Page 102 of Sorry I Missed You

‘I’m not gay, Clive,’ said Jack.

‘So why don’t you have a girlfriend, then?’ asked Clive.

‘He does,’ I said.

Jack looked confused.

I cleared my throat. ‘Nathalie, right?’

I bit my lip. I’d said too much. It was probably early days. Perhaps they hadn’t put a label on it yet.

‘Rebecca seems to think you’ve been seeing some actress,’ Clive added, fumbling with the wrapper of his chocolate bar.

‘She’s my ex,’ replied Jack, looking put out. ‘Believe me, I wouldn’t go back there again.’

‘See!’ said Clive, triumphantly.

‘Why did you think I’d been seeing her?’ Jack asked me.

I could feel myself going red. ‘I just assumed … when I saw you together at Somerset House.’

He shook his head. ‘I did say that was about a job. That was all it was.’

A nurse came over to take Clive’s temperature. He moaned and groaned as she fussed over him, rolling his eyes at me, but I could tell the nurse had a soft spot for him.

‘This one’s hard work,’ she said to me and Jack, winking.

Once she’d gone, I thought I’d grab the opportunity to leave before Clive said anything else incriminating.

‘I’m going to pop in and see my nan,’ I said. And then, for Clive’s benefit: ‘They have a games afternoon in the garden at four o’clock, so she’ll want me out of there by then. Apparently it’s a right laugh.’

Clive looked at me with a flicker of interest. ‘Do they have dominoes?’

‘Think so,’ I said. ‘I’ll check.’

‘Hmm,’ muttered Clive. ‘Well don’t go out of your way on my account.’

‘Right then,’ I began, my eyes flicking from one to the other, unable to settle on Jack, who was watching me, his hands over his mouth in the prayer position as though he was deep in thought. ‘I’ll get going.’

‘Bye, love,’ said Clive, who was seemingly completely oblivious to the fallout he’d caused.

I grabbed my bag and headed through the ward, thanking the nurse on the way out. I glanced over my shoulder at Jack, who had got up and was pouring Clive a plastic beaker of water. If he wasn’t seeing Nathalie again, then why were things suddenly so awkward between us?

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