Page 114 of Where Do We Go From Here?
‘I take it you saw Fifi before she left, though?’
‘She actually skived off. With my blessing, that is. She’s upstairs.’
‘Oh?’
‘I know you don’t approve. I don’t either really. But these are kind of exceptional circumstances. She wanted us to spend a day together, so…’
‘So you yielded to emotional blackmail.’
‘I did.’
‘Well, good for you. And was it nice, your mother-and-daughter day?’
‘Yes, it was good. We rented a film and ate crisps.’
‘Wow. I think I’m jealous.’
‘The film was a Julia Roberts rom-com.’
‘OK. Maybe not.’
Harry moves his dripping jacket from the chair-back to a hook above the radiator. ‘Can’t believe this weather,’ he says. ‘It’s like walking through a car wash.’
‘Yes. It’s horrid.’
‘Must be a bit of a shock for you, too?’
‘D’you know, I’ve hardly noticed it? I’m just glad to be home.’
‘Is everything… you know… OK?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘You seem a bit… I don’t know.’
‘… I seem a bit…?’
‘I don’t know. Have you got the hump with me? Is it because I had to leave early this morning?’
‘No, Harry. No everything’s fine. I don’t even know why you think that.’
‘You’re, you know, doing the no-eye-contact thing. Like right now. You’re staring very intently at your sauce.’
‘Well, if you don’t pay attention to béchamel it goes lumpy.’
‘Oh, OK. And that’s all it is?’
‘Yes. OK, actually,no. Like I said, it feels very strange being back. And if I’m being honest I feel a bit…shyaround you, too. Is that weird?’
‘No. I feel kind of clunky around you. I think it’s probably normal. Tea?’
Wendy glances across at her husband, his hand frozen in mid-air before the mug rack, and for the first time since she got home something feels right.How nice it is to have someone come home and make you tea, she thinks.How nice that he’ll know exactly how I like it.
‘What?’ Harry asks, breaking into an embarrassed grin.
‘Nothing,’ Wendy says. ‘I was thinking how good looking you are. I don’t think I’ve noticed that for a while.’
Harry snorts. ‘And you’re sure you haven’t been drinking?’
