Quarter Past Two on a Wednesday Afternoon Read Online Free PDF Page A

points of light. ‘Seven,’ she said, sure of a right answer.
    Rose shook her head. ‘There’s supposed to be much more than seven. If you had really good eyesight, you’d see more. But you won’t if you look straight at them. Look to one side, then try.’
    Anna tried. She fixed her gaze to the left of the smudge, pretending not to look, as if she could play a trick on a star cluster thousands of light years away. There was an impression of clarity, of the separate stars just out of her eyes’ reach. But when she stared straight at them, trying to catch them unawares, the vision blurred. The stars wouldn’t be caught that way.
    It’s funny, she thought: the more you look, the more you can’t see.

Chapter Three
    On Friday evening Anna phoned Ruth.
    ‘Thought I might come and help tomorrow, while Martin’s out with Liam?’
    Now that she was offering, it seemed a stupid idea. She waited for a polite brush-off, but instead Ruth said, ‘Would you? If you really mean it, I could do with some help over at the house. My mum’s place, I mean. I’ve got to make a start on sorting out her things.’
    ‘Yes, of course I’ll help.’
    Ruth sounded relieved. ‘I’m not looking forward to it. It’ll be easier with company, but not much fun for you.’
    ‘I’ll come down on the tube,’ Anna told her. ‘Martin’s bringing Liam back later, isn’t he, so I can go back with him.’
    ‘Good – I’ll meet you at Woodford station. I’ll be putting Liam on the train at ten-thirty – does that sound OK?’
    When Anna told Martin of this arrangement, he gave a shrug, as if recognizing he’d been outmanoeuvred.
    ‘It’s nice of you to do that. It’ll be a bit dismal, though.’ He’d just come in, and was looking through the post.
    ‘Not really. It’s not as if I knew Ruth’s mum.’
    ‘I’d have thought you had enough house-clearing on your plate, with your parents’ move coming up.’
    ‘Mm. This is a practice run, perhaps.’
    ‘Must be worth a bit, that place. She’ll be glad of your advice. Either she could do it up and sell it, or let it and get the income. That’s what I’d do – wait till prices go up, then sell. It’ll only increase in value if she hangs on to it.’
    ‘I don’t suppose money’s the main thing on her mind,’ Anna reproached. ‘It’ll be a big wrench. Did she live there as a child?’
    ‘No – her parents moved there the year we got married.’
    It still jarred Anna to hear Martin say ‘we’ like this as if it was still current; to come up against this other, earlier we that was Martin-and-Ruth. Martin didn’t mention Ruth much, beyond the transactional details of his days with Liam, and had never told Anna why the marriage had ended, apart from an all-encompassing ‘Things didn’t work out.’
    She and Ruth saw each other only occasionally, when Liam – usually Liam on his own, now that Patrick’s visits were less frequent – was being collected or returned, but Martin’s presence always emphasized the triangular nature of their relationship. Ruth, a little younger than Martin, was diffidently attractive, with quick movements and an air of anxiety. When she came to Martin’s birthday party in November – alone, there never being any suggestion of a new partner – she had been quite uncharacteristically dressed up, trying to use clothes and make-up as a shield, giving herself extra height with heeled shoes that made her self-conscious. Till then, Anna had felt ambivalent about her, but now she was oddly touched by this brave effort. Not knowing many of the other guests, Ruth had stood awkwardly with her wineglass, affecting close interest in the bookshelves until Anna went to her rescue. She knew from Martin that Ruth had given up her job in a hospital pharmacy to work as a gardener, a backward career move in his view. Asking about this, Anna drew out details of the course Ruth had taken in horticulture and garden design, and of various projects she spoke