Page 61 of The Happy Family

‘Yes, he is,’ Luna answers for him before she fills the kettle and puts it on to boil.

I take a seat at the kitchen table, glad to take the weight off my legs because while I am now capable of walking around unassisted, it still takes a lot of effort and energy to do so. But still, being out of breath is better than having Mum, Dad or a nurse escorting me everywhere.

‘How are you feeling?’ Luna asks me as the kettle boils.

‘I’m getting there, slowly but surely,’ I reply. ‘Or at least my body is. My mind is still a bit fuzzy, but I’m learning to live with that.’

‘Have the doctors said anything more about your memory coming back?’

‘No. They won’t admit it, but I think they’ve given up on me there. I’m not sure they expect me to remember everything before my accident, but maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’s better if I don’t.’

I smile at Jude then rather than Luna, but I know that woman has her eyes on me, and I know she just asked about my memory because she has a very good reason not to want it to return.

As the kettle gets louder, Luna asks another question.

‘How did you get here?’ she wants to know.

Ahh, yes, of course. Thanks to her, I lost my driving licence, so she is probably wondering how I got myself here.

‘I took a taxi,’ I say.

‘Oh, I see. Was that not expensive?’

‘A little. It was quite far to get here,’ I comment, well aware that I’m sure a major selling point of this house for Luna was the distance from here to where I am based. ‘But it’s no problem. It gives me something to do.’

Luna nods, unsure what to say to that last part because it does make me sound rather pathetic. Just the way I want it to.

‘So, what was it you wanted to talk about?’ Luna asks as the kettle reaches its crescendo. ‘Something about a present for Ruby, was it?’

The kettle is really loud now so I decide to let it finish doing its thing rather than raise my voice over it. While I wait, I stare at Luna and she stares at me and I savour these final few seconds before the only noise in this kitchen will be the sound of her panicking.

The switch on the kettle finally flicks off, signalling that the water inside it has reached boiling temperature, and suddenly, all is quiet. As Luna pours our drinks, I take advantage of her back being turned to stand up and walk over to Jude. I unclip him from his comfortable, inclined bouncer and lift him up into my arms.

By the time Luna turns back around, I am holding her baby.

‘He really is handsome,’ I say, smiling at the little face. ‘You are so lucky to have him.’

‘I know,’ Luna replies, holding two cups of tea while I hold something of far more importance.

‘The thing is,’ I say, taking my time because I want to enjoy this. ‘I wasn’t exactly being truthful with you back there at the front door.’

‘You weren’t?’ Luna asks, suddenly putting down the tea.

‘No. I said I was here to talk about Ruby, but that was a lie. I guess it was a good one because you seemed to believe it.’

‘Why would you lie to me?’

‘Because you lie all the time. So I thought I’d give it a go myself.’

Luna is starting to realise that this is not a friendly visit after all.

‘Please can you pass Jude to me. He’s due for a feed,’ she says after sensing the shift in my demeanour.

‘No, I think I’ll hold onto him for a little while longer. At least until I tell you about the other lie I told.’

Now Luna really looks nervous, and this is even better than how I imagined it going when I was lying in bed last night and playing it through in my mind.

‘What other lie?’