14
Toby stood up, then sat down again, enjoying the sensation. He caressed her arms gently, then stood up again. He turned round and admired her lines. She was so beautiful, a long, lean slither of leather-clad perfection. He glanced across at her sister and sighed with pleasure.
They were the most beautiful sofas in the world.
They’d arrived half an hour ago, on a big white van with the word CONRAN on the side. Six thousand pounds’ worth of midnight-blue calfskin and milk-coffee suede. He hadn’t intended to blow so much of Gus’s inheritance on sofas. He’d intended to spend a thousand pounds, very wisely, in the sales, on something practical and hard-wearing. He’d gone into the Conran Shop only for inspiration, in much the same way that you might decide to visit a museum or an art gallery, not actually to buy anything. And then a very nice young girl in a black suit had approached him as he browsed and she’d been so charming and so helpful that he’d felt it would have been rude not to accept her offer of assistance. And besides, it was such a novelty to know that for once in his life he could afford something expensive that he’d wanted to savour every aspect of it.
They hadn’t seemed that expensive at the time, in the context of everything being expensive. They were in the sale, 25 per cent off. Compared to some of the other sofas they were a steal, but now he’d got them home, seen them contrasted against the tatty woven rugs and charity-shop coffee table, he was starting to feel a bit stupid. Six thousand pounds. He could have bought two whole bathroom suites for that, or a brand-new kitchen. He could have paid for someone to come in and redecorate the whole house. He could have recarpeted throughout and bought a new boiler. But then, he thought, glancing fondly at his new sofas, where was the wow factor in a cheap kitchen or a swathe of new carpet? Where was the inspiration? These sofas were going to inform the rebirth of this house, set the benchmark for style and taste. These sofas were seminal.
Toby heard the front door go and footsteps behind him. He felt suddenly embarrassed, caught red-handed with expensive sofas. He tried and failed to arrange himself into some kind of natural position, and, when Ruby walked in two seconds later, he was perched on the edge of the coffee table, looking at a copy of Reveal.
‘Oh,’ he said, ‘it’s you.’ He stood up and let the magazine fall to the floor.
‘Oh. My. God.’ She’d seen the sofas. ‘Oh, my God,’ she said again, moving in for a closer look. ‘What are these?’
‘New sofas,’ he sniffed.
‘Yes, I can see that, but, Jesus Christ. I mean – they’re beautiful.’ She caressed one tenderly and let her leather jacket fall to the floor.
Toby smiled grudgingly. ‘Thank you.’
‘I can’t believe you bought these. They must have cost a fortune.’
‘Well, yes, but they were in the sale.’
‘But still. My God. Is this real suede?’
‘Yes.’
She sat down and ran her hands over the mocha suede. ‘Well, Toby Dobbs, who would have guessed that you had such great taste?’
Toby felt a surge of pride rise slowly through him like a bubble in a spirit level.
‘Where are they from?’
‘Conran Shop,’ he mumbled through his fingers.
‘Conran?! Jesus, Toby, did you steal them?’
‘No, of course not. I paid for them. Cash.’
‘But how the hell could you afford them?’
Toby sighed. He’d known he’d have to offer an explanation at some point. ‘Gus.’
‘Gus?’
‘Gus left me some money. In his will.’
Ruby’s eyes widened. ‘No! How much?’
‘A few thousand. Not that much. Not really enough to be buying sofas from the Conran Shop. But I just … I don’t know …’
‘You wanted them?’
‘Yes, I wanted them.’
‘Oh, Tobes,’ Ruby rested a hand on his knee. ‘That’s OK. That’s what normal people do all the time. It’s called extravagance. Embrace it.’
Toby smiled. ‘So,’ he said, ‘you like them, then?’
‘Good,’ he said.
‘But, really,’ she said, ‘how much did Gus leave you? Exactly?’
‘I’m not telling you!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I don’t want anyone else to know.’
‘I won’t tell anyone else.’
‘How do I know that?’
‘Because I promise and I swear.’
‘No,’ he said adamantly, folding his arms.
‘Oh, Toby. I can’t believe you don’t trust me by now.’
‘It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just …’
‘That you don’t trust me. God, Tobes, as if I’d steal your money.’
‘I’m not saying you’d steal it.’
‘Yeah, well, whatever. I’ll find out somehow. You know me.’
Toby smirked. He’d lived with Ruby for fifteen years, but he wasn’t entirely sure he did know her. He knew what she sounded like when she was having sex. He knew what colour her nipples were. He knew her moods and her patterns. But did he know her?
‘So,’ he said, ‘what’s happening with Paul Fox? He hasn’t been around for a while.’
Ruby shrugged and fiddled with a piece of thread hanging off her jumper. ‘Not a lot. We had a bit of a row last week.’
‘Oh, right. What about?’
‘Well, really, I’m not sure what you expect. I mean, the man has a girlfriend, for God’s sake.’
Ruby raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh, God, Tobes, don’t start on me. I don’t need you telling me what to do.’
‘I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but, really, this thing you have going with Paul, it’s just so wrong on so many different levels. I don’t understand why you have to keep underselling yourself the entire time.’
‘You mean you want me to settle down with a nice boy?’
‘Well, yes. Isn’t that what you want?’
‘No. Not even slightly.’
‘But what’s going to happen to you?’
‘Happen?’
‘Yes. Where will you go? What will you do?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I just mean …’ He was about to say, you’re thirty-one, you’re single, you’ve got no career and I’m about to kick you out of the only home you’ve known since you were sixteen. He was about to say, you’re free-falling and you’ve got no one to catch you. He was about to say, I don’t want you to end up like me. But he didn’t. Instead he smiled. ‘I’m just worried about you, that’s all.’
‘Well, don’t be,’ she said. ‘I’m absolutely fine. I can look after myself.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Good.’