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“Oh, um, no,” I stuttered. “He’s just going to bed now, I think.”
“What?” Michelle looked outraged.
“He got shut in a cupboard,” I explained. “If you get us all drunk, all sorts is going to happen, isn’t it?”
My anger met hers head on, and my eyes met Aleks’s in the mirror. He smiled, seemingly taking my words to mean that I was fine with everything now. My brain may have been curdled by alcohol, but he was very wrong about that.
“Well, fine,” said Michelle. “You can walk theSarabandethrough by yourself.”
It wasn’t feasible. Even if I’d been on peak form, the piece did not work as a solo.
“Maybe we take turns, and swap round partners?” suggested Aleks from his place by Simone.
Michelle rejected the idea, and the deep tones of the Bach cello suite filled the huge room. I stood still and watched Justin try to lift Sadie.
“Right, Miss Treadwell,” snapped Michelle. “If you’re not going to take part, you may as well leave.”
That, I was fine about. I exited the room and considered phoning for a taxi and really leaving. But Justin. And Will.
Holly was struggling to lift a large box in the entrance hall. I took one end.
“Kitchen?” I asked and soon found myself back in the scene of the previous night’s tea drinking. A long battered table occupied the middle of the room, and an old-fashioned stove sat at the side under the high fireplace archway. Two huge fridges and two big sinks announced that nothing was done by halves in the castle. I could see why Aleks felt so at home in the place.
I told Holly about being ejected from class, and then everything else too, even Aleks, over a mug of tea and a slice of chocolate cake.
“But…” She was astonished. “How auld is he?”
“Auld… that means old, right? Thirty-eight. But he was so different before we came here. I thought he loved me.”
“Aye, well. They all say that, don’t they?”
A great deal of tea was consumed that day. Holly told me about her ex-husband. He’d been fourteen years older than her and a controlling bully. “Better off without him, quiney, I’m telling ye.”
I made cupcakes and lost myself in the sifting and stirring, pausing only when thoughts of Aleks encroached. At lunchtime, his deep voice carried into the haven of the kitchen, though I couldn’t make out the words.
“He’s wanting to ken where you are,” Holly told me. “I telt him: ‘That’s a quiney needing peace and quiet. You leave well alone.’ Didna like that. You bide with me today. I’ve telt Justin yer here.”
At dinnertime I took the back passageway and snuck back to the top of the tower. My evening plans consisted of a bath, a cupcake, pyjamas and bed.
The knocking was quiet, hesitant even, letting me know before I opened the door that it wasn’t Aleks.
“Oh, Will, I’m so sorry. I was upset with someone else and took it out on you, and I hope you’re not hurt.”
Our apologies mingled as we both spoke at once.
“Malph. Did you think—? I mean, I would never— She was talking like—”
“I know. It’s been put right. Come in. Share a cupcake?”
“Better not. If I’m caught in your room, I’ll end up chained to those things in the dungeon. How is the prick, anyway, the tosser that dumped you? Have you spoken to him today?”
“No.”
That was yet to come, which wasn’t a good thought. What a difference a train journey had made. We hugged and Will left.
Louder knocking soon preceded an altogether different encounter.
“Malphia,” he said at once, sounding quite stern and coming into the room. “There is exist a big misunderstanding here, I think. I am friendly in social situations. Simone matches me this way. This is all.”
