The Reunion Read Free Page A

son
was indifferent to his feelings. Perhaps it was too much to expect a thirteen
year old boy to have overt sympathy for an adult.
    “See you later,” Sam said as he turned and headed
indoors. His once white trainers were caked in mud though the luminous green
Nike tick was as prominent as ever. He was wearing faded jeans and a black
tee-shirt with an appropriate upper body skeleton cartoon over his painfully
thin frame. A good boy, David reflected.
    “Take your trainers off before you go upstairs,” he
called after Sam.
    David went into the kitchen, opened the wine and poured
himself a generous glass. He rarely drank before dinner but this was an
exceptional day. During his conversation with Sam his distress, mixed with
anger, had waned. Sitting down at the kitchen table the shock resurfaced, but
there was little time to think things through.
    “Hello, I’m back.” It was Rachel.
    “In the kitchen,” David called out.
    There was the sound of the light brisk walk that he loved.
    “Hello Dad.” Rachel kissed him on the cheek and he could
smell the stale tobacco on her clothes. He’d confronted her about the danger of
smoking several times over the past few months, but to no avail. Jane hadn’t
helped. ‘She’s sixteen David, she needs to experiment. You can’t expect her to
listen to an old fart like you’ she had said. David hadn’t taken the old fart
descriptor as a fact, but it was probably what she believed.
    “You OK, dad? Lost in thought?”
    “It’s your mother.” Rachel stepped back with a look of
concern. At least this was a better start than the conversation with Sam. “She
visited this afternoon.”
    She gave him an impatient teenager look implying a
questioning of sanity. “Dad, what do you mean ‘visited’?” She has such an
expressive face, David reflected as she continued. “She lives here.”
    “Jim was with her.”
    “I love Uncle Jim. It’s like we’re friends, he’s so easy
to talk to.”
    That statement made David contemplate the danger of
continuing. Maybe she would be pleased her mother was moving on from an old
fart to such a nice man. But there was no option other than to persevere. “She,
well actually they…look, straight to the point because you’re old enough to
understand,” he blurted out. “They’re having a relationship and now mum is
leaving me and going to live with him.”
    Rachel was stunned into silence, an unusual event. Her
face reddened with anger.
    David pressed on. “They came round this afternoon
together, hand in hand, and told me.”
    “God, I’m an idiot. That explains things.”
    “What do you mean, Rachel?”
    “Lately whenever you call to tell us you’ll be late home
from work she’s off as quick as a flash to see him. Says he needs support since
his wife died. I bet she gives him support all right.”
    “Obviously things were going on that I had no idea about.
Maybe there’ll be an explanation when she’s back tomorrow morning to talk to
both of you.”
    “Great. She’s pissing off and didn’t even have the guts
to tell us herself. She’s left you to do her dirty work.”
    Rachel went to the fridge, took out the orange juice and
drank straight from the carton.
    “I’m sure it’s not easy for her. Anyway, she’s written
you a letter,” David said as he handed her the envelope Jane had left on the
table.
    “Not easy! How can you defend her, are you mad? What
about us?” She was right, it was a daft thing to have said and David was all
set to agree.
    “Fucking bitch!” Rachel continued as she ripped the
unopened letter and let the resulting little squares drop to the floor. “Well I
won’t be seeing her.” She was holding back tears. “I’m going round to
Hannah’s.”
    She turned and strode out the kitchen then turned back. “Are
you OK, dad?”
    “Yes, don’t worry about me. You go.”
    A few seconds later there was a slam of the front door.
    David finished his first glass of wine and poured a second.
He