‘Yeah, so am I,’ Sam murmured. ‘Once I got back from the States, I stood between her and Roger– made it clear I wasn’t going to allow my sister to be manipulated or forced into anything she didn’t want. He’s never quite forgotten that I defied him. Of course, irony of ironies, the second Pearl was born, all bonny, blonde and blue-eyed, everyone fell in love with her. Then Meg became this amazing, wonderful mother and her so-called sins were forgiven.’
‘So you came off worst, in the end?’ Amy breathed, still trying to take all this in.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Sam. ‘I did my fair share of night feeds and nappy changes, but I’m not the one who’s ultimately responsible for keeping another human being alive. And I got my MBA done– at Birmingham, in the end. As far as my relationship with my father’s concerned, standing up for Meg was just the final nail in the coffin. We’ve been at loggerheads for years, pretty much since I started making a nuisance of myself at boarding school.’
He smiled mischievously, offsetting the wistfulness that had crept into his voice.
‘How old were you then?’ Amy asked, arching an eyebrow. She filed away the idea of Sam making up bottles of formula and wrestling nappies onto a newborn for consideration later.
‘Oh, God … Eight, maybe?’
She laughed. ‘In that case, it really is no wonder you ended up at a state sixth form college for A levels … I’m amazed it took that long for the nation’s independent establishments to blacklist you.’
‘I wasn’t ever actuallyblacklisted,’ Sam said, finishing the last of his Sauvignon. ‘I did bounce around a bit, though. Several schools strongly “suggested” to Roger and Pam that I might be a better fit elsewhere.’
Amy laughed again, in spite of herself. ‘I can’t approve, you know–myhigh school was in special measures. We had to share textbooks in every lesson– one between two if we were lucky, because there were never enough to go around. People got kicked out for carrying knives or doing drug deals in the corridors. It was chaos.’
‘I won’t pretend that sticking two fingers up at private schooling doesn’t make me sound like an absolute tosser,’ Sam conceded. ‘But these places– the ones I was sent to, anyway … they’re stifling. Designed to squash the life out of you. I’ll never be sorry I got out.’ He shuddered, then– visibly affected by whatever grim memory had surfaced. Amy just nodded– willing, for once, to accept that his experience might have been more complicated than she’d thought.
‘We should go,’ Sam said. ‘Early start, and all that.’
‘I’m going to feel rotten after all this wine,’ Amy groaned. ‘And no doubt I’ll look like something near dead.’
‘It’s a horror book festival,’ Sam pointed out. ‘You’ll fit right in.’
Without thinking, Amy threw him a sarcastic grit-grin and then whacked him on the arm. Neither of them said anything else as they gathered their things and made their way to the door.
Back at the B&B, the atmosphere shifted. The camaraderie that had been fuelled by ambient pub noise and crisp, ice-cold alcohol felt suddenly fragile and nebulous. They were awkward with one another again– embarrassed to be stuck in the same too-small space.
‘You use the bathroom first,’ Amy said. ‘I have a complicated skincare regime– you won’t want to wait around for me to finish it.’ Sam nodded, then headed into what was essentially a jumped-up shower cubicle and shut the door behind him.
He was back within a few minutes, his hair slightly damp and wearing plaid pyjama pants and a soft grey T-shirt. Amy couldn’t look at him. There was something obscene about seeing him in his nightwear, even though it revealed no more than ordinary clothes and was entirely family-friendly.
She grabbed her washbag and the navy satin pyjama shorts set she’d brought to sleep in, wishing powerfully that she’d opted for some sort of unsightly, unsexy head-to-toe coverall instead. The last thing she wanted was for Sam to think she was in any way attempting toattracthim– but it was either the vaguely flirty PJs or knickers and a vest top, which on balance seemed significantly worse.
She needn’t have worried. By the time she’d double-cleansed, brushed her teeth and then applied eye balm, night serum and an intensive moisturising cream, Sam had fallen asleep. He was bunched up on the camp bed and breathing heavily.
Refusing to let herself focus on his slightly parted lips, the dark fan of his eyelashes on his cheeks or the slow rise and fall of his chest under the covers, she manoeuvred her way around him and clicked off the light.
When Amy awoke at 6.57 to sunlight streaming through the B&B’s thin curtains, she blearily picked up her phone to discover a selection of WhatsApp messages from Kit– several of which had been sent just a couple of hours ago.
At 2.34am:
Ames, the hot nerdy sex god is at Queer Karaoke!!!
Can’t sing, sadly– every note is flatter than a witch’s tit. But he’s SO BEAUTIFUL.
At 4.46am:
OMG I think I’m in love
Finally snogged him.
Julius = best kisser EVER. But refuses to bone until we’ve been on a proper date
At 4.52am:
Almost forgot to ask!!!