It won’t smell of horrible tobacco, thought Rita. She very much hoped the clean smell of Henry would be on the coat and that it would linger in her bedsit for some time. Henry looked at the bottle of wine on the table.
‘Shall we open it?’ he asked.
‘If you’d like,’ replied Rita, rummaging in a drawer for the corkscrew.
‘Maybe wait until the beans on toast is ready,’ said Henry.
‘Yes, that’s a good idea,’ agreed Rita.
Henry smiled. Rita was so amenable. She was plumping up the cushions on the couch and Henry realised that she wanted him to sit down. It was a tatty sofa, he noted but very comfortable. It smelt of Rita’s perfume.
‘What’s the perfume you wear’ he asked.
Rita blushed.
‘Oh, it’s Jo Malone Bluebell. It was my mother’s perfume. She was given it by someone at our church and I liked it. I only buy it at Christmas with my Christmas bonus …’ she stopped, embarrassed.
‘Your church?’ he asked.
‘I don’t go now. When I was younger, I did. My father was minister, you see,’ she said quickly. ‘I’ll phone through our order.’
That sounded weird, she thought; like I’m phoning our order through to God. I wonder what Henry would ask from God, she wondered. Presumably, he would ask not to be dead.
‘I thought we were having beans on toast,’ said Henry.
‘Oh yes,’ said Rita, flustered.
‘Your father was a minister?’ said Henry, thoughtfully.
He would never have imagined Rita was a vicar’s daughter.
‘I like it,’ Henry said. ‘The perfume.’
A thumping on Rita’s door made them both jump. Henry looked at it in alarm and Rita said quietly,
‘It might be my landlord. He sometimes comes up for a drink.’
‘Without you inviting him?’ said Henry, surprised.
‘Well …’ began Rita, but stopped when the thumping came again.
‘Anyone there?’ called a voice.
‘You’d better open the door,’ said Henry.
Rita debated what to do. If she let Billy in, then how would she get rid of him? She couldn’t say she already had company because Billy wouldn’t be able to see Henry. This is very awkward. If she and Henry stayed very quiet then surely Billy would go away. She didn’t think Henry would like Billy very much. He wasn’t in the least like Henry with his perfectly ironed shirt and clean fingernails. It was getting very hot in the bedsit now and little droplets of sweat ran down between Rita’s breasts. She couldn’t put it off much longer. She’d have to open the door soon.
‘Maybe if we ignore it,’ she whispered while knowing it would be impossible to ignore.
Billy rapped again.
‘Hello, anyone in there?’
Another voice came and she recognised it as Lily the tenant from across the hall.
‘Everything all right Billy?’ she asked. Rita heard a tremble in her voice.
‘Yeah, sure,’ said Billy. ‘I thought I heard something, you know.’
