Homework by Margot Livesey Read Free Book Online

watch and announced that he would have to leave shortly, I was surprised to discover that we had been talking for an hour and a half.
    â€œHave you ever been to Edinburgh?” he asked.
    I shook my head.
    â€œIt’s the most beautiful city in Europe. My wife and I moved there from Leamington Spa four years ago, and we’ve never regretted it.” As he listed the attractions of Edinburgh, I suddenly realised that he must be planning to offer me the job. The idea was so startling that I had to struggle not to burst out laughing.
    He smiled at me. “Of course you have projects to finish up, but from our point of view, the sooner you can start the better. You’re exactly what we’ve been looking for, and I know you’re going to be a tremendous asset. I’ll get a letter off to you first thing next week, spelling out the p’s and q’s. If there’s anything you don’t like, give me a ring, and we’ll do our best to fix it.”
    We stood up and shook hands as if sealing a contract. Bill headed off towards the stairs, while I ducked into the ladies’. I stood in front of one of the basins, holding my hands under the cold tap, and thought, an asset, a tremendous asset. The laughter, which a few minutes earlier I had managed to contain, spilled forth. “Well, somebody’s happy,” the woman at the next basin remarked.
    At Victoria Station, I stopped to telephone Lynne. I said I had taken the day off, and she at once invited me for lunch. All the way to her house, I was smiling so broadly that strangers were noticing and smiling back. Three different groups of tourists asked me for directions, and I replied with painstaking thoroughness, even venturing into French on one occasion. When Lynne opened the door, she said, “You won the premium bonds.”

    â€œNot exactly.”
    â€œYou’re certainly dressed as if you had.” She gave my interview suit an approving pat.
    I followed her upstairs. I had mentioned the job to her in passing, and she had applauded my decision to apply. “Maybe it’ll help you to get more money at Fredericks,” she had said. Now while she moved around the kitchen getting out plates, cutlery, food, I told her about the interview.
    â€œI’d have much more input into the books at every level,” I said.
    â€œYou mean you could acquire books?”
    â€œYes, and, even better, commission them.”
    â€œIt sounds like you’ve got the job.” Lynne was standing at the counter, slicing bread for sandwiches. I could not see her face, but her tone was as even as the steady sawing of the knife across the loaf.
    â€œI doubt it,” I said. “Probably he was just being polite. When he gets back to Edinburgh he’ll have his secretary write a letter, explaining that I don’t have the right qualifications, or offering a minuscule salary. But it was exciting to be able to discuss my ideas with such a responsive audience.” I smiled at her, wanting to coax her out of her mood of sombre realism.
    â€œI think they’ll offer you a huge salary, and the letter will be all about how much they want you.” She brought the bread to the table and sat down facing me. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
    â€œI would miss you too, but they’re not going to offer it to me, and even if they did I wouldn’t accept. I’d only go to Edinburgh if you’d come too.”
    I wanted to keep talking about the interview, to mention all the bits and pieces of praise Bill had given me, but in the face of Lynne’s reaction, I could not do so with abandon.
Instead I began to describe the film I had seen with Lewis the night before. I was glad when lunch was over and it was time to collect Eve from nursery school.
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    I did not tell Lewis about the interview until the letter came, warmly phrased, offering a substantial increase in salary. Then I telephoned his office,