“Why? Alec, what happened?”
“I came out to them, and it went about as well as I’d expected.” Alec’s laugh was bitter. “My father could hardly even look me in the eye.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. Well… he asked me why I’d lied, so I told him a few home truths. And then he had nothing more to say to me. He wouldn’t even look at me. So I left.”
“Are you going back to London?”
“I suppose.” There was a long silence, and then Alec’s voice was quiet again when he said, “I don’t want to be alone.”
Ed had never heard him sound so lost. “Come here,” he blurted. “I mean… if you want. My mum won’t mind.” He waited, listening to the soft sound of Alec’s breathing. “Okay, no, sorry. Was that a stupid idea? The last thing you want right now is to have to deal with my family. I can come back to London instead if you—”
“No,” Alec cut in. “No. I’d like to come to you. You’re in Worthing, yes? Can you text me your address and postcode? I think it’ll take me a couple of hours to get there from here.”
Bloody hell. Ed hadn’t expected Alec to take him up on his impulsive offer. But Alec sounded like he could use a friend right now, and Ed wasn’t going to leave him in the lurch. “Okay. I’ll do that as soon as we end the call. Are you sure you’re okay driving. I mean, if you’re upset?”
“I’m okay,” Alec assured him. “I’m feeling weirdly calm, actually, but the driving will give me some time to think and get my head round things. I’ll be fine.”
“Right. Well, travel safe, then, and I’ll see you later. If you need more directions or get lost, just call me.”
“Thanks, Ed. I really appreciate this. Bye for now.”
The call ended, and Ed stared at the screen for a moment before pulling himself together and sending the text with the address.
“Shit,” he muttered, wondering what on earth he’d let himself in for.
Back in the kitchen, he sidled up to his mum at the cooker where she was stirring the sauce for the lasagne. “So… Mum. I have this friend, Alec, who needs some company. I… uh, I told him he could come here. I wasn’t expecting him to agree, but he did. Sorry, I know I should have asked you first, but is it okay if he turns up later?”
Her brow crinkled with concern. “Of course, love. You know any friend of yours is welcome here. I assume he’d rather sleep in your room than on the sofa?”
“Yeah, I should think so.” Ed tried to imagine Alec in his childhood bedroom. The image was a strange one.
“Can you make up an extra bed on the floor for him? There’s the fold-out mattress in the twins’ room that the girls use when they have friends for sleepovers, and a spare duvet and pillows in the top of my wardrobe.”
“Okay.” Ed turned to go.
“Is he all right, this friend of yours?” his mum asked. “Is there anything I need to know about?”
Ed wasn’t sure Alec would be comfortable with him explaining. “I think it’s family stuff… a falling-out,” he said vaguely. “I don’t know all the details yet.”
“Okay. You go and make up that bed, and I’ll add some more veggies to this sauce to make it stretch a little further.”
His mum seemed to pick up on his reluctance to explain more, and Ed was grateful. “Thanks, Mum.”
When he got the fold-out bed from the twins’ room, he was subject to another inquisition: “Who’s coming to stay?” “Do we know him?” “How old is he?” “Is he your boyfriend?”
At least these questions were easy to answer. “He’s called Alec. No, you don’t know him. He’s thirtyish, I think—I’m not actually sure—and no, he’s not my boyfriend.”
Unfortunately, Ed thought. But not for want of trying on my part.
In his own room, Ed fitted the mattress into the space between his single bed and the desk. Once done, there wasn’t a lot of floor space left, just enough to move around the extra bed. When he’d made it up ready for Alec, he went back down to help his mum.
Ed’s nerves mounted as he waited for Alec to arrive. The thought of him being here was thrilling, yet terrifying too. He looked around at the cluttered kitchen. It was steamed up from the cooking, bright paintings that the twins brought home from school were stuck up on the pin board, and there were dirty fingermarks on the wall and worn patches on the lino floor. It was a far cry from Alec’s pristine flat. He wondered what Alec would make of the chaos.
He and his mum were alone in the kitchen now. Gemma had disappeared off with her phone—to text Zac no doubt—and the twins were in the living room with Greg who was watching the football.