493

“I know,” replied Luigi.  And he did.  He remembered Cody’s reaction when he had cut him out of his life.   The way he had sobbed as he walked away from the flat.  “Thing is … how many women will be OK with you having a bloke in your life?  A lover?  Even if they know about it right from the beginning?”

“I know.  It’s …. Yeah, I know.  Thank you, Lou.”

“For what?  I chucked you out and you went on to pick up the murderer.  Thanks aren’t needed, mate.”

 “I deserved it.  I lied to you and to her.  I lied and lied and lied.  I pretended one thing and did another.”

Luigi didn’t know how to react to this bitter outburst.  It was true.  And it was that which had so hurt and angered him.  The deceit.  The lies.  Would have been so angry if he’d known from the first that Cody was married?  That his wife would come first?  He tried to imagine whether he would have fallen in love if he’d known Cody was married. 

“Cody, you can’t go back and change what you did.  All you can do is try not to do it again.”

“No Try not.  Do … or do not.  There is no try.”  Cody’s voice was solemn.

Luigi burst out laughing.  Cody looked at him and then also started laughing.  Luigi nearly drove off the side of the road he was laughing so much.

“Tool!” he said, still laughing.  “I know, let’s get the video tonight.  And a bottle of champers. ” Luigi said, still chuckling.   “The Force is strong in you, Yody.”

The crisis was over.  For now.  But both knew it would return.

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Episodes 1 to 480 (without pictures, 20 episodes per chapter)  

409

He’d come in at about 11 pm just as the café was closing. 

“Sorry, we’re closing,” she’d said, automatically.

“Gao on!  It’s not quite 11 yet!”

“Well, the coffee machine’s been shut down.”  She stared at him blandly.

He bowed.  “O esteemed princess!  Howzabout a cup of grayn tay, then all you’ll have to do is rinse out the cup afterwards?  And we c’n have a sip of this!”  He reached inside his jacket and removed a small bottle of brandy.

“Where’d you get that?” she exclaimed.  As soon as she’d spoken, she thought how silly she was.  He’d prolly bought it at a bottle shop.  There was one down the road, open until 10.  Or he’d bought it earlier, the day before perhaps.  Why should he have obtained it lately?

“I pinched it,” he said calmly.

“Where from?”

“Nex’ door.  I work there.”

“Are you gay?”  She cursed herself for letting the question slip out.  Just because The Lord Grey was a gay pub.

“Who wants to knaow?” he asked, drily, withdrawing a little.

“Why,” she said, suddenly feeling oddly happy, “The Countess Esmeralda at your service.  Come this way, Prince Charming.  Green tea on its way.”

She made some for him and herself, and sat down opposite him.

“The answer’s ‘yes’,” he said.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes I’m gay.  And you?”

“Oh.  No.  I don’t know.  My best friend’s gay.  But I prefer men, I think.”  She thought of her father and wondered.  But then, her mother hadn’t exactly been an icon for womanhood.

“That’s what I feel too,” he said, grinning.

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Episodes 1 to 260 (without pictures, 10 episodes per chapter

407

Esmé’s TER score was high enough for her to choose any course of study at uni.  But she didn’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer.  She wanted to study French.  For her it was still a gateway to enchantment, a getaway from what had been done to her.  It was the romance of a different culture, of a far-away place, of escape from hell, that attracted her.  Once, she’d explained the attraction to Luke, who was studying the French horn at the music conservatorium.  He said that being big helped you play the horn; and also that not many people took it up because it was so fiendishly difficult, so his chances of getting a post afterwards in a real orchestra were much better than with other instruments.  They had to move house twice because their housemates complained about the racket. (Mozart’s second racket).  They stayed together when they moved, because each was the other’s best friend.  Esmé rather liked the sound of the French horn.  Especially when it was muted by distance.

“It’s always my friend,” she answered when he’d asked what was so special about French.  “No unpleasant arguments.  Always there, happy to let me share.”

“Yeah, that’s like me and food!  My best friend.” 

Esmé knew Luke well enough to hear the bitterness underneath the seemingly unemotional words.

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Episodes 1 to 260 (without pictures, 10 episodes per chapter