Mimi

Mimi drew her knees up and – adjusting her iPad on her lap – re-read the dialogue.

‘Am I adopted?’ she asked her mother.

Her mother’s eyes shifted to the left. ‘Of course you’re not, Christiana. Whatever made you think such a thing?’

‘You don’t like me. You never give me a cuddle.’

‘You know I don’t like cuddling.’

‘Yes, you do. You cuddle Rufus.’

‘Well, he’s not naughty, is he?’

‘Yes, he is. He poos on the lawn and chews the cushions…’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. He’s a dog.’

Mimi stopped and considered the name: Rufus. It was ridiculous, just the sort of clichéd name her mother would choose for a dog. As for Christiana: well chosen. Pretentious, just like her own name, Imogen.

A shadow moved somewhere outside her iPad and she looked up. She’d seen a few apes wandering nonchalantly along the balcony railings, mainly mothers with babies clamped to their backs or hanging from their underbellies, but this fucker could win prizes. He was huge and, without so much as a by-your-leave, pressed his nose against the glass door. She stared back at him, as much transfixed by him as he was by her. There was something vaguely sexual about his stance, the provocative way his gaze slowly moved down her body and back to her face. She shuddered.

The phone rang. She reached for it without taking her eyes off the animal.

‘Imogen’s room.’

‘Hey Mimi,’ said her brother in that annoying put-on cheerful voice he’d adopted to try and jolly her along. ‘How’s the writing going?’

‘You know what I’m looking at? This massive ape on my balcony. It’s just sitting there, staring me out.’

‘Whatever you do, don’t open the door or feed it or anything.’

‘What’re you like?’

‘Look, I’d like your input. I’m going to see an apartment… sounds different to what we’ve seen so far and…’

‘My input?’ What about her?’

‘Eva’s out.’ He softened his voice even more. ‘Sweetheart, come on, it’ll be fun. I’m tired of living out of a suitcase.’

She studied the ape. The eye contact did not waver and a smear of slobber streaked the glass. How was she supposed to go out and smoke? The apes even nicked the ashtrays off the tables.

‘Yeah, okay,’ she said with a sigh.

‘Great! See you in reception in five.’

She set down her tablet and got out of bed. So much for her disciplined writing schedule. Sebastian pretended to take her ambition seriously, but kept asking if she would like to enrol in the local college for September. Or perhaps get some work experience. He was so bloody transparent. Perhaps he just wanted her out during the day so he could have wild sex with his new woman.

But no-one was going to tell her how to live her life. She’d been gritting her teeth in Surrey, waitressing at Burger King, waiting for Sebastian to say she could join him in Gibraltar. Now was her time. She was going to climb out of her mind-pit and reinvent herself, leaving the past in her novel.