The Family Next Door(34)

“Nothing you need to worry about. I got it all sorted out.” He looked at Barbara. “I owe you some flowers.”

“Not necessary.”

Ben frowned. He looked from Essie to Barbara and back again. “Everything okay here, ladies?”

“Fine,” Mum said, standing. “But at my age you turn into a pumpkin at midnight…”

“At my age too,” Ben agreed, yawning.

Essie was glad they were doing all the talking. She felt both self-conscious about being drunk and irritated with her mother for being so judgmental. On top of all those feelings, she couldn’t possibly also process words.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Barbara said, letting herself out. Ben followed her, standing on the porch and watching until she got into her own house.

When he returned to the house, Essie vaguely noticed Ben watching her with that soft, familiar expression. He leaned in to kiss her, but Essie was miles away. She was still thinking about that strange moment she’d shared with Isabelle.

“Shall we go to bed?” His eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

“I thought you were tired.”

“Do I look tired?” Ben swaggered toward her and Essie couldn’t help but laugh. The confidence. Had this man considered for even a second that he wasn’t irresistible? “Just give me five minutes to convince you,” he said, as his lips hit hers. She didn’t protest, which Ben, of course, took as a green light. And it was a green light, at least in body. In mind, she was thinking about Isabelle arriving on her doorstep. Isabelle sipping wine over dinner. Laughing with Isabelle. And a few minutes later, as Ben led her into the bedroom, Essie found she wasn’t thinking of Ben at all.





21


ANGE


Pleasant Court was starting to look quite different. A sign had been erected at the mouth of the street, warning people they were entering a NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH ZONE. Wireless cameras had been installed in front of every home (except the Larritts’, who’d insisted it was overkill and they’d never had such a thing in “their day”). Whenever the camera detected movement they started recording and then emailed the footage to the person monitoring the camera. So far Ange had received an email of the Larritts’ cat trying to get into their garbage, Fran speeding past on a late-night run, and Ollie standing out in front of the house jumping up and down trying to trigger it.

As she chopped the salad vegetables, Ange was wondering if she could put the cameras to better use. Particularly as it related to Erin. She’d been thinking about Erin for the best part of three days. She’d be blow-drying her hair and she’d think of Erin. She’d drop Ollie at school. Erin. She’d close a deal at work. Erin. Nail salon. Erin.

It was driving her crazy. Ange’s life was usually so blissfully compartmentalized. She’d be at work and she’d get a message from one of the boys about sports practice/money/something they’d left at home, and she’d think: That’s home stuff. I’d deal with that later. On the weekend while she was with the family, an email would come in about work and she’d ignore it. It was family time. But Erin appeared in home thoughts. She appeared in work thoughts. She appeared fucking everywhere.

“Erin!” she shouted.

Ollie and Will looked over their shoulders in perfect unison. They were watching a documentary about Africa on the TV, the only thing they could agree to watch. They both adored animals (a trait they got from her, thank you very much; Lucas was allergic to virtually every kind of animal and was the reason they had goldfish as pets).

“What did you say, Mum?” Will said. Ollie had already turned back to the television.

“Lemons,” she said. “For the fish. I forgot to get them.”

“There’s a lemon in your hand,” he said, pointing to it.

“Ah,” she said. “So there is.”

Will gave her a look that said “my mum is nuts” and turned back to the television. Fair enough, really.

Ange watched the screen for a moment. The lioness was bounding toward a zebra in long, lithe strokes. She was surprisingly beautiful—and apparently soundless, though perhaps that was just the editing. The poor zebra hadn’t even noticed her coming. Ange suddenly felt bad for the zebra. You could at least give him a fighting chance, lioness. Come on zebra, she thought. Run, you daft thing!

She chopped the lemon in half. The silly thing was, she didn’t know for certain that Erin was anyone. When she’d turned on the mystery phone a few days ago, she’d found the contacts section blank. Not a single name was stored. She’d checked thoroughly, going through every section. Finally, as they were headed to bed, she’d asked Lucas about it.

“What’s this?” she’d asked, holding up the phone.

Lucas looked at it and Ange watched his face closely.

“It’s my new phone,” he said.

“It was on a high shelf in the front room. A very high shelf.”

“It’s a brand-new phone. I wanted a few weeks with it before Ollie started filling it with games and apps. That kid can smell a phone or iPad from fifty feet.”

He wasn’t wrong. Ollie had filled every other bloody phone and tablet in the house with his ridiculous games. She had to scroll to the fourth screen on her phone now to get to Instagram. Little bugger.