The Red House Read Online Free PDF Page B

she.
    Alex couldn’t stop looking at Melissa. That terrible yearning in his stomach. He was imagining her in the shower, foam in her pubes.
    Angela looked at Richard and thought, We have nothing in common, nothing , but Richard eased back into his chair. You remember that dead squirrel we found on the roundabout in the park? He swung the wine around in his glass like a man in a bad advert for wine. We thought it was a miracle .
    How do you remember this stuff? But why had she forgotten? That was the real question.
    He closed his eyes as if running a slide show in his mind’s eye. The tapestry cushion covers. God Almighty. Cats, roses, angels …
    She felt obscurely violated. This was her past too, but he had stolen it and made it his own.
    Fuck . Melissa leapt to her feet, tomato sauce all over her trousers. You little shit .
    Hey, hey, hey . Louisa raised her hands but Melissa swept out.
    I’m sorry , said Benjy. I’m really really sorry . He was crying.
    Come here, little man . Dominic hugged him. You didn’t mean to do it .
    But Alex felt a weight lift. No more sexual interference messing with his head.
    Teenage girls , said Richard to the table in general, his tone neutral, as if he were opening the subject up for discussion.
    Yes, she remembered now. The dead squirrel. So perfect, the tiny claws, as if it had simply laid down to sleep.
    Can I have some more wine? asked Benjy.
    This tastes good .
    Morrisons in Ross-on-Wye, amazingly .
    Nine weeks we had the builders in .
    He went to Eton .
    Ouch .
    There’s plasters in my toilet bag .
    Twenty stone at least .
    You got blood in the Parmesan .
    She had a fractured skull .
    Fifty press-ups .
    Apple crumble .
    A quarter of a million people .
    Brandy? Cigars?
    Dizzee with a double e …
    And then the Hoover blew up. Literally blew up .
    Sit down. I’ll do the washing up .
    I’m stuffed .
    Bedtime, young man .
    Up in them thar hills .
    Good night, Benjy .
    Daisy, will you read to him?
    Teeth. Remember what the lady said .
    Night, Benjy .
    Night-night .
    She sat on the floor between the bedside table and the wall. Laughter downstairs. She pushed the point of the scalpel into the palm of her hand but she couldn’t puncture the skin. She was a coward. She would never amount to anything. That fuck-wit little boy. She should walk off into the night and get hypothermia and end up in hospital. That would teach them a lesson. God. Friday night. Megan and Cally would be tanking up on vodka and Red Bull before hitting the ice rink. The dizzy spin of the room and Lady Gaga on repeat, Henry and his mates having races and getting chucked out, pineapple fritters at the Chinky’s afterward. Christ, she was hungry.
    Paolo’s father died and he went back to Italy . Dominic handed Louisa a wet plate. And I discovered that I wasn’t very good at selling myself . Hetipped the dirty water out of the bowl and refilled it from the hot tap. I was in a band at college. I thought I’d be famous. Sounds ridiculous now. We were into Pink Floyd. Everyone else was listening to the Clash .
    I was listening to Michael Jackson . She held up her hands, begging forgiveness.
    Eventually you realize you’re ordinary .
    Melissa appeared at the door and Louisa pressed the Start button on the microwave. Dominic saw that there was a bowl of apple crumble already in there, waiting. While it turned and hummed in the little window Louisa laid her hand on Melissa’s forearm for three or four seconds as if performing some kind of low-grade spiritual healing. She took a pot of yogurt from the fridge, a spoon from the drawer and laid them neatly beside one another on the work surface. Thanks , said Melissa quietly and for a fraction of a second Dominic saw the little girl under the veneer.
    The trees were thinning up ahead and Joseph could see gashes of sunlight between the trunks. He picked up speed and ten seconds later he stumbled out from between the pines into a space so big and bright that he stood on