The Girl I Used to Be(47)

“I want Mummy to do it,” I heard Rory say.

I couldn’t hear Joe’s reply, but a moment later Rory shrieked with laughter. I didn’t think he was missing me.



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*

AN HOUR AFTER Rory got into the bath, he came tumbling into my room, holding a big fluffy towel around him.

“You must be waterlogged,” I said, getting off the bed to dry him. “I’ll get your pajamas. Just wait a minute.”

As I took his pajamas from his chest of drawers, he shouted, “Can I wear your dressing gown, Mummy?”

I laughed. “Put your pajamas on first, then.” I helped him put them on, then said, “Which one do you want tonight?”

“The blue one,” he said. “The one with the flowers on.”

He climbed onto my bed and I draped my Chinese silk robe around his shoulders, just as he liked it, and he rubbed his face against the silk. I asked him which books he wanted me to read and went into his room to find them. When I took them back into my bedroom, I got onto the bed beside him and opened one of the books. Before I could read a word, he started to laugh.

“What’s up, poppet?” asked Joe from the doorway.

Rory laughed. “Mummy’s knickers are in her pocket!”

My head shot round. “What?”

Rory held up my black silk knickers, the ones that had arrived through the post yesterday. I’d completely forgotten that I’d shoved them into my dressing gown pocket. He waved them in the air. “Look!”

I grabbed them off him and threw them into the laundry basket on the landing.

“Why were they in your pocket?” Joe’s voice was both curious and wary.

I shrugged. “I found them on the floor downstairs yesterday and put them in my pocket so I could put them in the laundry basket.”

“But there was nothing on the floor yesterday,” he said. “Everywhere was pristine.” He tried to joke. “I would have noticed a pair of knickers, believe me!”

I shrugged. “They must have fallen out of the basket when I took it downstairs.” I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep this up. “Anyway, gentlemen”—I poked Rory in his tummy—“never ask a lady about her knickers!” Rory shrieked with laughter. I could see that Joe was still looking confused, but I just said, “I’ll read to Rory now, then.”

“Okay.” He stood looking at me for a few seconds longer. I shot him a bright smile and opened Rory’s book. The door closed gently behind Joe and I heard his footsteps as he ran downstairs. I breathed a sigh of relief. What an idiot I’d been, leaving them in my pocket like that. All the time I was reading to Rory, I thought of Joe and the lies I’d told over the last few weeks.

I could hardly recognize myself.





THIRTY-FIVE


Friday, August 11

WORK WAS QUIET the next day, with just Sophie and Lucy around. Brian had taken a day’s holiday and Lucy was covering for him. Rachel was on the seven A.M. flight to Amsterdam; she’d sent Sophie a text just before the plane took off to say a big crowd of men on a stag weekend had got onto the plane, all drinking cans of beer and causing general disruption.

After lunch, when Sophie was out and Lucy was busy with a client, a call came through on Brian’s line. He had a dedicated line for rentals and I scooted across the office to pick it up.

“It’s Zoe Hodge here,” said the caller. “I’m a tenant at 50 Globe Street.”

“Oh yes,” I said, quickly checking our database. “You’re in apartment number three?”

“Yes. I’ve given in my notice and I’m leaving this weekend. Brian said he’d come round and do the inventory before I left.”

Those apartments weren’t furnished but were carpeted and came with a fully fitted kitchen. We had to check carefully when a tenant left, so that we could repair or replace anything for the next tenant. I looked up the apartment on our system; Zoe had been living there for four years. Then I looked at Brian’s diary online and saw that he’d made a note to carry out the inventory the following afternoon.

When I told Zoe this, she said, “I wondered whether it could be done today? I’d rather he did it while I was here, just in case there are any queries.”

“Just a moment,” I said. “I need to check my own diary.” I went back to my desk and checked. “I’m not free until five P.M.,” I said, “but I could come then, on my way home from work if you like.”

“That’d be great,” she said. “I’m moving my stuff all afternoon, but I’ll try to make sure I’m back then. If you’re there before me, do you want to just let yourself in and make a start on it?”

“As long as you’re all right with that. Keep your phone with you so I can contact you.”

I made a note in Brian’s diary and then in my own. When Lucy came off the phone I asked her if she and Sophie could lock up so that I could make a head start on the inventory.

“That’s where Rachel lives, isn’t it?” she said. “She’s on the ground floor.”

“Yes, Brian was asking her if she knew anyone who wanted to move into Zoe’s apartment, but she didn’t. It’s a shame she’s away. She could have come with me to do the inventory and learned how to do it.”