Page 82 of The Spark

Ed chuckles. ‘She loves these questions.’

‘You do not have to answer that,’ Ash says, turning to me.

‘Come on,’ Gabi says. ‘It’s just a bit of fun.’

‘Stop interrogating her,’ he says.

I put my hand over his, to let him know he doesn’t have to jump in to rescue me.

Gabi nods down at my hand, then looks back at Ash. ‘See? She doesn’t care.’ But before I can answer the question, she picks up her glass and says, ‘This guy used to be wild, you know.’

She is slightly tipsy now: I can tell from the slight glaze to her eyes, the insistency of her posture.

‘They were thick as thieves,’ Juliet says dreamily, clearly lost in nostalgia, completely missing the about-turn in her daughter’s tone.

‘I know,’ I say, gently.

‘Can we not,’ says Ash.

‘Mad, the stuff we got up to. God, remember Manchester? Creamfields? Glasto?’

‘Not really,’ he mutters. ‘I was off my face for most of it.’

Gabi looks at me again. ‘I’m genuinely surprised he never ended up in jail. He was arrested a few times. My mates used to call him Mr Breach Of The Peace. Except, they were your mates too, weren’t they, Ash? From back when you still gave a shit.’

He doesn’t reply.

‘Gabi,’ Juliet says gently. ‘Would you like a glass of water?’

Gabi ignores her mother. ‘We used to be best mates. I could tell him anything.’

‘Gabs.’ Ash’s voice is soft and sad. ‘I just... grew up. That’s all it is.’

She looks at me again. ‘This is actually the first time we’ve got together in one room – the four of us – in an entire year.’

They live in the same city, yet it’s been a year since they’ve all had dinner together? I’m surprised by this. I’d no idea it had been so long.

‘Because of your shift patterns,’ Ash says. ‘And when you’re not working, you’re always out, or away, or not answering your phone.’

The room falls quiet. I’m pretty sure Ed and Juliet have never wished so hard for the doorbell to go, or the smoke alarm to sound.

Gabi stands up, grabs her wine glass and leaves the room without saying anything.

Next to me, Ash lets out a long breath. ‘Just going to go and see if she’s all right. You okay?’

‘Of course,’ I say, with a smile to let him know it’s fine.

‘Gosh, I’m sorry about that,’ Juliet says to me. We have retreated to the kitchen to clear up from dinner. Ed has disappeared into the garden to – as he says – ‘attend to the hanging baskets’, though I do wonder if that might in fact be code for ‘spark up a cigarette’.

The Heartwells’ kitchen is huge – almost the size of the entire ground floor of my house. The amount of cupboard space – and granite worktop – in here would be sufficient to service a mansion. I can tell it’s the kind of place where there’s always a stack of clean tea towels ready to go, as many as you need, rather than the same two on rotation.

The room is quiet except for the occasional splash of hot water, and the chink of glassware and crockery as Juliet sets things on the draining board. I wish I could hear what Ash is saying to Gabi. I bet he’s being his usual sweet and calming self.

Juliet passes me a crystal coupe. ‘It’s always been very difficult with them. Well, I say always. I mean, since Ash’s accident.’

I nod, taking extra care as I dry the glass, hot in my hand from the water. ‘I know. He said he knew he’d changed.’

Juliet exclaims softly, the kind of noise you make when you tweak a muscle. ‘That’s an understatement.’

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