Read Online Don't Get Me Wrong by Marianne Kavanagh - Free Book Online Page A

job?”
    â€œI still haven’t heard anything.” Kim bit her lip. “I’m trying not to think about it. But it was perfect. A national charity campaigning against homelessness.”
    â€œWhich, given your personal circumstances,” said Izzie, “sounds ideal.”
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    Whenever she and Harry were alone together without Eva, Kim felt embarrassed. They were like two politicians meeting in a corridor in Brussels, desperately in need of a translator.
    On this particular Sunday afternoon, Eva was upstairs asleep when Kim got back from the supermarket. Eva often disappeared to her room these days. “It’s all these baby cells multiplying and growing,” she’d say. “It’s exhausting.” Kim wandered into the kitchen, carrying her plastic carrier bags, to find Harry sitting at the table. It shouldn’t have surprised her. He still treated the Nunhead house as his second home. But her heart banged unpleasantly at the sight of him. One moment she was thinking about nothing very much—the crunch of Cox’s apples, how Condoleezza Rice found time to play the piano. The next she was on red alert, marshalling her thoughts into a defensive position, turning herself into a fiercely guarded fortress with archers on the turrets and boiling oil at the ready.
    Harry had the local paper open on the table in front of him. “So where should it be?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œEva’s new flat.”
    Kim put the shopping on the working surface by the kettle. “Ask Eva.”
    â€œI have asked Eva. She said to ask you.”
    Kim frowned. “Why?”
    â€œBecause she wants to be near you. Obviously.”
    Kim turned her back and took out an economy jar of store-brand instant coffee. “Izzie and I are looking round New Cross.”
    â€œVery edgy.”
    â€œEdgy?”
    â€œOn trend.”
    â€œYou have no idea,” said Kim, swinging round to face him, “what you’re talking about.”
    Harry laughed.
    â€œWe’re looking round New Cross because that’s all we can afford.”
    â€œI could help.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œJust no?”
    Kim narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want your help.”
    Harry sat back in his chair. “Look at it this way. I work in the City and make an obscene amount of money. You’ve just got a short-term charity job that will pay you almost nothing. If I make a small contribution towards your rent, it’s a redistribution of wealth. Social justice in action. The triumph of New Labour.”
    â€œIt’s not funny.”
    â€œI’m not joking.”
    Kim glared at him. “You’re Eva’s friend. If you want to pay for her flat, that’s fine.” It’s your bloody baby. “But you’re not my friend. I don’t want any money from you.”
    Harry put his hand on his heart as if she’d wounded him. “Not your friend?”
    â€œNo.”
    Harry looked down at the table. After a while, he said, “Eva’s the only family I’ve got.”
    For a moment, fleetingly, Kim wondered what he meant.
    â€œShe looked after me when I needed her. So I want to look after her.”
    Oh, thought Kim. A new little game. Harry’s soft and caring side. Showing just enough emotion to bring me to heel. But I won’t play. I can tell, just from looking at your face, that you’re hiding what you really think. “I’m not stopping you looking after her.”
    Harry waited.
    â€œBut I don’t want you to look after me.”
    There was something in his eyes she couldn’t read. It was like standing in a lit doorway trying to make out the shadows in a darkened room.
    Harry gave an exaggerated sigh. “So we’re back to where we started. I’m going to rent a flat for Eva. Where should it be?”
    â€œSomewhere surrounded by trees.”
    â€œWhy?”
    Kim shrugged as if