“For the record, I don’t think your soul is cold.” Edward drank without taking his gaze off William. “You’re just so hospitable and welcoming; I find it hard to imagine anyone wanting to cheat on you.”
That was really what Edward took from the conversation?
William grabbed the closest pillow and smacked it into Edward’s head.
“I’m joking,” Edward fumbled over a laugh, which, to William’s surprise, he then echoed. Edward ceased his giggling first, something serious overcoming his expression.
“What’s so funny?” William asked. “My sad past? Do I entertain you with my pain?”
The colour left Edward’s face. “I mean… yes? No. Urm.”
“It’s the dog-shaped slippers, wasn’t it?”
“Maybe.” Edward couldn’t hold my eyes, his embarrassment almost endearing. Perhaps that was just the wine muddling William’s thoughts, or maybe not.
Edward seemed more than just endearing. He was distracted, like he’d stepped a foot in a pile of shit and didn’t know what to do.
William helped him with a prompt. “Are you going to ask another question or…”
“How did you find outhewas cheating?”
William took a deep breath, filling himself with the confidence to answer the question. “Straight to the point. I get it.” He took another breath in, held it and prepared himself. “Archie was away for a work trip – classic. I was home, using our shared laptop to find something to watch in bed. Low and behold, Archie’s phone was connected to it. I saw texts from an unknown number coming in, someone thanking him for a good night. He was meant to come home that night, but he never did. The next day, I saw a transaction for a hotel on our bank statement. Cliché, I know. Honestly, I’m more pissed off that he was so arrogant that he didn’t even bother to hide it. Then again, he must’ve thought I was just so stupid I’d never put two and two together.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid,” Edward replied, yet he couldn’t even look at him. All earlier signs of hysteria had gone.
“No, you’re right. The only stupid person is the poor soul Archie was buried five and a half inches deep inside. Oh, I hope it was worth it.”
Anger bubbled within William, making him tighten his grip on his glass. Although, it was a relief to say the words out loud to a stranger. William didn’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable saying it; in fact, it was almost freeing. To everyone else in William’s life, they didn’t know the moments that led to Archie’s death. This was a burden only he kept. How could he tell Archie’s family and friends that he died a monster, breaking William’s heart twice over in the matter of an hour?
Instead, he hid the truth inside of him. And like all festering things, it ate away at William and ruined him.
“I’m sorry.” Edward studied William. He likely was searching for the right thing to follow up with, or perhaps there wasn’t anything he could say.
“What for?” William forced a laugh. “The five and a half inches or…”
Edward didn’t even crack a smile. “All of it.”
William couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. Out of everything Edward could have said, that was certainly not on the list. The laugh started out light but soon cascaded into breathy gasps that entirely took over his body.
“I think that’s enough wine for you,” Edward announced. “Perhaps bed time is upon us.”
“Touch my wine and you’ll face a terrible demise.”
Edward lifted his glass in cheers. “Who sounds like the murderer now, you or me?”
“When it comes to my wine, I take its safetyveryseriously,” William said. “Now, hands off.”
“I can see that.”
Opting to shift the conversation away from the sudden and heavy tension between them, William said, “Anyway, it’s my turn!”
“Go ahead,” Edward replied, swirling the wine in his glass. “Ask away.”
“Out of all the things you could be doing with your time, why do you come to Hanbury Manor and waste your time tending its gardens?”
Edward shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the backhanded insult layered beneath his question. “I would hardly say it is a waste of my time if that is what I choose to do with it.”
“But why?”
