Page 2 of The House Guest

‘Oh well. I guess that would have been too weird. Adam, Eve, Eden. We’d have to start watching out for serpents and whatnot.’

We all laughed again, a little awkwardly.

‘So Mona and Jack have gone away?’ Eden said.

‘Yeah,’ I replied. ‘They’re on a retreat in New Mexico.’

‘You mean like one of those things where people go into the desert and ... find themselves?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Ha. That sounds like them. I mean, if I want to find myself, I go to a bar, but different strokes, right?’

Ruth rolled her eyes slightly. If she wasn’t committed to being in New York, the retreat would have been the kind of thing she’d have loved to go to.

‘Did you say they get back next Sunday?’

‘That’s right.’

Eden tapped her forehead with her palm, fingers splayed. ‘I’m such a doofus. I thought,Hey, I’ll surprise them. I had this vision of Mona opening the door with this big look of shocked delight on her face, like, “What are you doing here? Come on in!”’

‘And instead you found us,’ said Ruth.

We had all moved further into the house during this conversation, so I was adjacent to the door to the living room. From here I could see through the front window, with its view of the street. The sky was growing blacker, the rain even heavier. Eden followed my gaze.

‘I don’t suppose you guys have an umbrella I could borrow? Or should I say a brolly? That’s what you Brits call it, right?’

‘You detected our accents,’ I said.

‘They’re difficult to miss.’ She grinned. ‘I used to be obsessed with Harry Potter. I still am, a little.’

‘Eden asked if she could leave a note for Jack and Mona,’ I said. ‘Any idea where—’

Ruth cut me off. ‘We can’t send her back out into that rain.’ She exchanged a ‘typical men’ look with Eden. ‘What is he like? Why don’t you have a drink with us, wait for the rain to stop?’

‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’

‘Of course not.’

‘That would be so kind. But can I use your bathroom to get changed into some dry clothes?’

‘I’ll show you where it is,’ I said.

‘And I’ll open some wine,’ said Ruth. ‘Red okay?’

‘Whatever you’ve got. I’m easy.’

The downstairs bathroom was a bit of a mess, so I led Eden up the creaky staircase to the upper floor, where there was a second bathroom.

‘Your girlfriend’s lovely,’ she said.

‘I know. And I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to send you back into the rain.’

She smiled and touched my shoulder, leaving a damp handprint on my T-shirt. ‘It’s cool. I get it. You don’t know me from Adam.’ She realised what she’d said. ‘I guess that expression doesn’t work with you, does it?’

She took her backpack into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Back downstairs, I found Ruth pouring red wine into three glasses.

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