The Dinner Guest by B Walter (best short books to read txt) 📕

and laid an arm over his shoulder. ‘It’ll be OK,’ I said. ‘We’ll talk to him.’

‘Do you think we should involve the school?’ He took his head away from his hands and looked at me.

‘I … I don’t know. Perhaps it would be best to handle it privately. We don’t want to, well, overreact…’ I said, treading carefully.

Matthew moved his jaw a little from side to side, something he does occasionally when he’s thinking. ‘We would, you know … if Titus were a girl, and the eighteen-year-old was a boy. We would tell the school. So is this any different?’

I let out a sigh. After the evening I’d had, racing across London, talking to police, getting incident numbers, not being able to get through to Matthew throughout it all … I really didn’t need another slab of drama to go with the rest of it. ‘Are you saying we’d be sexist if we didn’t?’

It was his turn to sigh now. ‘God, I don’t know. I just feel like … like I’m failing. That he’s become a victim in two different ways, and I didn’t know. Both from that gang who could have hurt him far worse than they actually did, and now he’s being … I don’t know what … seduced by this woman.’

‘I think “woman” might be pushing it,’ I said. ‘She’s still a schoolgirl. She probably doesn’t think she’s doing any harm.’

I felt Matthew tense and move away from me. ‘Again, I don’t think you’d be saying that if the genders were reversed.’

This annoyed me. ‘Well what do you want me to say? That we should call the police and report her? I don’t mean to sound like some sex-offender apologist, but it really doesn’t sound like he’s been coerced or forced into anything. And anyway, how old were you when you had your first experience?’

He frowned. ‘I was fifteen.’

I raised my eyebrows at him. ‘And the other … er … participant?’

He didn’t meet my eye when he answered. ‘Seventeen, I think. I’m sure I told you about it ages ago.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘I’m of course not saying this doesn’t need sorting out, I just think we might need to pause and consider our best steps before we go crashing into the situation and potentially ruin people’s lives.’

He continued to look back at me for a few seconds, then nodded. ‘OK. You’re right. I just don’t like it. That sound of … dismissive behaviour. Easy come, easy go. It reminds me of his…’ He stopped speaking for a moment and I finished his sentence for him.

‘His father. I know.’ I let my arm fall down onto his and gave it a small squeeze of support. ‘Come on, we should probably get an early night and talk to Titus about it in the morning when we’re not all het up.’

He gave me a small nod. ‘That sounds like a good plan.’

I was sitting in bed when Matthew said it. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for the confusion about where he was and the distraction of learning Titus, aged fourteen, was no longer a virgin, I’d have expected the conversation to reach the topic of Rachel sooner.

‘We should have her over to dinner. Rachel, that is.’

I pulled my eyes away from our upcoming book-club choice, and looked over at him, adopting an I’m-just-processing-the-question look. I’d heard him clearly enough – my whirring brain hadn’t taken in any of the words on the page since I’d opened the book five minutes before – but I wanted to buy time. I had the feeling our discussion had the potential to descend into a row, and by that point in the evening, my stamina just wasn’t up to it.

‘Why? Because of her helping Titus?’ I asked.

He stared at me like I was a dimwit. ‘Of course because of her helping Titus.’

I said nothing for a bit whilst he pulled off his clothes and got into bed. Then, at last, I voiced the thing that had been most on my mind ever since seeing her there, in the police station. ‘I’m puzzled why you don’t think the whole thing’s a bit odd. Surely this is too much of a coincidence? Her being there, ready to be the hero.’

‘I’m puzzled why you’re not already ordering her flowers as a thank-you. She saved our son from potential death.’ He emphasised the words, his eyes wide and, stupidly, I laughed.

‘Potential death? Oh, come on.’

‘Do you know how many people have been stabbed in London this year alone? Most of them are boys and young men, too. Just because we live in our cosy little cotton-wool world, doesn’t mean things like that can’t knock on our door.’

I tried to slam my book shut in protest at his condescending tone, but it didn’t really have the desired effect, since it was an old and flimsy paperback. ‘Of course I know that. I read the news.’

‘Then you’ll know,’ he continued, ‘that things like that can go tragically wrong. So many people would have just carried on past him. Many probably did when they saw those boys rounding on him. But Rachel chose not to. And that makes her more than just a good friend. It makes her amazingly brave, and worthy of thanks. I think a nice evening of food and wine at a restaurant or here, if you prefer, is a small price to pay as a thank-you, even if you are prejudiced against her.’

I grimaced. ‘I’m not prejudiced. I’m just … I don’t know. It just all seems too perfect.’

Matthew made a noise of disbelief as he reached over to turn off the light. ‘What do you think she’s doing? Following Titus around the streets of London, hoping for a chance to save him from some thugs? That would be a bit of a strange thing to do, wouldn’t it?’

Chapter Twelve Rachel

Ten months to go

Deciding to follow Titus as he made his way from Westminster to Kensington had been a