‘Was that good?’ he asks.
‘Delicious.’ She smirks at him. ‘So, you’re staying over tonight?’
‘Only if it’s okay,’ he says petulantly.
‘No, it’s fine.’
Fine? The first time ever that they’ll wake up together, and it’sfine?
‘I can go home if you want to.’ It slips out before he can stop it. ‘I mean, if you’re busy?—’
‘Don’t be like that.’ She frowns in a manner that suggests he’s acting like a silly boy.
‘I’m not! I’m not being like anything?—’
‘Well, you seem it.’ She slips off the stool and washes her bowl and cutlery and then, agonisingly, both the wok and the pan. Perhaps some floor mopping will follow, he muses. A little light hoover and dusting and?—
His thoughts break off as he tries to process what she’s just said. ‘Did you hear that, Joel?’
His heart seems to stop. ‘You… you said you’re seeing someone?’
‘I said I’vemetsomeone.’
‘“Met someone”? What does that mean?’
‘It means it’s nothing serious. We’re just taking it chill…’
‘So who is it?’ He jumps off the stool and looms in front of her, face aghast.
She shrugs, like it’s nothing. ‘Just some guy!’
He gasps, struggling to articulate what he wants to say. ‘And you’ve kept it until tonight to tell me? The first time we’re going to spend the whole night together? Well, that’s nice?—’
‘Joel!’ She places a hand on his forearm. ‘I didn’t think you’d react like this. It’s just athing…’
‘What’s a thing? You and him? Or me and you? I thought?—’
Carmel is laughing now and shaking her head, as if astounded that he might be a little bit upset. ‘You’re married, Joel. Or have you forgotten that?’
‘Of course I haven’t!’
‘So did you think I’d just be sitting around, filing my nails, waiting for the rare occasions when you can come over for sex?’
He blinks slowly, feeling as if he has been slapped. Should he storm out? Go home to his kids scoffing their McDonald’s or stop off somewhere and get royally drunk in a pub? ‘It’s not that rare. I was here last night, or was that completely unmemorable for you?’
‘For God’s sake. That’s not the point…’
He looks down at the slate-grey floor. ‘I didn’t think…’ For a moment he thinks he might cry, and Carmel seems to pick up on this as she plants a brief kiss on his cheek.
‘Oh, c’mon, honey. Don’t be like this. Like I said, it’s just a thing.’ Another kiss, on his lips this time, which he allows grudgingly.
‘What’s his name?’Is he a bigshot photographer? Or one of your clients? Have you used your fringed whip on him too?Joel wants to know everything – and yet he doesn’t. If he did, he thinks he might puke.
‘Never mind,’ Carmel murmurs. ‘It’s not important.’ Then she smiles, forcing him to meet her gaze, and she tugs gently at his hand. ‘Let’s just go to bed.’
24
‘But the chippy’s an hour’s round trip,’ Pearl protested.
