The House Guest by Mark Edwards(10)

‘Gave her up? You mean she grew up in care?’

‘Yeah. A children’s home. She was in and out of foster care for years.’

‘That must have been rough.’

Eden stared into the middle distance and I wondered if she had a similar story herself, and if she would share it with me. I waited. But she didn’t say anything. After a minute, we changed the subject.

We finished our drinks and I said, ‘We’d better get going. I can’t drink another drop.’

‘Me either. But it’s been nice, Adam.’ Her eyes were glazed and I guessed I looked similar. ‘Come on, let’s take a photo.’

She picked up my phone from the table and gestured for me to get up. I obliged, taking the phone from her and inputting the code to unlock it. I stood beside her, bending forward with an arm around her shoulders.

‘Say cheese,’ she said, and together we smiled into the camera.





Chapter 6

‘Fancy going out and doing something?’ I asked.

It was Friday morning. Eden was lying on the couch in the living room, reading.

‘Like what?’ she asked, eyes still on the page. Again, she reminded me of a cat, stretched out and immobile, seemingly happy to lie around for hours doing nothing.

‘I don’t know. We could go to the park? Hey, why don’t we go for a swim?’

She put her book down and sat up. ‘I really don’t know if I’ve got the energy, Adam. I had a late night.’

‘Talking to Ruth?’ I had heard them when I was in bed, chatting while I drifted off. ‘What was it about?’

Eden laughed. ‘Nosy, aren’t you?’

‘All right. Sorry.’ I paused. ‘Come on, let’s go for a swim. It’ll be fun. Do you have a bathing suit with you?’

‘Yeah, I do.’ She hesitated then rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, okay. Just to get you off my back.’

‘Great.’ I grinned.

Fifteen minutes later, after finding my trunks and checking the pool rules on Google, Eden and I were walking up Bedford Avenue. I popped into a store to buy a gym padlock, and came out to find Eden frowning at her phone.

‘I haven’t been swimming in ages,’ I said. ‘I bet in LA you were always—’

I stopped. Her phone had beeped and she was looking at it again, the space between her eyebrows creased with stress or concern.

‘Everything all right?’ I asked.

She stuck her phone in the pocket of her cut-offs and it immediately beeped again. She left it where it was, but she was clearly not happy.

‘Is someone bothering you?’ I asked.

‘You could say that.’ She rummaged in her bag, found her shades and put them on, then started walking again, so fast that I had to hurry to keep up.

‘Is it your ex?’

She didn’t respond and I thought I’d better not push it.

We didn’t speak again until we got to the park. Through the fence, the pool looked like human soup, and the line to get in – mainly consisting of teenagers, and weary-looking parents with their kids – was dispiritingly long.

‘I think half of Brooklyn is here today,’ I said.

‘Hmm.’

‘Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. There’s not going to be any room to swim. Maybe—’

‘Oh my God, Adam, we’re here now,’ she snapped. ‘I’m not going anywhere else.’

A tall guy in his early twenties, wearing a blue Mets cap, turned and smirked at us. His eyes lingered on Eden, flicking up and down her body. He whispered something to his friend, who had the physique of someone who spent all his free time lifting weights, and they snickered together. Eden ignored them. I guessed she was used to unwelcome male attention.

Twenty minutes later, I had changed into my trunks and smothered myself with sunscreen. As per the pool’s instructions, my phone and other possessions were secured in a locker. I looked for Eden as I came out of the changing room but couldn’t see her. Maybe she was already in the water.

I jumped in and immediately started swimming. Even though I had to weave around people and at one point collided with a hairy middle-aged man, before getting in the middle of a group of kids chucking an inflatable ball back and forth, I felt better than I had in days.

I dived beneath the water and practised holding my breath, the sun a shimmering white disc above me, all the noises of the world dim and subdued.

When I grew bored of this and emerged, I remembered Eden. Where was she? I got out of the pool and grabbed my towel, drying myself off as I walked back towards the changing rooms, looking around for her.

It didn’t take me long to spot her. She was standing over in the corner, close to a spot where dozens of people were stretched out on towels, sunbathing. She was wearing a turquoise bathing suit, her shades up on her forehead, and was talking to two men. As I got a little closer, I recognised them as the young guys who’d been in front of us in the queue. The one who had looked Eden up and down was still wearing his Mets cap.

Eden had her back to the fence and the two men were standing very close to her. She was completely dry and I realised she couldn’t have gone in the water. As I approached, the one in the Mets cap reached out a hand to touch her, and she backed away. The man’s shoulders shook with laughter but now I could see Eden’s face. She wasn’t smiling. She looked pissed off and uncomfortable.