Chapter 10
The room was basic with a small desk and chair and beige throw over the double bed.
However, in the bathroom there was an array of free toiletries, including a mini shampoo, scented soap and a packet of condoms. Lili had brought paper cups and poured out two martinis.
She passed Dylan a bag of Monster Munch crisps and offered him gummy vampire fangs.
‘Classy,’ he said and took a handful. She smiled back and they leant against the headboard as they sat on the bed, their legs outstretched in front of them on top of the duvet. ‘You and Em spent every Halloween like this?’
‘For as long as I can remember. We were at school together, travelled the world, then moved down from Manchester to Cornwall eventually.’ Their life together summed up in one sentence.
How was that even possible? She told Dylan about the countries they’d visited and some of the stories about the beautiful sights and friendly couch-surfing hosts.
Also the time they accidentally ate dog in Vietnam and ran out of the restaurant without paying.
And once they got stranded on a mountain in India, having gone hiking too near nightfall.
Years later, the two of them used to look back, never sure whether to laugh or recoil in horror at their high jinks.
He pointed to a pile of leaves on top of a chest of drawers, acorns and conkers lying on top.
‘Oh those… I always have a bowlful of autumn treasures in the house. They are so cosy, the colours so warming and perfect for Halloween. Love seed pods too. In the spring and summer I bring in flowers, weeds being a favourite – dandelions, daisies, buttercups. People just mow over them but I think they’re as beautiful as anything you’d get in a florist’s.
’ She gave a sheepish look. ‘I always was a cheap date.’
Dylan burst out laughing. ‘What line of work are you in? And what did Em do?’
‘I run a charity shop in Mevagissey. Em helped manage a café that sells crystals, up the road from me.’ It was hard, going back to talking about Em in the past tense.
‘Tell me about Harry?’ she asked swiftly, hyper aware of Dylan’s proximity, the soft sound of his breathing, the way his throat caught just before he spoke.
‘Two years younger than me. Both of us born in Devon and stayed there ever since. Dad ran a house clearance business and met Mum on holiday in Italy. She married him and eventually got British citizenship. They retired five years ago and Dad passed Express House Clearances onto me and my brother. The last couple of years they’ve spent as many months as they’re allowed on the Amalfi Coast, where we have relatives, and have decided to start the process to see if they can move there permanently. ’
‘Wow. And house clearance? That must be interesting. I love going through new stock that comes into Ware he’d remembered such a small thing. She glanced down at their legs. They were almost touching.
‘Yes. And Em used the green nauseated face emoji to represent bacteria when she messaged me. It looks like someone feeling sick with an infection. We started using the emojis after we left school and were travelling, and the habit stuck. So I thought…’
Dylan rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Ah. Of course. But I put that in the text after the word “travelling” because I get very travel sick. Harry knew that and it was meant as a clue that I was onto him.’
‘Oh. Right.’
‘I kind of get it – having a name that stands out, that is, not the bullying. Harry and me… I don’t tell everyone this…’
Lili raised an eyebrow, forgetting Em for a second.
‘His middle name is Luigi, mine is Mario.’
‘No!’ Her spirits lifted for the first time all night. She laughed, bumping against him. He bumped her back. ‘Honestly, what are parents thinking?’ She shook her head.
‘Mine swear they never saw the connection. Funnily enough though, the other kids were jealous when they found out – thank you, IT teacher, for announcing it in my class. Harry’s mates soon found out as well.
Everyone loved those games so much. They’d sing the theme tunes whenever we went by.
We used to walk with our knees and fists up every time they did it. ’
‘Me and Em would hold hands cos those girls started saying we were lesbians. That used to shut them up.’
Lili became overwhelmed by the memory of them both in school uniform, planning out their futures, talking about how they’d end up in the same care home, causing havoc. She put her drink down on the bedside table, slid off the bed, walked over to the window and looked out across the town.
What had made her think Em would want to meet up in Bodmin?
She’d always considered it grey and ugly, despite what tourist reviews said and the nice walk they’d had up Bodmin Moor’s highest hill, Brown Willy (they couldn’t stop laughing).
And a guy Em had really liked came from there – the relationship before Sean-the-cheat.
The boyfriend from Bodmin had been called Gus.
Em had been really taken with him – whereas he was taken with her backpacking stories, took a year off work to travel and she never heard from him again.
Now Lili really was never going to hear from Em again.
A hand touched her shoulder. She turned around and looked up. Dylan had joined her.
‘Em fell off a houseboat and drowned. Her funeral was exactly one year ago today,’ she mumbled. ‘Halloween appropriate – the scariest day of my life.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.
‘Don’t be, Dylan. You’ve been disappointed tonight too. Come on, I need to hit a bigger sugar high – let’s open the gobstopper eyeballs.’
‘Would you rather I leave?’ he asked.
No . Her eyes scanned his body, the height, the breadth, the confident movements, and like had happened, now and then, this last year, the pull to lose herself with a man tugged at her heart, so that just for a moment she could pretend that Em wasn’t gone.
Em had got the words “carpe diem” tattooed on the base of her spine.
She used to say there was a lot of truth in clichés.
In any case there was something about Dylan; not just the angular features, the wavy midnight hair, the black pearl eyes and Atlas shoulders.
Christ, those descriptions. Em would have laughed, but the physical attraction had set her body and mind on fire.
She imagined him in a Roman gladiator’s gear, with a loincloth, sandals and helmet, holding his armour and speaking in Italian.
But the attraction was more than that, to do with an air about him completely opposite to that of an armed fighter – gentle, caring, interested.
Whatever. She’d never see him again but… but that didn’t mean they couldn’t make the most of an evening when they’d both been let down.
Lili moved forwards and slipped an arm around his waist. ‘No, don’t go. Please… stay.’
Dylan cleared his throat. ‘Right, you mean… That’s, um… You’re a great girl, Lili… but you’re upset, I wouldn’t want to…’
‘I’m a woman, Dylan, I know what I want. And right here, right now, that’s you – if you want that too,’ said Lili, feeling more brazen than she was used to. She stood on tiptoe and slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him down gently so that she could kiss him.