Page 35 of The Psychopath Next Door

She shrugged. ‘I learned at school, then didn’t play for ages until a few years ago.’

‘Another person who was influenced byThe Queen’s Gambit?’

She gave me a blank look. Another thing she’d never heard of? ‘This is nice wine.’

‘It is. It’s Australian.’

‘All the best things are.’ She met my eye again, holding my gaze until I was forced to look away, prickling with desire and shame. An image of Fiona and me kissing had popped into my head. An image that quickly progressed past first base.

I mentally doused myself with cold water. My wife and children were asleep indoors, for God’s sake. I forced myself not to look back at Fiona and, instead, watched the lights shining at the bottom of the garden, trying to think of a subject that would pop the tension I was feeling.

It didn’t take long to think of one.

‘I’ve been meaning to ask you. Did Tommy from across the road come round to talk to you the other day?’

She frowned. ‘The guy whose son had the accident? Yeah. But I didn’t answer the door.’

‘Oh. Why not?’

‘Because I’m a woman on her own and he’s a huge bloke who looked severely pissed off. I assume the kids told you about what happened with that kid and his brother when we were walking Lola?’

‘Yeah. But only when Tommy turned up looking for someone to blame.’

She sighed. ‘I’m sorry about that. I would have spoken to you about it but I assumed they would tell you straight away. I guess they didn’t want you to stop them taking Lola out.’ A pause. ‘Did Tommy mentionme?’

‘He did. But he was trying to point the blame at Dylan.’

‘What a dickhead. It was obviously an accident. The tyre blew out, right?’

‘That’s exactly what I said, but he reckons someone must have put something down that caused the crash. A nail or something. I understand him looking for someone else to blame. It’s his way of avoiding the guilt. Unless he’s one of those people who never think they’re responsible for anything that goes wrong.’

‘You think we should all be prepared to face the consequences of our actions?’

‘Of course. Don’t you?’

Again, she held my gaze. ‘Oh, absolutely.’ She said it so seriously that I laughed, but she didn’t join in. The serious expression remained on her face and she raised her glass. ‘To facing the consequences.’

A little confused, I clinked my glass against hers.

‘So what made you move here?’ she asked.

‘Oh, it was just ... we wanted somewhere bigger. Closer to the countryside. The schools are better out here too.’

She nodded like she understood. ‘And the kids were okay about moving?’

‘Yeah. Well, they wouldn’t have liked the alternative.’

I only realised what I’d said after it was out of my mouth.

‘And what was that?’ Fiona asked, cocking her head.

It came out before I could stop it. ‘If we hadn’t moved, we probably wouldn’t all be together as a family right now. The kids would only see one of us at weekends – and let’s face it, that would probably be me, because children nearly always stay with the mum, don’t they? It’s usually the dad who moves out, even if he’s not the one who did anything wrong.’

I had never spoken to anyone about any of this, apart from the marriage counsellor. And, whether or not I was saying it because of how much I’d drunk, it felt immensely satisfying to get it out there.

Fiona sat there with her eyebrows raised. ‘You really don’t have to tell me any more.’

But I was on a roll, needing to get the words out, to tell someone.

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