Cuckoo by Julia Crouch Read Free Book Online

for round here,’ Rose said, as she busied herself setting the table. It was a little annoying that Gareth hadn’t done a thing towards getting the kitchen ready. ‘But we made up for that with our blood, sweat and tears.’
     
    ‘It looks very smart now.’ Polly curled up in the large old armchair in the corner of the kitchen, watching Rose work. ‘Very finished.’
     
    Rose wondered why this sounded like a criticism.
     
    ‘We can’t do finished,’ Polly went on. ‘Christos always gets distracted into other things. He can never settle on the one task. So we live in the middle of ongoing projects – paintbrushes in the kitchen sink, wires hanging down from ceilings. It never ends. Oh, God.’
     
    Polly leaned back in the chair and covered her eyes with her hands. Rose went over to her and put her arms around her.
     
    ‘Beep beep!’
     
    A crowd of children barged past them. Anna and the boys were racing round the circuit you could make around the ground-floor rooms – from hall to living room to study to kitchen to hall and so on. Already, this part of the design of the house had become a major attraction for visiting children.
     
    ‘Well. They’re settling in just fine,’ Polly said, wiping her eyes.
     
    ‘Oy, calm down, you lot!’ Rose got up to get a glass of wine for Polly and herself. A panting Yannis bowled up in front of her.
     
    ‘Rose, can we stay for ever?’ He leaned his sweaty little face right into hers. ‘I love it here!’
     
    ‘You can stay as long as you like,’ Rose said, giving him a big hug.
     
    ‘Come on, Yannis, I’ll show you my dolls. I’ve got some Action Men, too.’ Anna grabbed the little boy’s hand and took him away. Nico, at nine years old too cool to show enthusiasm for dolls, nevertheless followed along up the stairs behind them.
     
    ‘Oh, happy boys,’ Polly said, cupping her wine glass in her dry, cold hands. ‘She works well, your girl. But we’re not going to stay too long – just until I can get us on our feet again.’
     
    Rose started to slice a loaf of bread. ‘What are you going to do about money, Polly? I mean,’ she added, detecting a flicker in Polly’s eyes, ‘not that we’re going to ask you for anything. You’re our guests and we love you and you must stay as long as you like.’ She laughed. ‘I keep saying that! But that’s because I mean it.’
     
    Polly drew her knees up to her chest, making herself look tiny in the armchair. ‘What surprised me most of all about – about what happened to Christos – apart from the actual fact of him dying, of course – was that the month before he died he had actually got it together to sort out some insurance. Against his life, you know?’
     
    ‘Wow,’ Rose said. It was the last thing she would have expected from someone who had lived so very much in the moment.
     
    ‘I know. He made sure that if anything happened – to either of us, actually – the survivor and the children would be OK. At least financially. At least for a couple of years. It isn’t a fortune, but it gives me a buffer. Well, it will, when it’s all settled. Greek bureaucracy is a nightmare. Oh, stop me. I hate talking about money.’ She drained her wine glass just like that, in one, and Rose topped her up. ‘And I’ve got the money from the house, of course, when it comes through.’
     
    ‘You’ve sold it already?’
     
    ‘His sister wanted it. She was sick of Athens and wanted to get back to the island. There was some sort of expectation that I’d just let her have it for nothing, but that was just mad, suffocating, Greek family stuff. That island seems to pull them all back like Persephone to the fucking underworld. I’m wondering if my boys will be the same, when they grow up.’
     
    ‘You’ve left for good, then?’
     
    ‘Oh yes. I’m done with all that.’
     
    ‘But what about Christos’s mother? Won’t she miss the boys?’
     
    Polly sighed. ‘She did mention that once or twice.