Page 69 of The Book Swap

“I’ve literally never met anyone more annoying in my whole life.”

“Ditto.”

I pull on the other sock, and Georgia watches, as though she never left.

“Thank you,” I say, unable to look at her. “For coming here.”

I push my feet into my Converses, and tie up the laces.

“Thank you for letting me in.”

“I actually let in the postman.”

“I know.” She stands up and walks toward the door. “Right, quick toilet break, as per, and then we’re off to do some living.”

She disappears to the bathroom and I watch her leave. I’ve never felt luckier to have her as my sister than I do right now.

When I hear the door click open, I stand up.

“Okay, let’s attempt some of this living you speak of.”

She reappears in the doorway, eyes wide and face pale.

“There was blood.”

I spring forward. “What?”

Tears fill her eyes. “When I wiped. Just now. I don’t know what to do... I’m not sure I’ve felt it today. Oh my God...”

I rush toward her, holding on to her.

“Let’s go to the hospital,” I say. “We’ll go. We’ll go right now.”

Georgia sinks down onto me and pushes the car key into my hand.

26

JAMES

Dad swings open the front door and pulls me in for a hug as I drop my bag at his feet and wrap my arms around him. I’ve been searching for this feeling the whole time I’ve been in London, but it turns out I only get it here. The settling of everything in my body. The knowledge I can finally let it all go.

“Jesus,” I say as my eyes go from Dad’s shoulder to the rolls of carpet lined up down the length of the hallway, beside the stairs.

“Pop in here a sec,” he says, leading me into the kitchen. Radio 2 is blaring from somewhere else in the house, and he pokes his head out of the kitchen door to look around, before closing it behind him and lowering his voice. “Your mum’s attempting to lay the carpets herself. She chatted to the guys who do it at work and watched a load of YouTube videos. Just wanted you to know before you see the state of the place.”

Nodding, I look around the kitchen, grateful for the tiled floor.

“Let’s hope she doesn’t get a job in a tile shop next.”

He raises his eyebrows and smiles. “It’s good to have you home.”

“Good to be here. I’ll go say hi.”

Opening the door, I follow the sound of the radio, treading over the carpet down the hall and making my way into the sitting room.

I’m pretty sure my mouth hits the once-carpeted floor. The furniture has been pushed into the dining room behind me and on the ground is some cold gray stone. There’s a bucket in the corner with all sorts of serious-looking equipment laid beside it. A small shovel-like tool, some sander-looking thing, a tape measure and a giant scalpel.

Mum appears behind me, wiping her hands on some blue overalls I’ve never seen before, which is a bad sign in itself. She gets fixated on an outfit in her manic phases, and I think the overalls might belong to this episode.

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