50

Amaka’s eyes darted towards the door.

‘Who’s that?’ she said.

The handle turned and it began to open. She sat up in the water, reached for the towel and covered herself. ‘Who’s that?’

Eyitayo entered the bathroom. She was in a blue kimono and she had a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hands. ‘It’s just me,’ she said, using her bum to shut the door behind her. Amaka returned the towel to the rack and sank back into the bathtub.

‘Here,’ Eyitayo said. She handed a glass to Amaka and filled it, then moved the candle from the toilet lid onto the edge of the washbasin and sat.

Another knock on the door.

‘Go away,’ Eyitayo said. ‘Girls talk.’

‘Can I open the door?’ Gabriel said.

‘No. She’s naked.’

‘Shebi, it is bubble bath. I won’t see anything.’

‘No it is not bubble bath and that’s not the point.’

‘OK. I’ll open it and just sit against the wall out here. So we can all talk.’

‘And who told you we want to talk to you?’

Gabriel opened the door. His eyes were covered with one hand, a bottle of Remy Martin wedged under his armpit, and a cup in the other hand.

‘Hey!’ Eyitayo said.

‘Sorry, sorry,’ he said. He left the door wide open and sat outside on the ground, his back against the wall next to the door.

‘Just say the word and I’ll send him to bed,’ Eyitayo said to Amaka.

‘He’s alright. We’ll let him play,’ Amaka said.

‘He can stay up late?’

‘Yeah. He can stay up late. Just today.’

‘OK. But only today.’

‘Amaka,’ Gabriel said, ‘when last did you hear this?’

‘Hear what?’

‘Hold on.’

Moments later the long instrumental intro to Fela Kuti’s Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am began playing from the sound system in the living room. ‘It’s the most chilled out song I’ve ever heard,’ Gabriel said, humming along with the saxophone.

‘Guy called,’ Eyitayo said. ‘I’m sorry, I told him you got your phone back.’

‘I know,’ Amaka said. ‘He called me. It’s alright.’

‘Are you guys going to be OK?’

‘There is no ‘you guys’.’

‘He really likes you,’ Gabriel said from outside.

‘Shut up, nobody asked you,’ Eyitayo said.

‘Just saying,’ Gabriel said.

‘I’m really sorry about Chioma,’ Eyitayo said.

‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I should have told her what I was planning.’

‘He’s not going to implicate himself over the phone now, is he?’

‘I doubt it. I really wish I’d not lost that phone. I had them. All those bastards, I recorded their faces. I’m sure I got his face as well.’

Amaka held her glass out for Eyitayo to refill it, then sat up. Eyitayo backed away to avoid being splashed.

‘Why didn’t I think of that before?’ Amaka said. ‘I know what to do.’