a figure sitting in a doorway and sighed. Sitting next to him without falling over was tricky but Fen managed it.
“Put your coat on,” Ripley said.
Fen struggled into it. “I saidgameso they wouldn’t ask. Not because it was a game.”
“I shouldn’t have said that about the money.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Of all the things I might have wanted you to say to me, that wasn’t on the list.”
“So much for my skill with words.”
“I was trying to make it easier,” Fen whispered.
“Make what easier?”
“Us splitting up. I never wanted the money. If I’d lasted the six months, I still wouldn’t have taken it.”
Ripley turned to him. “But…Japan?”
Fen shrugged. “Pipe dream.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Maybe I realised it wasn’t what was important in my life.”
Ripley stared at him for a long moment, then dropped his head. “You’re all wrong for me and yet completely right.”
Fen couldn’t help himself. “Matthew would agree with the first part.”
