Page 20 of The House Guest

‘You look a little green,’ said Mona. ‘Are you okay?’

I touched my face. I actually felt okay. Sleepy but much better than yesterday. Better, that was, until a lurch in my belly reminded me that Ruth and Eden hadn’t come home.

Had they?

Jack paid the cabbie and I helped him carry the bags up into the house.

‘Ruth still in bed?’ Jack asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, then thought I’d better check, just in case she and Eden had snuck in while I was asleep. I’d look daft if I told Jack and Mona that Ruth had vanished and the next second she came sauntering down the stairs wondering what all the fuss was about.

‘Hang on a second,’ I said, before running up the stairs. I prayed that I would find both women in their beds.

But they weren’t there. Both rooms remained empty.

I went back down. Jack and Mona had gone into the living room, and Jack had picked up the pile of post that had arrived while they were away and was sorting through it, muttering about bills and junk mail.

‘Anything?’ Mona asked.

He shook his head and tossed the pile of envelopes aside. ‘Is it me or does this place feel smaller?’ he asked.

‘It’s you,’ Mona responded. She winked at me. ‘Be prepared for him to go on and on about the wide-open spaces of New Mexico. Thanks for keeping the place so clean and tidy.’

‘Yeah,’ Jack said. ‘Though it smells like you had a party last night. Ruth hungover, is she?’

Mona laughed. ‘That explains why Adam is so pale.’

‘And why isn’t the A/C on? It’s almost as hot as the desert in here.’

I needed to stop this banter.

‘The unit’s broken,’ I said. ‘And I don’t know where Ruth is.’

Mona and Jack exchanged a look. ‘What?’ Mona said.

‘I haven’t seen her since Friday night. When I got up yesterday, she wasn’t here and neither was Eden and—’

I stopped. They were both staring at me blankly.

‘Oh, sorry, you didn’t know. Your friend Eden has been staying here for the past week. She just turned up and we weren’t sure what to do, and we couldn’t get hold of you, so ...’

They were looking at me like I was talking in a foreign language.

‘Eden?’ said Jack.

‘Yes. She said you’d told her she could come and stay with you whenever she was in New York. She didn’t have anywhere else to go and we didn’t want to turf her out. I hope that was okay.’

‘Eden?’ asked Mona after a beat. ‘Like the Garden of ... ?’

Now it was my turn to be confused. ‘Yes.’

Jack looked at Mona and Mona looked at Jack. They both shook their heads at the same time, before turning their attention back to me.

My insides had gone cold.

‘Who the hell,’ Jack said, ‘is Eden?’

PART TWO

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