Page 84 of The Good Boy

“I’ll tell him,” Miles says. “I think it would be better if it was just you and me for this. I’ll find a nice nature documentary for him to watch—something about otters. You go and put on some power lipstick.”

“Power lipstick?” I ask him, amused at the phrase coming from him.

“For my mum it was always bright pink,” Miles says. “Like the one you wore the other day. She said when she was wearing her power lipstick, quote, “no fucker would dare fuck with her.’”

“Your mum was awesome,” I say. “Oh god, do I remind you of your mother?” I ask him.

“Not one little bit!” He smiles. That rare, gorgeous smile. “Eugenie Wilson, there is no one in the whole entire world who is even a little bit like you. You are one of a kind.”

Chapter Thirty-One

I stand just outside the reception area in the grand portico that would have seen the comings and goings of fancy ladies and gentlemen back in the day. Through the modern plate-glass doors that stand between us and the reception desk, I watch Aiden chatting to a customer. Smiling and laughing. Ten years have gone by, and he still looks more or less the same, but I don’t recognize him anymore. The cruel, callous version of him that’s lived in my imagination has been replaced with this rather short, deferential-looking man who is meticulously dressed, down to his matching tie and pocket handkerchief.

Funny to think that Aiden and I have lived in the same town all these years and never run into each other before. Maybe we were supposed to wait for exactly the right time. Or maybe there is never a right time, and...

“Genie.” Miles coughs, indicating the growing line of people behind us. “Quite a lot of people would like you to go through the door.”

“Oh, sorry!” I call to the queue. “I was just contemplating meeting my ex again after ten years of resentment.”

A series of “fair enough” expressions, murmurs, and shrugs bolster me up, and I finally pull open the door. Aiden looksup, with an automatic smile that quickly freezes into a this-is-awkward grimace.

“Genie...” He comes out from behind the front desk. “This is unexpected.”

“When you ran out on our baby, that was unexpected,” I say.

A woman waiting just behind me sucks air in through her teeth, shaking her head at her partner. Apparently, I went right there, right away.

“Trisha,” Aiden beckons over a young woman, “please take over for me for a minute, will you?”

He leads us over to an alcove filled with some large potted palms.

“Shall we meet after lunch?” he asks. “There’s a café round the corner where they do a nice—”

“No.” I shake my head. “My mum and my dog think it’s a good idea I come and see you, so I have come to see you, but I am not going to make an appointment to do it. Look, I just want to say that the way you treated me back then, it was shitty. It was shitty and wrong, and it hurt me. A lot. The choices you made damaged me. I’ve carried the hurt you inflicted on me for a really long time, and you should apologize for that.”

“I know.” Aiden glances at Miles. “Both of you, come with me—we can talk in the office.”

The office is a small, poky, and windowless room with a desk, a chair, and a filing cabinet. There’s a photo of two smiling girls Blu-Tacked to it.

“Yours?” I ask him.

“Yeah.” He smiles, full of pride, and then takes a deep breath.

“Look, Genie, I don’t have an excuse for how I behaved. Thereare reasons. Maybe because that’s the way that my dad treated my mum, and I didn’t know better. Maybe because I acted like I knew everything, when really I hadn’t got a clue and no one to ask. Maybe because I was scared and full of grief and I didn’t want to face how I felt. The baby I wasn’t sure I was ready for had died, and part of me felt like I had made that happen. I couldn’t deal with it, I didn’t know how to. But running away the way I did—it was selfish and small. And since I’ve had kids, kids I’d die for, it’s made me realize I loved Amelia too. I hurt everyone, me included, by not admitting it. I really am sorry, I’ve been sorry for a long time now, knowing there’s nothing I can do to fix it. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for apologizing,” I say.

Then the strangest thing happens. I feel a great sense of peace flood through me, and a huge relief. As if the weight I had carried with me for so long has just ebbed away with one simple word. Maybe I sway a little, or look like I might cry. But for the second time that day Miles takes my hand. He squeezes my fingers gently, just to let me know that he is there.

“I feel sorry for the kids we were back then,” I say. “We got in far too deep without knowing what we were doing. I accept your apology, and I wish you the best, Aiden.”

“Thanks, Genie.” He smiles. “What were we like, hey? I thought I was going to lead a revolution and you thought you were going to be a fashion designer and artist. As if!”

“Actually,” I say with a sudden realization, “I am still going to be a fashion designer. I’m going to enroll back in college as soon as I get home.”

Miles smiles at me as I make the announcement. Just saying itout loud gives me something I haven’t felt for a long time: a sense of expectation.

Once we are outside I wait until we are at my car before I throw my arms around Miles and hug him tightly. One moment passes and I feel him tighten his arms around me. Closing my eyes, I let myself sink against him, and for five beautiful seconds I feel like I’ve found the place I’m meant to be.

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