Without Looking Back by Tabitha Suzuma Read Free Book Online

cheeks went pink and he scowled down at the table.
    ‘Well I’m hoping they’ll acquire English accents as soon as possible,’ Dad said.
    Several sandwiches and strange chocolate jelly biscuits later, Millie had begun to thaw and was telling Meg in great detail about her kitten, Trésor. Dad was on his third cup of tea and beginning to look more relaxed. Max had taken his GameBoy out of his pocket and was playing it unashamedly at the table. Louis’ head felt so full of questions, it ached. He couldn’t wait to get Dad alone.
    After a while, Meg took them upstairs and showed them where they would be sleeping. Louis and Max would be sharing a bunk bed in one small pink room. Meg apologized for the colour of the walls and said the room used to belong to her daughters, now away at university. Millie’s room was in the attic. She had to climb a ladder to reach it and the ceiling sloped so low, you couldn’t stand up. But she seemed thrilled with it all the same. Dad and Meg got into an argument over whichof them was going to sleep on the sofa bed in the lounge and their voices drifted back downstairs again. Max bagged the top bunk and swung himself up without using the ladder. The bed creaked ominously. Louis sat down on the carpet and rested his arms on his knees, his back against the wall.
    Max looked down at him. ‘You can have the top bunk if you’re going to sulk about it!’
    Louis looked up at him. ‘I’m not sulking,’ he replied. ‘I don’t care which bed I sleep in.’
    Max rolled onto his side and dangled his arm down from the bed, looking unconvinced. ‘What’s the matter with you then? You’ve hardly said a word since we arrived.’
    Louis rubbed his eyes. His whole body seemed to ache. ‘We’re supposed to be speaking in English,’ he told him. ‘Remember?’
    ‘So? Papa can’t hear us. As long as we remember to speak English in front of him, we’re fine.’
    Louis hugged his knees. ‘Do you think we’re going to stay with this woman all week?’
    ‘I guess so. She’s obviously an old friend of Papa’s.’
    Louis shot Max a look. ‘D’you think she’s his new girlfriend?’
    ‘I’m guessing more like an ex-girlfriend. She said inthe car that she hadn’t seen him for years. And when we were downstairs, she mentioned something about her divorce. And there’s something about the way she looks at him . . .’
    ‘D’you think they’re getting married? D’you think that’s why we’re here?’
    ‘No, stupid. Maybe that’s what she’s hoping, but Papa would have told us if he was planning on doing something important like that.’
    ‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Louis muttered.
    Max raised himself on one arm. ‘Why are you so annoyed with Papa anyway?’
    Louis struggled to come up with an acceptable reason. ‘I just think he should have told us he was taking us on holiday for a week. I could have told Pierre I wouldn’t be able to come over, and told my dance teacher I couldn’t make the Rouen competition . . .’
    Max flopped back against the pillow. ‘God, I can’t believe you’re thinking about your dance class while we’re on holiday. The next thing you’ll be doing is asking Papa to buy you a tutu—’ He broke off as Louis jumped to his feet and thumped him hard. ‘Aargh! I’m kidding, I’m kidding—’
    ‘You think you’re so funny!’ Louis shot him a disgusted look and stalked out. The sound of Max’s laughterfollowed him out onto the landing. But there he stopped. Downstairs, in the kitchen, he could hear the steady rise and fall of Dad’s voice. He didn’t want to have to go down and make polite conversation with Dad’s friend again. Above him, Millie’s feet pitter-pattered across the floor of the attic – no doubt she was having a whale of a time arranging all her stuff. The door of the room next door to theirs was closed – Meg’s bedroom presumably – and the door at the end of the landing was ajar. He pushed it open, and found to his