‘Give me a minute to think about this,’ he said.
She sat looking at the floor while he turned the proposition over in his mind.
&nbs
p; ‘What about Dave?’ he said.
‘What about him?’
‘What about him? You’re doing this for him, aren’t you?’
‘No. He’s just the catalyst. What he said has made me think seriously about how I want to change, that’s all.’
‘But you want to change because you lurve him and you want to make him proud of you?’ Rob couldn’t keep a note of bitterness from his voice.
‘I don’t love him. I’ve never been in love with him. He’s just … I dunno.’
‘There?’
‘Yeah. He’s just there. Shit, that sounds bad.’
No, it doesn’t. Give it a little more thought, just enough to persuade you to dump him.
‘Not really. Since you’re reorganising your life, and he’s part of it, you should think about whether you want him in it. He called you a lazy slob, Ruthie. Whether you agree with him or not, that’s not a very nice thing to say. Is it?’
‘No, I suppose.’
‘You wouldn’t say a thing like that to somebody you were meant to care about, would you?’
‘No.’
‘Well then.’
‘Oh God, this is so difficult. Do you really think I should dump him?’
‘Sounds like he wants you to. If he’s talking to you like that.’
‘You’re right. Yes. You’re right. Oh, God.’
‘Anyway,’ said Rob, not wanting thoughts of Dave to take up any more time than was strictly necessary, ‘whatever you decide, you want me to, uh, take you in hand. So to speak. Is that right?’
‘Mmm.’ She seemed to enjoy his turn of phrase, shutting her eyes and sighing gustily. ‘In hand.’
She looked at his hands and he couldn’t help following suit. He liked his hands. They were good, strong, capable but attractive. He flexed his fingers, admiring them, then felt a twinge of embarrassment at his vanity and coughed.
‘I don’t have any objection to that,’ he said. ‘But you need to make me a list of the things you want me to take charge of. You’ve said tidiness, finances, diet. Anything else?’
‘Don’t let me slack off when I say I’m going in to the university. Make me get up at nine at the latest. Um, you know, that kind of thing.’
‘OK. So far, so easy. But what if you don’t want to?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Ruth, I know you. If you don’t want to do something, you’ll come up with a million excuses and reasons why it’s best not to do it. I don’t want to spend ages arguing with you.’
‘I promise I won’t argue.’
‘Even if the power goes to my head and I start making totally unreasonable demands?’