Читать книгу The Grip Lit Collection: The Sisters, Mother, Mother and Dark Rooms - Koren Zailckas, Claire Douglas - Страница 46
Оглавление‘They’re in the kitchen, having some sort of pow-wow,’ says Cass, handing Beatrice a cup of coffee. ‘I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. When I came in they fell silent.’
‘Thanks,’ says Beatrice, taking the mug and sipping it slowly. She’s nauseous, jittery, she has too much nervous energy flowing through her veins. She pushes Sebby off her lap as she stands up from the sofa and he jumps to the floor with a disgruntled mew at having his sleep rudely disturbed. She pads over to the French doors, goosebumps on her arms as she cups her hands around her mug. It rained overnight, the sun-loungers are wet and littered with empty beer cans and cigarette butts. The detritus from Abi’s party is still evident on the carpet, the coffee table and the mantelpiece: fag ends, wine stains, crisp packets, empty and half-filled glasses of bubbly. The room smells of stale body odour and bad breath. Eva will be in later to make everything look as new again; she knows how Ben can’t stand mess, that it makes him stressed.
Cass comes up behind her and places a hand on her shoulder. ‘Are you okay, Bea?’ she asks softly, and Beatrice shakes her head, biting her lip to stop herself from crying. How can she explain to Cass this grief that she feels? As if she’s losing Ben all over again. She thought she was doing a nice thing – a kind thing – for Abi by throwing her a party. She thought it might make up for all the bad things that have happened, that it would get Ben on side. But no, Abi still manages to find a way to throw it back in her face, to turn everything on its head so that she’s the bad guy. Even hearing that his darling girlfriend is an obsessive stalker who attacked her own neighbour hasn’t put Ben off her. What will it take, Ben? For you to see her true colours?
‘She’s a bunny boiler,’ she says, her voice sounding raw, hoarse, in the silent room. ‘Don’t you think, Cass? I think she’s fucking dangerous. I want her out of this house.’
Cass squeezes her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry,’ she says softly, reassuringly. ‘I think she will be gone very soon.’
