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Ewan had felt so guilty about hiding the phone-calls and where he was going that he almost didn’t make the date. He thought of a hundred excuses he could’ve made instead.
It felt like a kind of betrayal, seeing her, going behind Jude’s back. The fact that he had spent half an hour deliberating on what to wear (he’d settled for his cleanest jeans and an old white school shirt) made everything seem even more illicit. But he wanted her to think well of him.
He walked to the cafe feeling like a condemned man. By the time he arrived, his heart was pounding. He was late – he thought he would walk rather than waste money on the tube – and he was scared she would be angry with him. She might even have left.
He hovered in the doorway and was quietly relieved that he couldn’t see her inside. He was off the hook; he wouldn’t have to lie to Jude about anything.
“I almost thought you weren’t coming, Ewan.”
He nearly jumped out of his skin. She’d been sat at a table in the bay window, tucked out of sight. That’s how he’d missed her.
“Can I buy you a coffee?”
“Yes please, I’m a bit cold...” He mentally kicked himself for the nervous stutter in his voice. Whilst she walked elegantly over to the counter, Ewan made himself comfortable. He thought everything she did was elegant. Elegant and glacial. He wondered if he had time to write that down, then remembered he’d left his notebook at home. Hopefully Jude wouldn’t read any of it.
He killed the five minutes by drumming his fingers on the tabletop and looking at the chair opposite him. There was a caramel-coloured wool coat across it, with a bag in leather to match. He didn’t need to touch it to know that it would be soft and expensive. He wondered if her husband had bought it for her. He wondered if she had lied to him to get to this meeting, the way Ewan had lied to Jude.
When she returned, he thanked her a little too profusely for the coffee. Not out of nervous politeness, just because Jude had forgotten to buy milk for three days, so he’d been drinking his instant black and unpalatable. She smiled, and he relaxed a little. He still wasn’t sure how to bring up the reason why they were both here, though. What did she want from him, really?
“Mrs. Law-“
“You can call me Margaret. Ewan, I –“
She sighed, and Ewan saw that she looked older than he remembered. A little fragile.
“We’re worried about him, Ewan. I know his father overreacted, but he wasn’t to know that David,” Ewan grimaced inwardly to hear Jude’s given name, “would storm off like that. Now he wont talk to the family, we have no idea how he is. If we hadn’t persuaded him to take the flat, we’d have no idea where he even was. Those first few days, I was so scared...”
“I can imagine...When he called me and said what happened, I had to come. I didn’t want him to be alone. I know...what he can get like.”
She nodded at that. Who knew, maybe she was secretly relieved that she didn’t have to live with such an angry young man anymore. He thought the two of them were on the same page, concerned about her son. So what she said next surprised him.
“Are you lovers?”
His coffee nearly came out of his nose. He certainly hadn’t been expecting to be asked that on this assignation.
She passed him a napkin. Once he finished choking, he went to correct her. How could she think Jude was gay, much less shagging him, he had more women interested in him than he could physically do anything with-
“You can spare me the details, Ewan. One’s mind couldn’t help but wonder, you two boys being so close, the age you are, living together...His father will be pleased.”
She put her teacup down, took something out of her bag. A purse. Ewan was surprised; it wasn’t the caramel leather to match the bag, but scruffy black nylon. Not the sort of thing he would have expected of Jude’s mother at all. She put it on the table, and picked up her coat.
“There’s five hundred pounds in there. I know you can’t have much. You can tell him you found it in the street.”
He didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything.
“Take care of him for us.” She ruffled his hair before she walked away. An unexpected and affectionate gesture. He missed his own parents, suddenly. He’d go back to see them soon.