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I blushed He was right I was sitting feeding Will, while both of us vaguely watched the lunchtime news The meal was roast beef with mashed potato His etables on the plate, even though he had said quite clearly that he didn’t want vegetables that day I don’t think there was a meal that I was instructed to prepare that wasn’t nutritionally balanced to within an inch of its life

‘Why are you trying to sneak carrots into azed at the tiny pieces of orange ‘Well … okay … ’

He aiting, eyebrows raised

‘Uood for you?’

It was part deference to Mrs Traynor, part force of habit I was so used to feeding Thoetables had to be mashed to a paste and hidden under et this straight You think a teaspoon of carrot would improve my quality of life?’

It was pretty stupid when he put it like that But I had learnt it was i Will said or did

‘I take your point,’ I said evenly ‘I won’t do it again’

And then, out of nowhere, Will Traynor laughed It exploded out of hiasp, as if it were entirely unexpected

‘For Christ’s sake,’ he shook his head

I stared at hi intome to open the tunnel so that Mr Train can deliver some mushy Brussel sprouts to the red bloody station next’

I considered this for a ht-faced ‘I deal only with Mr Fork Mr Fork does not look like a train’

Thomas had told me so, very firmly, some months previously

‘Did my mother put you up to this?’

‘No Look, Will, I’’

‘Like that’s unusual’

‘All right, all right I’ll take the bloody carrots off, if they really upset you so much’

‘It’s not the bloody carrots that upsetthem sneaked into my food by a madwoman who addresses the cutlery as Mr and Mrs Fork’

‘It was a joke Look, let me take the carrots and –’

He turned away fro else Just do me a cup of tea’ He called out after ette into it’

Nathan walked in as I was finishing the dishes ‘He’s in a goodmy sandwiches in the kitchen It was bitterly cold outside, and somehow the house hadn’t felt quite as unfriendly lately

‘He says you’re trying to poison hiood way’

I felt weirdly pleased by this infor to hide it ‘Givea bit , but he’s definitely up for a bit of a chat the last few days’

I thought of Will tellinghe’d be forced to run me over ‘I think his definition of chatty and mine are a bit different’

‘Well, we had a bit of a chat about the cricket And I gotta tell you –’ Nathan dropped his voice ‘– Mrs T askedokay I said I thought you were very professional, but I knew that wasn’t what she meant Then yesterday she caht back to the previous evening ‘He was laughing at me,’ I said Will had found it hilarious that I didn’t knohat pesto was I had told hiravy’

‘Ah, she doesn’t care about that It’s just been a long ti’

It was true Will and I see around each other It revolvedrude back He toldbadly, and I told him if it really mattered to him then he could ask me nicely He swore at me, or calledwithout this particular pain in the backside and see how far it got him It was a bit forced but it seemed to work for both of us Sometimes it even seemed like a relief to him that there was someone prepared to be rude to hiot the feeling that everyone had tiptoed around him since his accident – apart from perhaps Nathan, who Will seemed to treat with an automatic respect, and as probably impervious to any of his sharper comments anyway Nathan was like an armoured vehicle in human form

‘You just make sure you’re the butt ofin the sink ‘I don’t think that’s going to be a problee, apart from atmospheric conditions inside the house, was that Will didn’t ask me to leave him alone quite as often, and a couple of afternoons had even asked me if I wanted to stay and watch a film with him I hadn’t h I have seen all the Terminator films – but when he showed me the French film with subtitles, I took a quick look at the cover and said I thought I’d probably give it a ed ‘I don’t like fil you don’t like films with actors in them Don’t be ridiculous What is it you don’t like? The fact that you’re required to read so?’

‘I just don’t really like foreign filn filham?’

‘Funny’

He couldn’t believe it when I admitted I’d never actually watched a film with subtitles But my parents tended to stake ownership of the res, and Patrick would be about as likely to watch a foreign filht classes in crochet The multiplex in our nearest town only showed the latest shoot’e kids in hoodies that most people around the town rarely bothered

‘You have to watch this film, Louisa In fact, I order you to watch this film’ Will moved his chair back, and nodded towards the armchair ‘There You sit there Don’t n film For Christ’s sake,’ he muttered

It was an old film, about a hunchback who inherits a house in the French countryside, and Will said it was based on a famous book, but I can’t say I’d ever heard of it I spent the first twenty ety, irritated by the subtitles and wondering if Will was going to get shirty if I told hi happened I stopped thinking about how hard it was listening and reading at the saot Will’s pill ti, and I started to get anxious about the poortricked by unscrupulous neighbours By the ti into lanced at me slyly ‘You didn’t enjoy that at all’