Page 68 of Crying in the Rain

Kris

Kris’s usual fearof forgetting his lines kicked in just as he hit the call button, but he’d needed to rehearse so he didn’t say the wrong thing. He and Ade had chatted online briefly, in text form, and there had been a couple of missed calls from a Manchester landline that Kris assumed were from Ade, but he hadn’t called him back. He’d asked for time, and Kris had tried to give him that, but it was almost two weeks since he’d gone to stay with his sister, and Kris was starting to worry that Ade had changed his mind about giving their relationship a go.

The call rang out a few times, but Kris held on with fingers crossed.

“Hello, you!” Ade answered warmly.

“Hey.” It was such a relief to hear his voice. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“Not at all. I’ve just got out of the shower, and before that my mum popped round to see me. It was really hard but good.”

“Is that the first time you’ve seen her since…” Kris stalled atsince you kicked Fergus out.

“Since I came to Julia’s,” Ade finished for him. “Yes. He called while she was here, actually.”

“He?” Kris hated pressing the point, but he wanted to be sure they were talking about the same person.

“He. The ex. I decided I’m not even going to refer to him by name anymore. In fact, I’m considering just going withIt.”

“OK.” Having seen Ade pinned to the wall by ‘It’, Kris was struggling to find the funny side to what he supposed was a little gallows humour on Ade’s part. “What’ve you been up to?”

“Not much. Slouching around in my PJs, watching daytime telly, sleeping…and sleeping. I can’t seem to get enough.” Almost as if to emphasise the point, Ade broke off into a yawn. “Ooh, sorry. I promise you’re not boring me.”

Kris did manage to chuckle at that. “It’s fine. Shaunna’s the same. After her mum died, she was asleep more than she was awake.”

“Well, you know,” Ade said airily, “being a redhead isdreadfullyexhausting.”

“So I’m told.”

They both laughed and then fell quiet. Kris took a breath, ready to make his invitation, but Ade jumped in first.

“I was thinking I might come over and see you at the weekend, if that’s OK with you?”

“Yeah, I’d really like that. In fact, I was about to ask if you’d consider coming to a party with me on Saturday.”

“What kind of party?”

“My friends, Dan and Adele?”

“The ones with the fancy garden?”

“That’s them. They’re getting engaged. And if you think their garden’s fancy, wait until you see Dan’s mum’s house—where the party’s being held. It’s one of those grandiose Victorian mini mansions, but it should be a fun night.”

“Is it a big party?”

“Fairly.” Kris had prepared himself for disappointment, understanding that it might be too much for Ade to face, but he was still secretly willing him to say yes. “If you’d rather not—”

“No. I’d love to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“OK.” Kris sighed in relief.

“Did you think I’d say no?”

“I hoped you wouldn’t.”

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