Page 65 of People Skills

‘Exactly, let’s be thankful that didn’t happen,’ I say, bending down and removing my boots. I can’t walk another step in them. ‘No one was bodily harmed. That’s a win.’

‘I can’t believe he’s sleeping at her house. They have basically not spoken a single word in ten years.’

‘I think it’s nice. They’re trying. For you. They’re trying for you.’

‘It’s too late for that now.’

‘Is it?’ I say.

‘Yes. I needed them to try when I was seventeen. Now my life is arranged around them not communicating at all. I like it. A big brick wall between them. You can tell one a story and know it won’t get back to the other one.’

‘I think you’re still safe with that.’

‘But seeing them in the same room together, it makes me feel…’ He trails off.

‘I know,’ I say.

‘How do you know?’

‘I could see it. You and James. You both turned silent.’

‘We did, didn’t we.’

‘Tense and silent.’

‘God, we need therapy.’

‘You probably do. Family therapy.’

He laughs. ‘Can you imagine?’

‘Yes. I think it would be good for you all.’

‘Therapy with Hillary and Graham would be like watching the most intense, godawful two-person play every session.’

We look at each other in the moonlight.

‘You shouldn’t be walking barefoot in the dark,’ he says.

‘I’m fine,’ I say. ‘So, were you lying or are you writing?’

‘That’s a complicated question.’

‘How is it complicated?’

‘I started writing in the notebook. Ten minutes a day at first, like you said, but then I started writing more. It’s just snippets and thoughts and random scenes.’

‘Xavier. This is huge.’

‘My life is very sad if writing a few hundred words is huge.’

‘Well, I’m sorry to say, your life is officially sad, because I think snippets and thoughts and random scenes are huge and exciting.’

We walk along in silence, and I can’t stop smiling at the thought of him writing in the notebook. The streets are dark and deserted. The town is bustling and busy in summer, filled with tourists and day trippers, sometimes cars are bumper to bumper coming into town. But then we hit cooler weather, and it’s like this again. Silent in a way the city never is: the sky bright with stars, the houses locked up and quiet, the moon casting shadows in the big gaps between the streetlights, the occasional dog barking.

Xavier’s face in the moonlight is handsome, a thought I have let slide into my mind without realising. I have become adept at blocking out his handsomeness, but sometimes it still catches me when I’m not ready for it, before I have my defences up.

Xavier is walking slightly ahead of me, and he stops.