Cover Your Eyes Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bottom of the drive gazing up at the flying eagles; looking lost under the domed roof of the hall.
    After everyone else had gone home, Eva and Antoine drove to the estate agent’s office to return the keys.
    ‘I’m going to buy it,’ Eva said. ‘Salix House.’
    ‘Come again?’
    ‘You heard me. It’s going so cheap, Antoine. I love it. I’ve fallen in love with a house … can you believe it? ‘
    ‘You’re mad. You’ve taken leave of your senses. Think, Eva. It’s a wreck.’
    ‘It doesn’t have to be. We could do it up.’
    ‘We? I’m not ready for this Eva. Really. Do think before you do anything rash.’
    ‘It’s not rash.’ Eva had never been so sure of anything. ‘It’s an investment. It’ll be beautiful.’
    ‘It’ll be crippling, financially.’ Antoine was beginning to waver, Eva could hear it in his voice.
    ‘And if I told you it wouldn’t? If I told you I could afford it, all on my own even if you don’t want to come in on it, what would you say then? If money wasn’t an issue?’
    ‘You’re determined, aren’t you?’
    ‘You’re beginning to agree with me, aren’t you? I can tell.’
    He smiled. ‘You know me too well. But okay. The place is certainly … well, I’m the one who found it and told you about it. I think you’re right. I think it could be fabulous.’
    ‘Then let’s make it fabulous. Help me with it, Antoine. Please.’
    He put out a hand and stroked her knee. ‘How can I refuse you, Eva? You must have anything you want. If you can. You know I’ll help you. Though what’s going to happen to our flat? And how can you work from the middle of nowhere?’
    ‘Oh, God, don’t be a killjoy! We’ll sell the London flat. We could get a much smaller place to stay in when we need to, but why would we? Why not work from here?’
    ‘Because it’s the middle of bloody nowhere.’
    ‘Anywhere outside a three-mile radius of Piccadilly Circus is the middle of nowhere to you. This place is fine. Only an hour or so to town. And look how cheap it is. Have you ever seen a house like this at such a price?’
    ‘It’s not a cheap house, Eva,’ said Antoine, pulling up outside the estate agent’s office. ‘It’s an incredibly expensive ruin.’
    ‘But it’ll be
our
ruin,’ Eva said, happy that he’d come round to her way of thinking so readily. ‘And it won’t be a ruin for very long, I promise you.’
    Eva sighed and turned her mind deliberately away from thoughts of the past. For the last ten years, she’d been designing and sewing the costumes for the local amateur dramatic society’s annual spring production. The Belstone Players were a good company, and it gave Eva satisfaction to know that her costumes had added to their reputation. She enjoyed the challenge, loved being able to draw something different every year, choose the fabrics, sew them, be praised at the first night and mentioned in the local paper. Musicals were a speciality of the Belstone Players. Eva opened her sketchbook and began to draw a pretty twenties dress for one of the flappers in
The Boy Friend.
So far away from the dark memories that seemed to overwhelm her more and more often these days.

3
    I wasn’t allowed to ring his mobile. That was the rule. From the beginning he’d emphasized that I could text him but not call.
No way of knowing who’s in the room, right?
he’d said. Especially at night, hey, Simon? I imagined him lying there in his bed, all crisp white sheets and lacy pillows, next to Gail, and I couldn’t bear it. I was a bit drunk, but I
did
know what I was doing. I wanted to wake him up. I wanted him to suffer a bit. I imagined him saying to himself:
I got through that okay. That went well, all things considered. She didn’t throw a wobbly. She’ll be okay.
Well, fuck him, I thought. I’m going to wake him up. It’s the least he deserves. The thought of them lying there together, maybe even touching, was too much for me. I wanted to spoil the night for both of