“Maybe we could all go out together,” Lisa said. “I want to see him dance.”
Addie had forgotten she’d made Noah a fantastic dancer. She hadn’t liked lying to Lisa and wouldn’t have, had she not been going out with David. Addie had reasoned that if she could convince her housemate that Noah existed, David would be convinced as well, and then so would the rest of her family. And it had worked. Until last Sunday. Now pride stopped Addie from telling her friend everything, because Lisa could have any guy she smiled at, including the one Addie had wanted at university. If Noah had existed, Addie was fairly sure Lisa would have had him too.
Chapter Three
Addie kicked off her shoes and curled her feet beneath her on the couch. Once Lisa and David had gone, she’d kept the TV off in case she didn’t hear the bell, but she couldn’t concentrate on her book. As the evening progressed, hope drained out of her, rather like blood from the wrists she intended to slit.
Noah had said he’d come, and he hadn’t. Why would he? He didn’t need the money. What if he’d been a policeman? Addie shuddered. What if he was a male escort? She shivered. It was a criminal offense to procure a prostitute. She imagined herself in front of an incredulous judge. You offered him money to spend the night with you? In your room? And you didn’t expect anything to happen? What were you paying him for then? To read you a bedtime story?
A lucky escape, only she didn’t feel lucky. It had been risky anyway, inviting a stranger to sleep in her room. He could have been a murderer. What if he arrived now with an axe in his bag or a set of knives or a long silk scarf? Addie tried to think what other instruments of torture might fit in an overnight bag. Thumb screws? Electric probes? Hamsters? She didn’t like hamsters. Their teeth were too sharp.
She’d even made an effort to look nice for her killer, somewhat along the same lines as her mother telling her to put on clean underwear in case she got knocked down by a bus. She’d applied a dash of lipstick, tamed her hair, and put on her green top and best trousers. Now, with the idea running through her head that Will might be a psychotic killer, Addie armed herself with a kitchen knife, wondering if she should have made herself as unattractive as possible.
Only she couldn’t. Even though she’d said this was a business arrangement, she didn’t want Will to find her repulsive because a tiny, pathetic part of her hoped he might want to see her again. Entertained by her sparkling wit and intelligence, he’d see past all the things her mother didn’t like and ask her on a proper date. Only for that to happen, he needed to turn up.
Maybe it was for the better that he hadn’t. This way she wouldn’t be disappointed when he fell asleep, ate her breakfast and walked out with her money. It was easier not to hope.
The later it grew, the more Addie realized it was relief that crept through her. She wasn’t trying to fool her family, but herself.
Consequently, when the bell rang, she turned to stone. The third prolonged ring unfroze her. She grabbed the knife, raced to the door and flung it open. She’d have been less shocked by an alien.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Will said. “You asked me to come, remember?”
“Sorry. Come in.” Addie moved out of the way, keeping the hand holding the knife behind her back. He was dressed in black jeans, black sweater, and carried a black bag.
He looked like the Grim Reaper, only less cheerful.
“On your own?” he asked.
“Yes, my housemate’s out.” Oh God. Mistake. Addie tightened her grip on the knife and closed the door. Please don’t let him be a murderer.
“I’m taking a risk here,” he said. “I hope you aren’t planning to murder me.”
“Only if you snore.”
Will chuckled. Addie’s heart flipped. She’d made him smile.
“Would you like a drink or would you rather go straight to bed?” she asked. God, stitch my mouth up now.
He laughed. “I’d like a drink, but not lemonade.”
Addie tucked the knife in the back of her trousers, covered it with her top and led him through to the lounge. The moment she hoped the knife didn’t slip, the blade started a journey south.
“Wine, beer? Would you like anything to eat?”
“Beer’s fine. I’m not hungry.”
She’d intended to retrieve the blade in the kitchen, but he followed her. Now she had two pressing problems—a heart going so berserk in her chest she thought it might break her ribs and a knife sliding down over her bottom, sharp end first which could shortly result in her standing in a pool of blood.
“Is Corona okay?” Addie asked, taking two bottles from the top of the fridge. She hoped to God it was, otherwise she’d have to bend down to David’s supply of Dos Equis in the drawer at the bottom and the way the knife was progressing that could be life-threatening.
“Yep.”
“Lime?”
“Great.”
Addie looked for a knife and realized they were all being scalded in the dishwasher. She hesitated, then shook her leg and let the one by her knee slip onto the floor. She could feel him watching as she picked it up, washed it and cut two slivers of lime. Addie kept her eyes away from his as she forced the pieces into the necks of the bottles.
“So what’s your housemate’s name again?” he asked and Addie breathed out.
Will perched on the edge of the kitchen table and picked up a cheese biscuit.
“Lisa. I’m her lodger. She goes out with David, my brother. He’s a policeman. So are my other brothers. Hugh’s a sergeant and Finn’s a detective inspector.” If that didn’t warn him to be careful, nothing would.
“What do you do?” Will asked, eating another cheese spiral.
He likes my cooking! “Sales and admin, a bit of teaching. What about you?”
“Investment consultant.” He took a long slug of beer.
“Hey, that’s a stroke of luck,” she said.
He grinned. “I thought that’s what you said I did?”
Addie bit her lip. “Are you from London?”
“Manchester. Trying to catch me out?” He raised his eyebrows.
She smiled.
“I’ll stay in character. It will be easier,” he said. “I’d hate to forget who I was supposed to be. I’ll do everything you’d expect Noah to do.”
Is he flirting? Addie thought of the fabulous imaginary sex she’d had with Noah and a fountain of heat gushed through her. Oh God, now my panties are wet.
“What does Lisa do?”
“Teaches at the same place as me.”
He stifled a yawn and Addie wanted to bite off her arm. They’d only been talking a few minutes and she’d bored him.
“I’ve had a busy couple of days. A lot to sort out over my poor mother’s death. I’m thinking of suing the hospital.”
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh. He looked disappointed she didn’t.
“Maybe you’d better show me where I’m sleeping.”
Addie led him out of the kitchen into the hall and in her haste to get upstairs, tripped on the second step and fell. Embarrassed, she bounded the rest of the way, two steps at a time. Will was still at the bottom watching when she reached the top. He took his time walking up.
“The bathroom, Lisa’s room and this is mine,” Addie said, reaching around to switch on the light. She gestured for him to go in.
Addie liked her bedroom with its stripped and stained wooden floor. A shaggy flokati rug lay by the bed, cream linen curtains hung at the windows and pooled on the floor. There wasn’t much furniture, just a bed with a twisted metal headboard, a whitewashed single wardrobe, a couple of matching bedside cabinets and a bookcase. The wall facing the bed was covered with dozens of her black and white photographs, all held in clip frames. Addie rarely took shots of people. These were parts of things—the back of a seat, a tree trunk, railings.
Will stepped over to look. “This reminds me of that game where you have to identify an object from a picture taken at an unusual angle,” he said. “Your w
ork?”
“Yes.”
“They’re good. None of me?”
“You don’t like having your picture taken.”
“Strangely enough that’s true.”
Her heart fluttered at the coincidence. Addie watched as he walked across to her books and fingered the spines. There were several foreign language dictionaries, along with piles of double-stacked paperbacks, no titles visible.
“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” Will asked.
“Un peu.”
He laughed. “And Japanese?”
Addie nodded. Her desperation to leave home had led her to study languages, knowing she’d spend a year abroad. She couldn’t get much further away than Japan, though she hadn’t remembered she’d be taller than 99.9 percent of the population.
“Really? What else?” Will asked.
“I’m fluent in German, French and Japanese. I can get by in Russian, Spanish and Italian. I know how to swear in Portuguese, Turkish and Australian.”
He chuckled. “Impressive. Particularly the Australian swearing. Which language do you teach?”
“English.”
He smiled and looked through the other books. “Shakespeare, Milton, Keats. Heavyweight reading.” He paused with his finger on a paperback. “Why are these facing the wrong way?”
That served her right, Addie thought.
“They’re romances,” she mumbled, her eyes fixed on the floor.
“And that’s what you really like reading?”
“Do you want to use the bathroom first?” She tried to deflect him. “The blue towel is for you. Er…could you leave your razor and stuff so Lisa and David see it? I’m sorry there isn’t much room in there.”
“Sure.”
When he’d gone, Addie sank to the edge of the bed. He’d find “not much room” an understatement. Although she’d tidied everywhere else, she daren’t touch Lisa’s toiletries. Addie sighed as a wave of nerves washed over her. She didn’t know what was wrong. This was everything she’d wanted. He’d come and he was staying. Tomorrow she’d introduce him to David and Lisa, then show him out, never to see him again.
God, that’s what’s wrong.
Will looked for somewhere to lay out his things as instructed, but there wasn’t an inch of space. For a moment he couldn’t even spot the toilet. The room was packed with enough beauty products to keep a store stocked for months. Bottles, boxes and tubes lay all around the bath, on the sink, next to the sink and on the window sill, as well as filling a revolving floor to ceiling unit. He counted seventeen shampoos and thirteen conditioners. At first glance it looked like complete chaos, but Will suspected if he were to move a single item, alarms would sound, the gates of hell would burst open and he’d be dragged inside. He put his stuff on the floor.
He stared into the mirror, practiced a seductive smile and then frowned, wondering what he was doing. When he’d pulled up outside the house, he’d sat for a moment with his engine running ready to drive away again. Only he’d taken considerable pleasure in Ed’s look of amazement when he’d said he was going out and wouldn’t be back. Plus there was something about Addie…
While she was in the bathroom Will had another look around her bedroom. He sighed when he saw the bed she’d just made up on the floor. She hadn’t expected him to turn up or had she thought about sleeping with him and changed her mind? From the moment the knife slid out of her trousers he’d suspected there’d be no shag, but he’d hoped for a couch. Will felt a slight pang of guilt as he nosed through her things, but it wasn’t as if he was going to steal anything or read her diary, assuming he found one.
He was more interested by what he didn’t see than what he did. No TV, no music system, no makeup or jewellery. Not that he intended to take the hundred pounds, but she wasn’t rolling in money. The wardrobe held few clothes. Four pairs of shoes. Addie was different.
He pulled open the drawer of one of the bedside cabinets, hoping not to find a knife. A dog-eared teddy bear lay on a pile of cards. To My Special Girlfriend. To the one I love. To my soul mate. All from Noah.
So Noah existed and was probably married.
Chapter Four
When Addie returned to the bedroom she found Noah living up to his name. He was nowhere to be seen.
“Shit,” she said.
Not a murderer, but a thief. She hadn’t thought of that. She wondered what he’d taken. Not that she had much worth nicking, only a camera and the money she’d been going to give him anyway.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Addie threw herself face down on the bed.
“What’s the matter?” Will’s head popped up right next to hers from the floor where he’d been lying.
His hair was messy and for the first time he looked vulnerable and uncertain, and Addie’s heart lurched.
“Stubbed my toe.” She squirmed back across the duvet and leapt up to hop in an unconvincing manner. “You can have the bed. The sheets are clean. The bed on the floor’s for me.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll take the floor.”
“No. That’s not right. I can’t let you be uncomfortable.”
He looked at her, then stared at the double bed. Addie followed his gaze and felt a pang of longing. Why was she hesitating? The idea of lying next to him made her bubble with joy, but would he think she was offering more? She stopped hopping. Was she offering more?
“We can both sleep in the bed,” she said. “But promise to be good.”
“I’ve never had any complaints.”
Addie gulped.
“I promise,” he said. “Look, we’ll put the sleeping bag between us, okay?”
Addie nodded, wishing the thing would spontaneously combust. She tried not to look at him. He was only wearing navy PJ bottoms. There was a Calvin Klein label on the waistband and a bulge below. Her gaze shot up. His chest was bare. He had tight abs, rounded pecs, broad shoulders and beautiful skin smattered with dark hair that arrowed down his chest and kept going. Stop right there. Before she lost control of her hands, Addie shot under the duvet and turned her back, balancing on the edge of the mattress, as far away from him as she could get.
The bed sagged as he lay on the other side.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said. “Could you switch off the light, please?”
It clicked off. There was silence for a moment.
“Why did you pick me?” he asked.
“I was desperate.”
The snort of annoyance hit her between the shoulder blades.
She turned to face him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, but I was desperate.”
“You’ve had six months to sort this out, and I can’t see why it started in the first place.”
“That’s because you don’t know my mother. But I brought it on myself. I was so desperate to stop her nagging, I added to the long list of ‘stupid things done by Addie Winter’ and told her, contrary to her expectations, I now had a tall, dark and handsome boyfriend. His name was Noah, and he lived and worked in Manchester. So for the foreseeable future, I’d be spending weekends with him and would not be attending any more family Sunday lunches.”
Why was she telling him this? He’d think she was a child, totally dominated by her mother. God, she was. Why couldn’t she tell her mother to leave her alone? Tears sprang into her eyes and she blinked.
“I thought after a few weeks I could say we’d broken up, but I could see my mother waiting for me to say it. She expected it every time she saw me and it made me more determined to make it last.”
“The non-existent relationship?”
“I know how bad it sounds.”
“So last week you killed my mother?”
Addie heard the laughter in his voice and wondered if he was thinking, you killed my mother, wishing you could kill your own.
Last Sunday they’d all sat round the dining table, Noah’s empty chair reminding her mother to keep poking an open wound.
“So what’s the real reason Noah’s not come?” David had ask
ed once the older brothers’ children left the table. “His wife not let him out to play?”
“He’s not married,” Addie said.
“How do you know?” David asked.
“He just isn’t.”
Her mother Joan gave a snort of disgust.
“I bet he’s married with kids,” David chortled and then winced. Addie guessed Lisa had kicked him. Addie couldn’t reach from where she sat.
Her mother pounced. “Is that why Noah never comes here?”
“He’s not married,” Addie insisted.
“Is he someone we know?” Her mother wouldn’t give in.
“No.”
“Are you ashamed of us?”
Yes. “No.”
“So why don’t you have a photograph of him?” David asked.
“Noah doesn’t like having his picture taken.”
“How many children does he have?” Her mother slipped in another question.
“He doesn’t have children.”
“You should be ashamed.”
“Why? What have I done?” Addie asked in bewilderment.
“Did you think about the effect this affair will have on his children?” Her mother raised her eyebrows.
Addie wanted to tear her hair out. “There are no children.”
“Maybe he’s really called Nora and Addie’s been hiding in the closet.” David laughed at his own joke.
Addie glared at him, but soon-to-be-murdered David, who was never one to step back, particularly if he had his victim writhing on the floor, launched his last guided missile. “If you think about it, Noah’s like his name, Noah-where to be seen. I reckon Addie’s made him up.”
Flash-frozen under her mother’s piercing stare, the breath caught in Addie’s throat because David at last had something right. Noah didn’t exist.
“So, is David right?” her mother asked. “Or are you a…lesbian?” She whispered the last word, looking as though she wanted to use soap on her mouth.
“No,” Addie said.
“So he doesn’t exist.”
“For crying out loud, of course he exists.”
Doing the Right Thing Page 3