Chapter Eight #3
“Me too,” he said. She heard him swing his legs towards the ladder and remained with her head under the duvet to protect his modesty as he descended, only peeking out from beneath the duvet when she’d given him enough time to collect himself.
Her stomach flipped at the sight of him shirtless, lean and covered in tattoos.
She was taken aback by how many there were.
She’d known he had some because she’d noticed them on his arms when he’d rolled up his sleeves once, but she hadn’t anticipated there’d be quite this many.
She was also surprised by how toned he was, though she wasn’t sure why, given he spent so much time at her house effortlessly lugging heavy things around.
“Nice tats,” she said, hoisting herself up onto her elbows.
“Thanks. I’d lie and tell you they’re all really meaningful, but friends don’t lie to each other.
Most of them are just pictures I like,” he said.
Her eyes landed on the writing tattooed across his heart — his brother’s name, Harry.
He sensed her gaze. “That’s the most important one,” he told her. Maddie nodded.
“I’ve thought about getting a tattoo to honour Bowie,” she said. “But I’ve never settled on anything I like for long enough to actually do it.”
“You should,” he said. “It’s just skin at the end of the day.”
Maddie smiled at that. It was just like him to consider something so permanent so lightly. She had never considered herself an uptight person, but, next to James and his attitude to life, Maddie was wound up tight as a bobbin.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“Nah.” He shook his head. He opened a drawer and took out a hoodie, pulling it over his head.
Maddie tried not to admire his form, but found it exceedingly difficult.
James was her indie-band, mascara-boy, teenage dream personified.
He held a green-and-grey-striped jumper towards her. “Cup of tea?” he asked.
“Yes please,” she said, pulling the duvet back and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
She thought she saw his eyes linger on her form, but the moment was so fleeting she couldn’t be certain.
“Can I have some joggers as well?” she asked.
She wasn’t keen on potentially meeting his mother wearing boxer shorts.
“Sure,” he said, tossing her a pair. Maddie pulled them on.
He watched her as she did so, and she was sure she caught him this time.
Yes, she was almost one-hundred-per-cent certain he was admiring her curves.
She wasn’t sure why that surprised her. He’d proven the day before he was attracted to her.
Still, the level of his obvious admiration caught her off guard. He caught her eye, and blushed.
They descended the stairs and were met at the bottom by Stevie, who was thrilled to see them both.
They basked in her kisses and then James led the way to a door at the back of the living room, which opened into a perfectly square kitchen.
He let the dog outside, filled the kettle, put it on, then held up a loaf of bread and a box of cereal.
“Do you have soya milk for the cereal?” she asked.
“Shit. No. I didn’t even think. Toast it is.”
Maddie smiled knowingly. “Do you have vegan butter for the bread?” His face fell.
He lowered the loaf despondently and shook his head.
Maddie took the liberty of sitting herself at the kitchen table and watched him try to figure out what he was going to do next.
He was staring about the room as though the absent items might magically appear if he willed hard enough.
She found it too cute to put him quickly out of his misery, so she let him ruminate for a moment or two.
Before she could put his mind at ease, he had a sudden idea. He took out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Maddie asked.
“Marley.”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that!”
It was too late, he’d already hit the call button.
Marley answered on the second ring. Maddie put her head in her hands.
In her text message, sent in the early hours of the morning, she’d told Marley she’d stayed with a friend.
She had not said that friend was James. Maddie knew her brother would delight in teasing her about this and, given the nature of her feelings for James, she would really rather he didn’t.
“Morning, mate. I have your lovely sister in my house,” James said. “But we have no vegan-friendly milk or butter. I need to take Stevie for a quick wander around the block and wondered if you could meet me at the door with a jot of each? I’ll be about ten minutes.”
Maddie parted her fingers to watch James listening to Marley’s reply. She saw him wince, then blush, then he started shaking his head.
“It’s not like that,” he said. “We were in the pub and she got stranded here because of the snow.” He caught her eye and threw her a sheepish expression.
Maddie giggled and shook her head. She knew Marley would be battering James with silly questions, teasing him, probing him, trying to get him to admit that there was something going on between the two of them.
She could see his gleeful face in her mind’s eye as he paced joyfully around his living room.
She knew he’d hang up the phone and run to tell Autumn, perhaps he’d jokingly tell Benjamin that Aunty Maddie had a boyfriend.
“Yes, well, as I said, it isn’t like that,” James insisted. “Cool. See you in ten.”
He hung up the phone and stared at the screen. Maddie playfully rested her chin on her hand. “How did that go?” she asked.
“Your brother is brutal,” he said. Maddie nodded. “He went right in with the personal questions. Like, right in there.”
“I’m afraid we’re one of those families,” Maddie said.
“He’s your brother, so I didn’t think . . .”
“He’s, like, my very best friend,” Maddie corrected him. “They all are. Marley, Bluebell, Pip, Autumn, Bowie when he was alive... they’re my siblings, yes, but they’re also my ride or dies.”
“That’s really lovely and, if I had known, I never would have told him you slept over here,” James said.
“Too late now,” Maddie said.
“Should I leave the milk and butter? It feels like I might be inviting more teasing by turning up at his door in my scruffs.”
“If you don’t go round he’ll turn up here.”
“Right,” James said, opening the back door and calling Stevie inside. He pulled on his boots and a coat, picked up the dog lead and bid Maddie goodbye. “I’ll be off, then.” He waved half-heartedly. “If I don’t die of embarrassment, then I will see you in ten.”
* * *
Maddie helped herself to a mug of black tea and set herself in front of the kitchen window.
The garden was long, thin and overgrown.
There was a mouldy summerhouse at the very end and what looked like a rusty swing halfway up.
The sky was clear and icy blue, though it looked like even more snow had fallen overnight.
The world was still and pretty. Maddie wasn’t sure how she’d get home, exactly, but she couldn’t wait to get back to the house.
She had always loved the way the garden looked in the snow, and she knew the walk up the driveway would bring back precious memories of many hours spent building snowmen and making snow angels with Bowie, Marley, Bluebell and Pip when they were children.
It didn’t always feel good to dwell on such times, but she felt mentally strong today.
Right on cue, a fluffy robin landed on the windowsill before her.
Maddie smiled. Her mother thought robins were a sign from heaven.
Maddie was inclined to agree. “Hey, Bowie,” she whispered.
It made itself fatter and watched her through the window.
She puckered her lips and blew it a kiss, amusing herself by imagining how perturbed Bowie would be if he could see her now.
He had not believed in any of this stuff, and they had debated it often.
“James thinks that robin is his dead brother.”
Maddie jumped so violently she dropped her mug of tea into the sink.
The robin was startled and fled. James’ mother stood in the doorway.
She was a slight woman, and apparently stealthy, as Maddie had not heard her come downstairs and enter the kitchen.
She looked Maddie up and down. “Mrs Byron, it’s nice to meet you,” Maddie said.
“Byron isn’t my surname,” James’ mother said. “That was his dad’s name. I changed mine back to my maiden name when he ran off with another woman.”
“Sorry,” Maddie said, watching the woman dressed in a pair of fluffy pyjamas and a giant cardigan, drag her slippered feet across the kitchen to fill up the kettle.
She was small, perhaps only just five feet tall, with ash-coloured hair and a face lined with exhaustion.
She switched on the kettle and turned to face Maddie, looking her up and down again.
“You’re the latest one, ey?” she said. Maddie blushed and shook her head, opening her mouth to deny being one of James’ conquests. His mother snapped again before she could speak. “He’s never brought one back here before, so he must like you.”
Maddie blushed and stared into her mug. She thought about correcting his mother, but there didn’t seem to be any point. She spoke about him with a level of disdain Maddie was not used to hearing from a mum. Relations between the pair were clearly not good.
“Are you the one he was with the other night?” she asked Maddie. Maddie shook her head. The woman scoffed at that. “I don’t know how he does it. He has his father’s charm, apparently.”