Love Always

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Book: Love Always by Harriet Evans Read Free Book Online
Authors: Harriet Evans
Tags: Fiction, General, Family Life, Contemporary Women
sort of thing. And we need to decide what’s best for them all. For all her work, and everything else they’ve got here.’
    I know about the signed first editions by Stephen Spender, Kingsley Amis, T. S. Eliot, which line the shelves rising from the floor to the ceiling either side of the fireplace. About the Ben Nicholson print in the hall, the Macready sketch with its white frame in the dining room: ‘Frances at the Chelsea Arts Club, 1953’. They lent that one for his retrospective at the Tate, a couple of years ago. It was the cover of the catalogue. I hadn’t thought about all of that. To me, they’re a part of the house, as much a part as the doors and the taps and the floors.
    It makes sense that there’s some kind of trust to look after Granny’s paintings, but I can’t help feeling uncomfortable. I barely know Guy and I don’t think Mum and Archie do, either. Sure, they all spent a summer together years ago but that doesn’t really count. Does it? And I wish I didn’t, but I object to the idea of him eyeing up these things in the house at the funeral. Poking around in Granny’s studio. Picking up the pair of Juno vases on the mantelpiece, the Clarice Cliff teapot, and clicking his tongue with pleasure. I glare at Louisa, but she is oblivious, and so I glare at Guy instead. He smiles at me in a friendly way, and I want to hit him. Now is not the time to be picking over the house for the juiciest bits, like the carcass of a chicken.
    ‘Where’s your mother gone?’ he asks. ‘I haven’t seen her for – gosh, ages. It’d be good to catch up with her about all of this.’ He pauses. ‘And Archie too.’
    ‘They were there—’ I look round for them but they’ve disappeared. Instead I see Jay in the corner, now talking to Julius. ‘They’re probably in the kitchen. Excuse me,’ I say. ‘Good to see you again.’
    ‘Oh,’ Guy says, obviously surprised at my abruptness. ‘Right, see you soon then.’
    I reach Julius and Jay, who are standing against the wall, clutching their glasses, not really saying much.
    ‘How you feeling?’ Jay asks me. ‘Fine, fine,’ I wave him away. ‘Hi, Julius.’
    ‘Er—’ Julius scratches his face. He is looking bored. ‘Sorry about you and – er – Oli.’ I don’t know if he’s shy or if he genuinely can’t remember his name. ‘So – what happened? He slept with someone else?’
    ‘How did you know that?’ I say.
    Julius shrugs. ‘Good guess. That’s usually why, isn’t it?’ Jay, standing next to him, rolls his eyes. Julius is our relative, it’s weird to think of it. He is kind of vile.
    ‘Yes, he slept with someone else,’ I say. ‘But—’
    But what? Exactly. I look over at my mother and bite my lip. I still haven’t even talked to her about this, and it feels wrong. Not because I usually tell her everything, in fact, I usually tell her nothing, but she’s my mum. I should talk to her first.
    ‘Anyway.’ I change the subject. ‘I was just talking to your uncle. Do you think it’s appropriate he’s here?’
    ‘Why shouldn’t he be here?’ Julius says, unperturbed by my question. ‘He was her nephew, you know. He flew all the way from San Diego for the bloody funeral, damn nice of him, considering.’
    ‘Not your uncle Jeremy,’ I say, annoyed. Julius flusters me. ‘Your other uncle. Guy. Your mother’s brought him down here to – to basically do a valuation on all the stuff in the house. Just think it’s a bit rich.’
    Julius doesn’t even blink. ‘You’ve got to pay for the nursing home your grandfather’s going into,’ he says.
    ‘Come on,’ I say. ‘That’s rubbish. There’s – there’s money. Mum and Archie can sort it out.’
    ‘With what?’ Julius says. ‘With all the money each of them has floating around?’ Jay stiffens and I frown. ‘There’s nothing, they’ve spent it all,’ Julius says flatly. He sticks his thick, rubbery lips out, like a child, and like a child I hate him again. I am

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