Jodi jumped, though he didn’t know why. Rupertalwayschecked on him when he came home, no matter how twat-ish Jodi had been to him before he left. Except, Jodi hadn’t been a dick this time, had he? Jodi had no—
“Seriously. What the hell happened?”
“I cleaned up a bit.”
“A bit? Looks like an army of maids had a party in here.
Jodi shut the cupboard door with more care than necessary, unable to tell if Rupert’s tone carried any humour. Had he done the wrong thing by cleaning up? Did Rupert like it messy? Or was it simply that, covered in sweat and dust, his eye half-closed from the persistent ache in his brain, Jodi was an even less attractive prospect than he’d been before Rupert went out?Gone are the old days, eh?“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, boyo. I’m just surprised. It’s been a while since you pulled your Dot Cotton routine.”
“Dot bloody Cotton?”
Rupert was grinning when Jodi found the balls to turn round, though it seemed strained. “You used to be obsessed, in a healthy way, not like OCD, or anything. You liked things clean and tidy. Everything had its place.”
“What happened?”
Rupert stared at Jodi like he’d grown horns. “What do you think? The accident happened and no one was ever here. Then you—we came home and nothing fucking changed.”
Jodi didn’t miss Rupert’s slip, and anger surged in his veins.It’s not my fault I got my head caved in.But the emotion was short-lived. Rupert had rarely snapped at him since he came home from hospital, leading Jodi to believe he hadn’t much before either, which meant that Rupert was the kind of bloke who only spoke harshly when he was upset.
“I’m sorry,” Jodi said. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I didn’t notice the mess until today, or I would’ve done it sooner.”
“It’s okay, mate.”
“No, no, it’s not. I don’t work, or have a kid; I’ve got nothing to do but sit around this shithole, so it shouldn’tbea shithole.”
“Well, it’s not now, is it?”
Jodi grumbled. “That’s not the point. I can’t believe it’s been like this for so long. I swear, I looked around today, and it was like a lightbulb came on. I couldn’t stop until everything was done.”
He left out the hours he’d spent staring at the dusty floor, trying to match the churning emotions in his gut with the fragmented memories his delinquent brain had kept throwing up when he least expected them. Something told him that would fast quench the bare hint of a genuine smile that was dancing on Rupert’s face.
“You know, that’s Jodi of old,” Rupert said. “Drove me up the wall, rearranging your DVDs at three in the morning ’cause you couldn’t sleep knowing they weren’t in alphabetical order, and that was without the obsessive cleaning.”
“Obsessive?”
“Okay, I’m exaggerating. I guess I could’ve kept on top of it a little better all this time, but I think, maybe, I might have been waiting for you to do it, orwantto do it, like I thought you doing the bloody dusting would fix everything else. Stupid, eh?”
“Nothing about this is stupid. I feel like I’ve wiped cobwebs from my eyes. It’s been a hell of a day.”
Rupert hummed his agreement. “Sure has. Listen, I need to get Indie to bed soon, but she’s dying to come and watch those videos with you. Would you mind keeping her busy for a bit? I’m not going anywhere, but I’ve got some calls to make.”
“Of course. Send her in. Do you want—”
“Boyo, please. I don’t need or want anything more than I’ve got already.”
For the second time that day, Rupert left Jodi hanging, turning on his heel and fleeing the room before Jodi could blink.
Indie appeared a few moments later, dressed in pink pyjamas and clutching the wolf Jodi had retrieved from the kitchen for her the night before. “Can we watchBuckynow?”
Lacking any brighter ideas, Jodi picked up the TV remote and flicked on the VHS Indie had put on earlier in the day. The lime-green space rabbit filled the screen. Indie smiled, and Jodi found himself under her spell. She sprang onto his bed and burrowed under the covers, holding the duvet up for him to do the same. Powerless to refuse, Jodi obeyed and crawled into bed.
Indie cuddled into his side and put her head on his chest. “It’s nicer in here than earlier. Did you put the fairy dust down?”
“The what?”
“That white stuff you put on the rugs to make the fairies’ feet smell nice. Daddy says it makes Henry stink less too.”
