and she would make sure he didn't see anything. Not that it was anything he had not seen before, in the days that Terri brought strangers home ...
But, exhausted as he was, Fats was revolted. He could not do it in the grass, under the eye of a small boy.
'Nah,' he said, trying to sound offhand.
''E won' bother,' said Krystal. ''E's got 'is Rolos. 'E won' even know,' she said, although she thought that was a lie. Robbie knew too much. There had been trouble at nursery when he'd mimicked doing it doggy-style on another child.
Krystal's mother, Fats remembered, was a prostitute. He hated the idea of what she was suggesting, but was that not inauthenticity?
'Whassamatter?' Krystal asked him aggressively.
'Nothing,' he said.
Dane Tully would do it. Pikey Pritchard would do it. Cubby, not in a million years.
Krystal walked Robbie to the bench. Fats bent to peer over the back of it, down to the overgrown patch of weeds and bushes, and thought that the kid might not see anything, but that he would be as quick as he could, in any case.
''Ere y'are,' Krystal told Robbie, pulling out the long tube of Rolos while he reached for them excitedly. 'Yeh can 'ave all of 'em if yeh jus' sit 'ere fer a minute, all righ'? Yeh jus' sit 'ere, Robbie, an' I'll be in them bushes. D'yeh understand, Robbie?'
'Yeah,' he said happily, his cheeks already full of chocolate and toffee.
Krystal slipped and slid down the bank towards the patch of undergrowth, hoping that Fats was not going to make any difficulties about doing it without a condom.
Part Five Chapter X
X
Gavin was wearing sunglasses against the glare of the morning sun, but that was no disguise: Samantha Mollison was sure to recognize his car. When he caught sight of her, striding along the pavement alone with her hands in her pockets and her head down, Gavin made a sharp left turn, and instead of continuing along the road to Mary's, crossed the old stone bridge, and parked up a side lane on the other side of the river.
He did not want Samantha to see him parking outside Mary's house. It did not matter on work days, when he wore a suit and carried a briefcase; it had not mattered before he had admitted to himself what he felt about Mary, but it mattered now. In any case, the morning was glorious and a walk bought him time.
Still keeping my options open, he thought, as he crossed the bridge on foot. There was a small boy sitting by himself on a bench, eating sweets, below him. I don't have to say anything ... I'll play it by ear ...
But his palms were wet. The thought of Gaia telling the Fairbrother twins that he was in love with their mother had haunted him all through a restless night.
Mary seemed pleased to see him.
'Where's your car?' she asked, peering over his shoulder.
'Parked it down by the river,' he said. 'Lovely morning. I fancied a walk, and then it occurred to me that I could mow the lawn if you - '
'Oh, Graham did it for me,' she said, 'but that's so sweet of you. Come in and have a coffee.'
She chatted as she moved around the kitchen. She was wearing old cut-off jeans and a T-shirt; they showed how thin she was, but her hair was shiny again, the way he usually thought of it. He could see the twin girls, lying out on the freshly mown lawn on a blanket, both with headphones in, listening to their iPods.
'How are you?' Mary asked, sitting down beside him.
He could not think why she sounded so concerned; then he remembered that he had found time to tell her, yesterday, during his brief visit, that he and Kay had split up.
'I'm OK,' he said. 'Probably for the best.'
She smiled and patted his arm.
'I heard last night,' he said, his mouth a little dry, 'that you might be moving.'
'News travels fast in Pagford,' she said. 'It's just an idea. Theresa wants me to move back to Liverpool.'
'And how do the kids feel about that?'
'Well, I'd wait for the girls and Fergus to do their exams in June. Declan's not so much of a problem. I mean, none of us wants to leave ...'
She melted into tears in front of him, but he was so happy that he reached out to touch her delicate wrist.
'Of course you don't ...'
'... Barry's grave.'
'Ah,' said Gavin, his happiness snuffed out like a