A loud splash made both of us jump. I turned to see Richard floundering in the water, spitting and cursing as he tried to thrash his way to the bank.
‘Honestly, Jarvis – you can’t steal a man’s girlfriend and then take your eye off him – obviously he’s going to try and push you overboard – it’s not like he’d stand a chance in a fair fight,’ Adelaide chided, brushing water droplets from her leather jacket and stepping away from the side of the boat. I couldn’t believe she’d pushed him, but I wasn’t exactly annoyed about it. If he’d managed to shove Cooper, I’d have gone over with him.
‘I wouldn’t call it stolen – I was basically donated,’ I said, looking down as Richard dug his fingers into the wet bank and struggled to climb out of the water. ‘He gave me away really.’
‘Oh… shut up,’ Richard growled, as he got to his feet, which squelched in their expensive loafers. ‘Just wait until I tell your parents about this. They’ll probably have you sectioned.’
I ignored him. If he wanted to go crying to my mum and dad about how I’d broken up with him, that was just one more reason to be glad I’d done it. Mum might try to talk me round but I didn’t fancy Richard’s chances with Dad. Especially not once I told him that Richard had tried to shove Cooper and, by extension, me, overboard.
Richard stormed off down the towpath, dripping water and shedding wet leaves as he went. The pitiless laughter of ducks following him out of sight. Then it was just me and Cooper and Adelaide, standing on the deck of The Lady Di.
‘So then,’ she said, ‘are you going to invite me in?’
Chapter 33
‘This is lovely,’ Adelaidesaid, peering around the kitchen, as Charlie wormed his way closer to her under the table. ‘Though I have to say I never pegged you for a royalist.’
There was, indeed, still a heavy Diana presence in the kitchen. Though the majority of the decorations and displays were gone, Cooper had kept most of the practical items – mugs, tea towels, chopping boards, etc, which bore the faces of Charles and, more prominently, Diana.
Cooper shrugged, putting a fresh cup of tea in front of her. ‘She was the people’s princess… so… how is everyone?’
Adelaide rolled her eyes. ‘You mean, since you disappeared without telling a soul where you were going, how are we all doing? It’s a mess, Jarvis. Mum’s been involving the police but, apparently, you’re “low-priority”.’
He snorted. ‘Sounds about right.’
‘Oh, boo-hoo!’ Adelaide said, sharp as her scarlet nails. ‘I mean that you’re not a child or someone’s doddery old gran – you’re allegedly a functioning adult, who can take care of himself.’
Cooper scoffed and sat back on his stool beside me, arms crossed over his chest. He looked like such a sulky little boy that I wanted to elbow him. Only the knowledge of what he’d been going through made me relent. He apparently still didn’t know how to tell his family, even his sister, what it had been like for him. I understood what that was like.
‘I can wait outside if you two need some space,’ I said gently, but Cooper shook his head.
‘Stay… please?’
“It’s okay with me,’ Adelaide said, shrugging. ‘Even if you did lie to me.’
‘I thought you might be coming to break his legs or something,’ I said. ‘Or… you know, that you might be his… wife.’
Adelaide retched and Cooper screwed up his face like he’d just eaten half a cockroach buried in a sandwich.
‘All right! Give me a break, I called it wrong,’ I huffed. ‘Like you’re so perfect.’
‘Fair,’ Cooper said, looking pensive again as he looked back at his sister. ‘I’m sorry about upsetting you and Mum.’
‘Dad’s been out looking for you too,’ Adelaide said, softening. ‘He says he’s going to the pub “because of the stress” and then he drives around to different places – hospitals, shelters, bus stations… anywhere someone might have seen you.’
Cooper slumped lower in his seat. ‘I didn’t mean to worry everyone. I wasn’t thinking.’
‘That much was obvious.’ Adelaide sighed and looked at him beseechingly. ‘What happened? We got a call from your work saying you hadn’t been in. I went to your flat and you’d not been there in days, but you hadn’t packed anything. Then when I checked your bank activity…’
‘Oi!’ Cooper bristled.
‘Well then, don’t disappear and leave your logins written under your keyboard,’ Adelaide huffed. ‘Anyway, when I saw you’d taken out a load of cash and vanished, I was thinking… I don’t really know, that you’d got into something through work and had to lie low for a while. Go off-grid. Can’t say I imagined you’d gone fullRosie and Jiminto the bargain.’
I snickered, and even Cooper laughed under his breath. But Adelaide sobered first.
‘Are you in trouble?’
‘…no,’ Cooper sighed. ‘No, I’m not “in trouble”. I’m just… I couldn’t do it any more, Addy. The job, that life… Dad. It all got on top of me and I realised I didn’t like anything about my life. I didn’t know why I was bothering to live it. Just that doing anything else felt too hard with him set against it.’
