‘Or what? You’ll lock me in the tower like you did last time?’
‘I never locked that door, Myles. You were free to come and go as you pleased. You chose not to.’
‘Why would I?’ Myles said, and he walked to the door and snapped his fingers for Jimmi to come to his side.
‘I’m going to their house later. I can get the bus.’
‘Not with a dog you can’t,’ said Edward.
‘I can so. Gabe said I just call him an assistance dog and they’ll let me on.’
‘Myles, come on,’ said Edward but Myles shook his head at him.
‘I don’t want to be here anymore. The Pilkinses make me feel like I belong, which I don’t feel here. Goodbye,’ he said and Edward heard him calling Jimmi as he went to his room.
‘Can I take Christmas on a bus?’ asked Flora.
Edward groaned and closed his eyes.
He would get on a bus soon just to escape from it all.Dammit, Serena, you absolute devil.If she couldn’t fix this then he would have to fix it himself – whatever it took he would do it. Not to try and get Eve back but because she deserved more than the crumbs Serena had thrown her.
And that’s when Edward knew he loved Eve. Because for the first time in his life, he wanted someone else’s happiness more than his own.
He thought about Amber and the long times she had been alone while he travelled the world on some whimsical, self-indulgent research trip. Or the lack of interest he took in her life, her dreams; God, he didn’t even know if she had any. He had been a terrible husband. He didn’t deserve to have Eve in his life if this is how he treated the mother of his child.
Eve had shown him how to be present, how to honour his talent, how to push himself as a writer and as a parent. So why wouldn’t Myles want to go and live with the people who raised Eve? Perhaps he should go there and be reparented by the Pilkinses. They would do a better job than the lesson in manners and disconnection Father and Mother had given him.
He would let Myles go, because the child needed to know he was wanted somewhere. And because he had suffered the most.
He texted Myles.
I will drive you, he wrote.
He could see the three dots on the screen as Myles typed.
You won’t see Eve, if that’s why you’re doing it. She’s not there.
I wasn’t planning on it, he typed back. I will drop you off and that’s it.
K, came back the reply.
Another loved one lost, he thought as he put down his phone.
Whatever else could happen? Bad luck always came in threes, Hilditch had said to him. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be as bad as this, could it? He could only hope, he thought to himself as he went to organise Myles.
37
‘He asked Serena if I would stay on working on his books, as she’s his main editor and because he’s the most successful author there. So I would be stuck getting Serena’s coffee and protein bars for the rest of my time at Henshaw and Carlson.’
Eve was lying on the sofa at her flat, with Zara and Anita on a chair each. There was a large bowl of crisps and an empty wine bottle on the table and another one being opened by Anita.
‘But you know Serena bends the truth according to what she wants and needs,’ Zara said as she held her glass out for Anita to refill. ‘How can you trust her words?’
‘I can’t,’ said Eve. ‘But I can’t trust Edward’s right now either. He needed me for his book, his children, himself. But it’s too much too soon.’
Anita ate a crisp and thought for a moment.
‘I think it’s good you resigned,’ she said.
