Read Online The Truth About Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell - Free Book Online Page A

the shoe shop. She hadn’t said anything about the man, in fact, since they’d seen him.
    She saw him the moment they got out of Susie’s car on the sea front. He was sitting on a bench, reading a book, the sun shining directly onto him. He looked up when he heard the car door slam and for a brief moment, he looked exactly like a picture of Jesus that Aunt Susie had on her kitchen wall.
    Aunt Susie drove away and they started across the road towards the shops. He got up off the bench and approached them. He was wearing a blue cotton shirt and ripped army trousers and his long hair was tied back from his face. Melody found she couldn’t stop looking at him, even when she wanted to.
    ‘Hello again,’ he said.
    Jane jumped at the sound of his voice. ‘Oh God,’ she began.
    ‘Listen up, listen up,’ he said. ‘First of all, an apology.’ He put his hand to his heart. ‘I was way out of line last week. I’m really sorry. That was no way to approach a stranger. But the thing is, I get these … insights . Instantaneous. Bam ! Just like that. I see someone, I know them. And I get carried away. Can you forgive me?’
    He smiled at Jane and his eyes creased at the corners.
    ‘It’s fine,’ muttered Jane, ‘honestly. Don’t worry about it.’
    ‘I wanted to make it up to you. Let me buy you a coffee.’
    ‘No, really, it’s –’
    ‘You’re in a hurry?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Where you off to?’
    ‘We’ve got to get new shoes for my daughter.’
    ‘Ah,’ he smiled, ‘school shoes?’
    Melody flushed and nodded.
    ‘Back to school. I remember that feeling. Which year are you in? One? Two?’
    ‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘reception.’
    ‘Reception!’ he smiled. ‘Wow. You look too big to be in reception. I thought you must be at least six.’
    Melody smiled and pushed herself against her mother’s body.
    ‘Well, anyway, I’ll let you get on. And if you change your mind about that coffee, I’ll be just here.’ He pointed at the bench, where his paperback still lay. ‘And again,’ he said, ‘a thousand apologies for the other day. I didn’t mean to freak you out.’
    ‘It’s fine,’ said Jane, a smile just forming at the furthest reaches of her mouth. ‘Really. Forget about it.’
    ‘Then I’m forgiven?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Jane, ‘you’re forgiven.’
    The man smiled, wiped imaginary sweat off his forehead and headed back to the bench.
    ‘By the way,’ he shouted, as they rounded the corner. ‘My name’s Ken!’
    It was raining as they approached the address on the piece of paper Ken had given them last week, with their few meagre possessions in battered suitcases and bulging shoulder bags. Neither of them had thought to bring an umbrella and they were damp in their summer clothes. They stopped for a moment on the pavement and appraised the building. It was a battered Regency villa on a square just behind the sea front. Melody looked up at the circling gulls and moved out of the way as one of them released a large monochrome dollop inches from her feet.
    Ken appeared at the front door. He skipped down the front steps in bare feet and scooped up their luggage. ‘Hello, Jane,’ he said to her mother, ‘and hello Melody. Welcome,’ he said, ‘welcome to your new home.’ He showed them to a large room at the top of the house with sloping ceilings and small windows.
    It was furnished simply with a single bed dressed in a patchwork quilt, a set of white wrought-iron bunk beds and a wardrobe made of stripped pine.
    ‘In the eaves,’ he said, lowering his head to open the window. ‘Not great for us tall folk, but perfect for you little ones.’ He turned and winked at Melody and she smiled at him and wondered what eaves were.
    After Ken had gone, Melody and her mum sat on the single bed together and stared out of the window. Jane looked tired. Her eyes had changed colour over the past year, from an electric aqua blue, to a kind of disinterested periwinkle. When Melody looked at