31 Dream Street Read Free Page A

Paul. But at the same time she couldn’t help feeling a bit gutted that Paul had failed to fall in love with her throughout their five-year relationship. And she couldn’t help feeling a bit cheated that six months ago Paul had fallen in love with a forty-two-year-old earth mother from Ladbroke Grove with two kids, her own business and a vineyard in Tuscany.
    ‘Look,’ sighed Paul, sitting up in bed, ‘I had no idea she was going to show up last night. She said she couldn’t get a babysitter –’
    ‘Sorry?’
    ‘She’d originally said she was coming to see the band and then her babysitter let her down and –’
    ‘And you invited me instead.’
    ‘Well, yes.’
    ‘Fucking charming.’
    ‘Jesus, Ruby –’
    ‘Jesus-Ruby-what? I’m sick of this. This whole thing is fucked.’
    ‘Ruby. Come on.’
    ‘No. I will not come on. You and I. We used to be equals. We used to be the same. But ever since you met Eliza it’s like I’m just some bit of crap who follows you around plugging the gaps in your life.’
    ‘That is so not true.’
    ‘And don’t talk like that. Like some American teenager. You’re forty-five years old. You sound ridiculous .’ Ruby winced inwardly as the words left her mouth. She was being a bitch, but she couldn’t help it.
    She glanced at herself in the mirror. Ruby had an image of herself that she carried around in her head. It was an image of a smoky brunette with black eyes and creamy skin and a look about her as if she’d just had sex or was thinking about having sex. Generally speaking the mirror reflected back exactly what she expected to see. Every now and then it didn’t. This was one of those moments. Her make-up was smudged under her eyes. Sometimes when her make-up was smudged under her eyes it made her look sexy and dangerous. Right now it made her look tired and vaguely deranged. Her hair was dull and dirty – she should have washed it yesterday, but just couldn’t be bothered – and she had a big spot on her chin. She wondered what Eliza lookedlike first thing in the morning and then realized that it didn’t matter what Eliza looked like first thing in the morning because Paul was in love with her and to him she would look beautiful no matter what.
    There was a knock at the door. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her dressing gown together.
    ‘ Ruby. It’s me, Toby .’
    She sighed and opened the door.
    ‘Hi. Sorry, I was just, er – oh, hi, Paul.’ He peered over her shoulder and threw Paul a stiff smile.
    Paul put up a hand and cracked an equally stiff smile. He looked silly, arranged between Ruby’s marabou-trimmed cushions and fake leopard-skin throws with his big hairy chest and his mop of greying hair. Silly and like he didn’t belong here. He looked, Ruby suddenly and overwhelmingly realized, like a silly handsome man having a silly adulterous affair. She gulped silently.
    ‘Yes, I was just wondering about the rent. Just wondering if maybe you could give me a cheque today. It’s just, there are some bills, and if I don’t send a cheque by the end of the week, then, er, well, there’ll be no hot water. Or heating. That’s all.’
    ‘Fine,’ sighed Ruby, ‘fine. I’ll give you a cheque tonight.’
    ‘Yes, well, you did say that last week, and you didn’t. I haven’t had any rent off you since the end of November, and even then it wasn’t the full amount and –’
    ‘Toby. I’ll give you a cheque. Tonight. OK?’
    ‘Right. OK. Do you promise?’
    ‘I promise.’
    ‘Good. Right, then. See you. See you, Paul .’
    ‘See you, Toby.’
    Ruby closed the door, and turned and smiled at Paul. He peeled back the cover and smiled at her invitingly.
    ‘Sorry, mate.’ She flipped the duvet back over his naked body and picked up an elastic band from her dressing table. She pulled her hair back into a topknot with it. ‘I’m not in the mood.’
    Paul threw her an injured look. ‘Not even a quickie?’ he said.
    ‘No. Not even a