Warhol's Prophecy

40

THE HALLWAY SMELLED of air-freshener and furniture polish, as if it had been freshly cleaned that morning.

Hailey stood motionless for a moment, glancing around.

There was a staircase directly ahead of her. To her left, slightly ajar, was the door to the sitting room. To her right, another room. The door was tightly closed.

‘Would you like a coffee?’ said Walker, smiling.

Hailey nodded. She followed him through into the kitchen.

‘Sorry about the mess,’ he said as they entered a room to the rear of the house. ‘It seems almost obligatory for blokes who live on their own to have untidy houses, doesn’t it?’

‘I’ve seen worse.’ She smiled at him.

Apart from a couple of unwashed bowls in the sink, the kitchen was actually very neat.

He took some mugs from one of the wall cupboards and flicked on the electric kettle.

‘My own place can get pretty chaotic,’ she assured him, watching as he spooned coffee into the mugs.

‘Well, that’s understandable with you having a little child,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ she murmured.

Becky? Are you betraying her too?

Hailey crossed to the kitchen window and looked out onto the back garden. It stretched for a good seventy feet towards a high privet hedge that enclosed the lawn on three sides, effectively screening it from the neighbours on both sides.

The grass needed cutting.

‘Do you see much of your neighbours?’ she wanted to know.

He shook his head. ‘We nod at each other in the street.’ Walker smiled. ‘That’s about it.’

He filled the two mugs with hot water and set them on the kitchen table. They sat down opposite each other.

‘It’s a big house for one person,’ she commented.

‘I like my own company.’

‘That’s just as well.’

‘It wasn’t much different when my father lived here. I didn’t see that much of him.’ He sipped his coffee. ‘We didn’t have much to talk about.’

Hailey sensed that she should change the subject.

Walker was gazing past her, as if staring at something behind her that she couldn’t see.

‘What about your brother and sister?’ she asked. ‘They were here, weren’t they?’

He looked blank for a second.

‘Oh, right,’ he murmured. ‘It was still like being alone, though. We all kept ourselves to ourselves. They both moved out when they were eighteen: went to university. We don’t keep in touch. We’re not very close.’

‘Have you spoken to your mother since she left?’

He shook his head. ‘She could be dead for all I know,’ he muttered. ‘I’m not sure what I’d say to her after all these years. I suppose I might ask her why she left – if she knew how much pain she was causing.’

‘It must have been hard for you, Adam.’

He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t be the only one it’s happened to, would I? I mean, marriages split up every day, don’t they?’

He looked straight into her eyes.

Hailey found it difficult to hold his gaze.

Yes. They break up every day. Over things like infidelity.

She sipped her coffee.

‘I used to wonder how my father felt when he discovered my mother had left him for another man,’ Walker said. ‘I’m not even sure it bothered him that much. With him being a vicar, he probably thought it was the Will of God or some shit like that.’ There was disdain in his voice. ‘How did you feel when Rob cheated on you?’

‘Angry, hurt and puzzled. I know it might sound big-headed, but I’d always thought I was quite good-looking – good figure and all that. I didn’t understand what she could give him that I couldn’t. Perhaps she was better in bed than I was.’

‘Aren’t mistresses supposed to do things in bed that wives won’t do?’ Walker smiled. ‘That’s the usual excuse, isn’t it?’

‘Rob never missed out on anything,’ she said defiantly.

That’s it. Tell him your sexual details too.

‘Even after I had Becky, we still had a good sex life,’ she continued. ‘He didn’t have to look anywhere else for blow-jobs or any of his little fantasies.’ She lowered her gaze. ‘I’m sorry, Adam.’

‘Are you still angry with him?’

She nodded. ‘I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me.’ She smiled wanly. ‘Caroline said that I should have an affair.’

She looked deeply into Walker’s eyes. The silence between them seemed to stretch into an eternity.

She reached out and touched the back of his hand gently.

Go on. Do it. Do it now.

‘And what do you think about that?’ he wanted to know.

She could feel her heart thudding more insistently against her ribs, her breathing becoming a little more ragged. There was both heat and moisture between her legs as she squeezed her thighs together and shifted on the chair.

‘I think if you’re going to do that, you have to be careful who you do it with,’ she breathed. ‘It’s a dangerous game to play.’

And do you want to play it?

She was still tracing her index finger gently across the back of his hand, aware that the digit was shaking slightly.

He put his hand over hers and squeezed gently, closing his own fingers around hers.

Hailey could feel her nipples pressing insistently against her bra. Her whole body felt as if it was ablaze. Her cheeks were flushed.

Walker, too, fidgeted slightly on his chair, his gaze never leaving hers.

‘Is that what it would be?’ he said softly. ‘A game?’

He felt her foot rubbing slowly against his calf.

As Hailey crossed her legs she felt a steadily growing warmth envelope her. It was as if her blood had been replaced by liquid fire. She sat back slowly, allowing her hand to slip from his, aware of the almost palpable atmosphere in the room.

She ran a hand through her hair and swallowed hard.

‘Show me this artwork you were talking about,’ she said finally.

Walker smiled again.