Lies Like Love

OCTOBER: LEO

The first Saturday evening in October, they gathered at the table. Sue had made roast lamb. ‘No, not one of ours,’ she said, laughing in response to a question from Peter.

Lorraine and Sue laughed some more. Leo wasn’t sure when this soirée had been organized but he wished Sue had consulted him. He got the feeling he was being set up. Or that Sue was lonely, and both thoughts made him worry.

Audrey wasn’t looking at him though – she was busy chopping up Peter’s dinner into bite-sized chunks. Leo cleared his throat.

‘So,’ he said when she’d eventually finished and had begun to eat her own food. ‘How’s it going?’ She had started vanishing, just as he’d started to look out for her, so they hadn’t spoken in a while.

‘Yeah, I’m all right, just the same.’ Her voice: soft, gruff, like smoke. It was at odds with everything else about her.

‘Good.’ Leo poured water into their glasses. ‘I’m glad.’

‘You don’t have to keep asking me, you know,’ she said, and then turned away to help Peter with his drink and stop him feeding his dinner to Mary. Leo hunted for another topic, rolling his eyes when he was sure she wouldn’t see.

‘So, what about school? Are your teachers all right?’

‘Mostly.’ Audrey brushed her fringe out of the way and looked at him properly. ‘I like English, this book, about Jane Eyre. That’s good.’

‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘You’ve read it?’ She sounded shocked.

‘Yes.’ He’d studied the Brontës at his old school; it felt like forever ago.

‘I like how when that cousin beats her up she doesn’t take it, she fights him,’ Audrey said, her face serious but with something gleeful dancing in her eyes. Leo wanted to laugh again, but he coughed instead and concentrated on his dinner for a second.

‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘I forgot about him. He comes to a sorry end.’

Audrey shot him a look. ‘Don’t flipping tell me what happens.’

‘Sorry.’ Leo sucked in his cheeks and raised his eyebrows while she stared at him as if he were an idiot. Were all their conversations going to be this weird?

After they’d cleared the table, Leo helped Sue carry in bowls of apple crumble and ice cream. He went to put one down before Audrey. Her eyes flicked towards her mother.

‘It’s all right, Leo, Aud’s allergic. I’ll take that,’ said Lorraine, reaching out and helping herself to Audrey’s portion as well as her own.

‘Oh. OK, well, I’ll get you something else, then – fruit, Audrey, all right?’ he said. She looked again at Lorraine and then nodded.

They finished the meal and Leo beckoned Audrey into the living room, leading her to a wall of shelves crammed with books.

‘When you’ve finished with Jane you might like this.’

He found Wuthering Heights and put it into her hands.

‘Have you read all these books?’ She examined the cover, then ran her eyes up and down and along the titles.

‘No.’ He laughed again. ‘Maybe a quarter, if that.’

‘Why not? If they were my books, I’d have read them all,’ she said, her voice outraged, and he sat down, giving up. The television was on for Peter, and Leo pretended to watch with him as Audrey settled herself into an armchair, legs tucked against her chest, burrowing into the novel.

Voices drifted from the kitchen; Sue and Lorraine were taking their time over coffee and Leo wondered what they had in common. A few things, he supposed. He listened more carefully, trying to hear what was being said, didn’t much like the sound of it and cleared his throat. He wanted to talk to Audrey. That would definitely be more fun.

‘So you like reading?’

‘Yeah, I had some books, poetry books mostly. But not any more.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘I dunno. I lost them.’

That was odd, but he didn’t ask and Audrey didn’t elaborate. Blood, stone, he thought, shaking his head, then he caught her watching him before her eyes darted away, back to the page.