‘Fine.’ Blake keeps his eyes fixed on the pavement in front of him. Eddy’s already run out of questions.
‘I noticed you were standing next to Lily in the assembly. Lovely red hair – pretty, isn’t she?’
Blake’s far ahead, but Eddy’s sure his son rolls his eyes.
‘She’s smart, too,’ Blake says, pausing so Eddy can catch up with him. ‘Look, Dad, I’m up for talking to you but I’m not up for pretending that everything is normal, OK? I’ll tell you what’s …’
They’re interrupted because across the road, waiting to cross, is Patrick, waving and shouting, ‘Eddy! Eddy!’
He’s in Lycra jogging bottoms, a water bottle sloshing about in his hand, earbuds curled like mollusc shells around his ears.
‘Hey, Eddy, wait up!’ he shouts.
Eddy reluctantly stops, pointing towards Blake’s retreating back and calling, ‘I can’t, Patrick, I’ll speak to you later, yeah?’
But Patrick is already dashing across the road.
‘Look, mate, I’m actually with Blake now, so …’
‘Oh?’ Patrick looks down the road, but there’s no sign of Blake. He’s turned into one of the residential streets that lead to the park, prepared to take a longer way home to avoid talking to Eddy.
‘Come on, mate, I’ve been trying to get hold of you!’ Patrick puts his palm on Eddy’s back, gently steering him in the direction he wants him to go.
They start walking and Eddy says, ‘I know. Sorry, Patrick, I’ve been kind of preoccupied …’
Patrick nods. ‘Haven’t we all, mate, haven’t we all. Vita said Anna’s been amazing, really clear-sighted throughout the whole thing …’
Next to him, Patrick must feel Eddy flinch because he adds, ‘I mean, live radio probably wasn’t the best plan in retrospect, but that interviewer really pushed poor Anna into a corner, didn’t she? And it’s like Vita’s been saying, our focus shouldn’t be on Anna, really, it should be on the prostitute.’
Eddy turns to look at Patrick. He thinks of Blake, of Lily, and doesn’t like where this is leading, but Patrick smiles a knowing smile and keeps talking. ‘I know, I was confused too at first, but then Vita explained her thinking. She said it’s been awful at the school gates; all the women have become suspicious of each other. The theory is that either the prostitute has come here to blackmail Seb or she’s in some kind of trouble and needs Seb’s help …’
‘Or she – like you and Vita – decided Waverly was a good place to raise her kids …’
But Patrick’s already shaking his head at Eddy. ‘Unlikely, mate. Too much of a coincidence.’
‘Really?’ Eddy says, stopping to look at Patrick. ‘Or is it that Vita and her crew are just loving the scandal so much they don’t want it to end?’
Patrick stops walking, too, and keeps his eyes on Eddy; he can’t believe what he’s hearing. ‘
Eddy feels his whole body deflate like a balloon because in that moment he realizes that Patrick is right. Anna has put him in this impossible position. She is essentially forcing Eddy to choose between his best friend and her, his wife. Eddy feels himself start to spiral within and, as he falls, he gasps for air and has to put his hands on his knees.
‘Take it easy, Ed, blimey.’
Patrick passes Eddy his water bottle, but Eddy shakes his head.
‘Just getting over something. I’m fine. I’m fine.’ And as he lifts himself back up to stand, Patrick’s watch beeps.
‘Uh-oh, I’ve got to keep moving. Heart rate.’ He waves his wrist in the air and adds, ‘Martin, Rich and I are going for a pint tonight if you fancy talking about all this a bit more.’
Eddy’s about to reply that he’d rather eat glass but Patrick’s already jogging away.
Eddy thinks about walking a bit more on his own to gather himself before going home, but he doesn’t want to risk bumping into anyone else so he feels in his pocket for his keys and looks up at his house, their house. It’s the first year he can remember that Anna hasn’t decorated it like all the other houses. He thinks about walking through the door, imagines Anna inside, curled on the sofa, tapping away at her phone, and he decides that he does need a moment before going in to her. He props himself against the wall, staring at the blank face of his home. He thinks about Anna, and where there used to be a kind of spreading warmth in his chest when he thought about her, there’s just a kind of internal itch, unsettled, unpleasant. His mind fills with Seb and now there’s a new sensation pouring deep in his belly, a dull ache, a kind of umbilical tug towards the friend Eddy’s always loved most.