Page 85 of Crying in the Rain

“Uncle Anders went back to Sweden. I don’t know what happened to him after that. Don’t care. Maybe he’s dead. Nobody talks about him or what happened. I don’t remember much after that, like the whole summer holiday was deleted from my head. The only other thing I remember was being at Dan’s, and Mum and Dad came to pick me up, both of them together, which they never did, and we were sent up to Dan and Andy’s room to play. I went to a different primary school to them—a private one—and I was supposed to stay there for high school. I’d pretty much begged my parents to let me go to school with Dan, but they didn’t like the British education system.

“After a while, they called us downstairs. My mum and Dan’s mum had been crying, and my dad explained that his cousin Eric, who lived with us, was sick and needed to go to a special hospital, so they’d decided I could go to school with Dan after all. I couldn’t work out what Eric being sick had to do with me being allowed to change schools, and I didn’t ask. I was just glad they’d changed their minds. I get it now, obviously.

“When we got home, there was a private ambulance outside, and they were trying to get Eric out of the house, but he’s albino and it was a sunny day. His room was so dark and cold because the light hurt his eyes, and he burnt even in the winter. He was all wrapped up in a blanket, and a nurse had to guide him, like he was a little old blind man. He was only nineteen. They took him away in the ambulance, and it was over. That’s what they said. It was over, and everyone tried to act like everything was normal again.

“When George and I started going out with each other…that was the first time I went back in the treehouse, and I had to make out like it was OK being in there, but I could still see Anders, sitting with his back to the wall and his hands in his pockets, playing with himself. I never told George. He was nervous enough about getting caught without me adding to it. He still doesn’t know. The only person I’ve ever told is Shaunna…”

Kris stopped talking and took a step away from Ade, but Ade caught his hands and kept hold. He smiled sadly. “And now me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are, because I was too when I told Pip, but it doesn’t feel the same for other people as it does for us. Or so she tells me. I bet she’s enjoying the break from me, though.”

“Have you spoken to her since…”

“That Afternoon? No, but we’ve been texting. She’s going to come round tomorrow, help me sort out the apartment, catch up on all the news and gossip. Then I think I’ll have a long soak in the bath and an early night so I’m bright and fresh on Monday morning.”

“Back to normal,” Kris said.

“Minus the violent ex-boyfriend,” Ade added with an almost playful wink. “You realise, of course, thisisour normal.”

“More baggage than Paris Hilton.” Kris nodded in agreement. He still felt raw and exposed, but dwelling on it didn’t help any more than sweeping it all into the back of an ambulance and slamming the doors on it, and he was absolutely freezing. Even so, he needed a bit longer before he went back inside. “Thank you for listening. I didn’t mean to go on like that, especially at a party. I should’ve waited—”

“Shhh. I’m glad you were able to tell me. Now I understand why you’re struggling this evening. Or at any other time, really. Because it’s not just your own pain you’re feeling. It’s Dan’s and Eric’s too. That’s probably why it’s so important to you that everyone around you is OK. Have you ever talked to Dan about it?”

“No. It’s not like we pretend it never happened, but his coping strategies are…different from mine, shall we say.”

“He starts fights,” Ade said, adding in response to Kris’s astonishment, “Not a shot in the dark. These days, I have a finely tuned violence detector.”

“He’s not a violent man as a general rule, but when he loses his temper, he goes up like a barrel of gunpowder.”

“Right. Don’t wind Dan up. Check,” Ade said.

“Or his brothers.” Kris released one of Ade’s hands and turned, moving off slowly, back towards the conservatory doors. “And don’t get caught in the middle of one of their fights.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Not that I think they’ll come to blows tonight.”

“No, but forearmed is forewarned.” Ade grinned. “Like Vishnu.”

Kris laughed. “Shaunna’s mum used to say that.”

“Yes. I’m afraid I shamelessly stole it.”

“I think she’d approve.”

They returned to the atrium, where the party was still swinging, although the music wasn’t quite as loud as it had been before. Kris grabbed George, who was on his way back from the bar.

“Ade, this is George.”

“Hi, George. Again!”

“Hi, Ade,” George said with a grin.

“Oh. You’ve already done all that.” Kris sagged.

“We can do it all again, though,” Ade suggested. He held out his hand for George to shake, both of them playing along for Kris’s sake. “You didn’t tell me what you do for a living, George.”

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