‘Me too.’ Angus follows. ‘Send Lauren our love? We’ll stop by later.’
‘Wait!’ Ian calls.
We turn round.
He approaches us. ‘You guys aren’t too bad.’
‘Thanks,’ Angus says.
‘She likes you,’ he concedes with a shrug, as if he can’t understand why. ‘Laurie’s been better, and not ’cos of me,’ he admits though I sense he wishes it was. ‘She stayed in bed all day Sunday, eating crap, wouldn’t come out of her room, and that’s not like Laurie. She likes her routine, you know, she gets up, does a strip wash, makes her bed before breakfast, and knocks on my door. Lozza’s the one usually gettingmeup. What are we going to do?’
‘I don’t think there’s anything we can do,’ I say, noticing how he calls LaurenLaurieandLozza. They’re even closer than I thought, so if anyone can get Laurie up, it’s Ian. ‘She knows we’re here,’ I tell him.
‘But I’m worried about her,’ Ian protests, ‘there’s got to be something you can think of.’
‘You probably know better than us,’ I assure him. ‘What cheers her up?’
He scratches his head. ‘She loves colouring-in, we do it together.’ There is something incongruous, yet endearing about hearing an ex-prisoner with a six-pack confess to colouring-in. ‘You got a phone?’ Ian looks as if an idea is brewing.
Angus hands him his.
‘She loves these.’ He shows us a YouTube video clip.
‘Really?’ Angus watches a kitten fall off a bed, followed by a dog flying out of a window.
‘Trust me. And she loves watching people unblock drains. Come on, I’ve got an idea.’
‘It’s so weird it must be true,’ Angus mutters, as we follow Ian back inside, and down the corridor, towards Lauren’s bedroom.
‘You go in,’ Angus suggests to Ian. ‘We’ll wait here.’
Gently Ian opens the door. Lauren is still under the covers. ‘Not you again,’ she moans. ‘I’m asleep.’
He kneels by her side. ‘Look at the little kitten licking ice cream.’ She doesn’t stir.
‘I’ve got to say, that’s not going to get me up anytime soon,’ Angus whispers, his face close to mine as we peep through the door.
‘Nor me.’
‘Want to watch your favourite man unblock some drains?’
I turn to Angus, even more perplexed.
‘Good to see your face, my friend,’ Ian says.
‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say Ian’s madly in love with Lauren, wouldn’t you?’ I whisper to Angus.
‘He’s definitely in love,’ Angus agrees, catching my eye.
‘I should go,’ I say, certain I’m blushing. I move away from Angus. ‘Need to, er, get to work.’
‘Don’t,’ he whispers back, pressing a hand against my arm. ‘Stay. Let’s see if she wants to talk.’
Angus must pick up on the hesitation in my eyes.
‘I can’t do this without you, Holly,’ he says, ‘we’re a team.’
Ian, Angus and I manage to encourage Lauren to get up and have a shower, before giving her breakfast, waffles and maple syrup, at the nearest café on the Chiswick High Road. She tells us her anxiety kicked in last week, and the voices inside her head got too loud, voices screaming at her that she’s worth nothing.
