She smiles and leaves, and Allen looks at me, a small smile curling at the corners of his lips.
“So,” he says. “Day one.”
“Day one,” I repeat. “What’s the deal?”
“Laundry,” he says crisply. “Laundry. And then floors.”
“Floors?”
“Mopping of. Vacuuming. Et cetera.”
I give him a questioning look. “That doesn’t sound like light housework, Allen?”
“Who said anything about light housework?”
“Well, you did. That’s what an au pair is. Isn’t it? Light housework and childcare.”
He peers down at me, tips his head to one side, and pushes out his lower lip. “Not quite,” he says. “At least, not in this house.”
chapter twenty-three
STUART, NINE YEARS EARLIER
The bedroom door creaks slightly. I am wide awake and breathing heavily, disturbed from a very deep dream. Jessamine doesn’t stir and it feels like the middle of the night, but it is hard to tell at this time of the year. A bolt of pinkish light falls into the room from the open door, and I can just make out the shape of a human being.
“Hello,” I whisper into the darkness.
“Dad?” a child’s voice whispers back.
Fuck.
I duck under the duvet and hiss into Jessamine’s ear. “Jess, it’s Daisy.”
She rouses and groans. “What?”
“Mum?” The child’s voice is closer now and I wriggle farther under the sheets.
“What?” I hear Jessamine mumble. “What is it?”
“I can’t sleep.” Then a second later. “Is Dad here?”
“No, Dad is not here.”
“But there was a man’s voice.” I feel a hand passing over my form in the darkness. “Who’s that?”
And then Jessamine sighs. “It’s nobody. It’s just a friend.”
“Is it the friend who brought the champagne?”
“Yes, it’s the friend that brought the champagne.”
“Why is he here?”
“Because it was late and he doesn’t have a place to sleep at the moment.”
There is a long silence and then I feel a finger prod at me. “Man. You need to come out of there.”
“Daisy!” Jessamine chides. “Don’t be so rude.”
