Things I Want My Daughters to Know_ A Novel - Elizabeth Noble [111]
MARK WAS WORKING FROM HOME WHEN THE PHONE RANG. IT was Jane. Damn. He should have rung her first. He’d hoped she wouldn’t ring him.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
He didn’t know what to say, and the silence was deafening.
“You left…you left your T-shirt here. Last week.”
“I hadn’t realized.” He knew he had, of course. He’d realized immediately.
“I was wondering how to get it back to you.”
“Right.”
“I mean, I can’t exactly send it to school with Susie, can I?” She was trying to sound lighthearted and maybe even a little flirtatious, but he knew that wasn’t how she really felt. He had the sense that this phone call had been as hard and awkward and embarrassing for her to make as it was for him to take. More so, of course. He cursed his cowardice. And wished she hadn’t called.
“Oh, just forget about it, why don’t you? It was old.”
It was Paul Smith. He knew it, she knew it. A Discovery Channel image of a wild animal chewing off its own foot to escape from a trap flew around in his head.
He was supposed to arrange another meeting. He was supposed to offer to come around and get it, or to fix lunch or dinner for an exchange. He wasn’t ready to do that.
“It’s really nice. Seems a shame. I could…drop it ’round.” Why was she doing this?
He didn’t want her to come here.
“No…no…I couldn’t ask you to do that.” He paused. “Look, why don’t I come and get it?”
Her relief manifested as a laugh. “Okay. Great.”
“I’m a bit tied up with work this week. Can I give you a call next week and fix a time?”
“Sure. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
“No. No. Please. You didn’t. Thanks for ringing.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, then?”
“Yep. Soon. Take care of yourself.”
“And you, Mark.”
Great. Now he felt like a pig again.
He hadn’t thought about whether or not he would see her again. He’d tried not to think about her at all. And he’d been doing pretty well.
The phone rang again less than five minutes later. Please God. Let it not be Jane calling back. It was Lisa. She was on her mobile phone—it sounded like she was driving. She had one of those hands-free things. Barbara had always been going on at her about it—she said just because you had your hands on the wheel and not on a phone didn’t mean you were concentrating. She’d hated mobile phones altogether. She’d been on one of those local committees, trying to stop the phone companies from putting up a mast in the area, going door-to-door getting people to sign petitions about protecting local children. When she lost her hair with the chemo, she said she was tempted to tell people it was phone masts that had given her cancer, but he didn’t think she ever actually had.
“How are you, sweetheart?”
“I’m okay. Can I come and stay with you guys for a few days? Explain when I get there?”
“Course you can. I’m really pleased you called, actually. Amanda surfaced yesterday. She’s taking a break from the country seat; she’ll be here at the weekend. We’ll have both of you. Hannah will love it.” He felt a brief flash of relief—he could tell them about Hannah. Get her to talk to her sisters. He wondered if Lisa would mention Jennifer. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see her yet, but he didn’t want Lisa to know anything was wrong. “Shall we look for you tonight after work?”
If Lisa thought it was strange that he didn’t mention Jennifer, she didn’t say so. “Can I come right now?”
He was surprised. Her voice sounded teary. “Yes. I’m working from home….”
“I don’t want to be any bother.” She was so quiet he had to strain to hear her. She had never sounded so…small.
“Don’t