Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson Read Free Book Online Page A

this before, Al says in a harder voice.
    Lacey shakes his head, rests his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together.
    You know, Alex tells him, this is my home from home. These two lovely people are our best friends, our oldest mates, everything—
    He breaks off.
    I look over at Lacey. Blotting my eyes with the sleeve of my jumper.
    Ted’s sticking by me, Alex says, been with me all day. He’s even going to stay over. Are you sure about that, Ted—that you
     want to stay over?
    Lacey says, I think it’s best—
    You see? Al says, looking at us as if it’s all a bit of a joke—probably because he’s in shock.
    Where will he sleep? I ask Al, and he looks at me.
    In the studio, he says. He means Lennie’s studio.
    Great, Lacey says.
    Good, says Mick.
    * * *
    Alex says that what Lacey needs right now is a photo. Of her, he says, taking a mouthful of whisky, a nice little snap.
    He spreads his hands on the table and studies his knuckles.
    You don’t mind? he says, only I can’t face—
    I squeeze his shoulder.
    Hey, I tell him, I’ll get it now.
    Lacey stands up and looks at me.
    It’s for the press, he says.
    Oh.
    I’m really sorry, he adds, to have to ask for it now.
    I tell him it isn’t a problem, I’ll get it. In my hurry to move towards the stairs I kick the chair and disturb Fletcher who
     comes wobbling up out of sleep. Stretching, yawning, shaking himself, claws clicking on the stone floor.
    Give me two minutes, I say.
    In our house, in our family, I am the archivist. I am the one who can produce evidence to show that we were all here and happy
     together. But it can be lopsided, this evidence. So, there are loads of photos of Nat as a baby, and plenty of Rosa too, in
     all situations, all moments of life. Fewer of Jordan and then, as poor Liv was born, they tail off altogether.
    I think I have one hazy faraway one from the day she came into this world—and then nothing at all until the one where Lennie
     is holding her up in the garden of the pub at Blackshore and she is wearing the faded paisley hand-me-downsunhat that all of our kids have worn at one time or other. Also, because Mick took most of the pictures, he is more absent
     than he should be, too. But not Lennie and Al—they’re in nearly all the pictures. A measure of how much they’ve always been
     here with us in our lives.
    Fletcher is loudly lapping water as I open the little door and start upstairs.
    I’m halfway up before I realise Lacey is right behind me.
    Sorry, he says softly. Just—wait a moment.
    I stop and turn.
    It’s just—I didn’t want to say it in there. This photo, it’s going to be all over everywhere, in the papers and on TV and
     so on—what I mean is, he and the children will be seeing a lot of it—
    Oh, I say, thinking how helpless he looks.
    It needs to be current, obviously, he says, and it needs to be—well—
    How they’d want to remember her?
    Lacey takes his eyes away from mine.
    Yes, he says, that’s right. Thanks.
    That night, the first night of our knowing that Lennie is dead, I sleep a strange sleep of amazement. Amazed that I can sleep
     at all. Again and again in the blue darkness, the fact of what has happened slips over me. Icy, amazed, over and over again.
    That’s what I was most afraid of—of waking up and having to think about it. I can’t. I can’t think about her. I can’t think
     about the car park.
    Livvy sleeps right through. Only the second time ever. I ought to be pleased but it scares me to death. At 5 A.M . I poke her to check she’s still breathing. She is.
    Mick brings me coffee. I mention to him about Liv.
    He says, For God’s sake, Tess, she’s shattered. Leave her. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
    Enjoy. The word wedges itself in the air between us.
    The school is closed while the police make enquiries, but the kids know better than to say they’re glad. They watch TV downstairs
     while we drink coffee and wait for the phone to ring. If I can just get through