Expecting to Fly (4 page)

Joe looked deeply into my eyes, then he leaned over and kissed my forehead. ‘Zen, huh? That’s what I like about you, Ruspoli. I never know what’s going on in that head of
yours. Some girls are so predictable, but not you. I never know what you’re going to come out with next.’

‘Just call me Miss Enigma,’ I said and half closed my eyes in an attempt to make myself look mysterious. If he only knew what was really going on in my head. Me, Zen. Hah! I was as
far from being calm and Zen as was possible and what was really going on in my head was a voice saying,
Don’t leave, Joe. Please don’t leave
.

‘So do you think Adam and Matt will move in?’ asked Dylan as we fetched Mum’s tiramisu dessert from the kitchen. We were having Sunday lunch on the first
weekend in February and it was being served in the proper dining room at the back of the house. We had to set the table in there, because you could seat up to twenty and there wasn’t enough
room for all of us around the kitchen table where we normally ate. This time we were fourteen. Aunt Sarah and Kate. Mum, Dad, Ethan, his wife Jess and the twins, Eleanor and Lara. Lewis. Dylan and
me and then Tom and his boys, Matt and Adam. It would have been fifteen if Joe had come – he often stayed for meals, slotting in like one of the family. That day, however, he had to go with
his mum to help her with her monthly shop for groceries and then he was going to play football.

‘I’m beginning to think that it’s a distinct possibility,’ I said. ‘Does it worry you?’

Dylan stopped for a moment. ‘Not sure,’ he said. ‘What do you think of them?’

‘Sweet. Shy. I think it must be hard for them.’When Tom had brought his boys into the front room to meet everyone, they’d looked terrified and younger than their respective ten
and eight years. Everyone did what they could to make them feel at home and they had relaxed a little, but both of them spent a lot of time looking at the floor, stayed near their dad and were
polite in the way that Dylan and I are when we are with complete strangers. Tom must have primed them beforehand to be on their best behaviour and say please and thank you. The eldest one, Adam,
looked just like him, same brown hair and open face; the younger one was paler and smaller in frame with wide blue eyes.
He must take after their mum,
I thought. I felt for them. It must
have been so hard losing her, making huge adjustments, and today having to come into an unfamiliar house and not just meet Kate but the whole lot of us in one go. If I had been asked, I would have
told Aunt Sarah to introduce us one or two at a time, not throw them in the deep end. Meeting so many new people must have been overwhelming, but maybe she was nervous too – about bringing
them into her home and wondering if they would accept her – and so wanted her family around for support. It couldn’t have been easy for her either.

‘Think we’ll be chucked out?’ asked Dylan.

‘Aunt Sarah said she’d never do that.’

‘Hmm. Can’t see it working though, can you? I mean Aunt Sarah was single when we first came to live here. It will be different if Tom moves in. There are too many of us Ruspolis
here. He’ll feel outnumbered. Not at first but he will in the end. A man needs to feel his home is his castle. He won’t know who is boss. Aunt Sarah? Dad? No. It could get
very
complicated. I think we have to go.’ He sighed then as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, picked up the tiramisu and took it into the dining room.

I followed him in with a dish of raspberries and strawberries. Dylan did make me smile. Some days he was a forty-year-old man trapped in a twelve-year-old body.

After Tom and the boys had gone and the rest of us were still sitting around the table chatting, Mum and Dad beckoned to Dylan, Lewis and me to follow them into the kitchen. On
the way out, I noticed Dad pick up a file from the top of the sideboard.

‘What is it, Dad?’ asked Dylan, when we had reached the kitchen and Dad had shut the door behind us.

‘I wanted to have a quiet word with you about our future —’ he started.

‘I knew it,’ said Dylan.‘We’re homeless again.’

‘Why do you say that?’ said Mum.‘India Jane, have you been putting ideas into his head?’

‘Hey, don’t blame me. He has his own ideas.’

‘We won’t be homeless,’ said Dad.‘Of that I can assure you.’

‘So what’s going on then?’ asked Dylan.‘Give it to us straight.’ Dear Dylan, anyone would have thought he was asking if he was going to live or die after major
surgery.

‘OK,’ said Dad.‘First sit down at the table, relax.’

We sat. We didn’t relax.

‘Today we met Tom and his boys,’ Dad continued.‘Last week, Sarah told your mother and I that they have decided to give it a go and live together so, yes, they will be moving
in. As you all know, your Aunt Sarah has been more than generous with her home these last months, but it was always meant to be a temporary arrangement while your mum and I found our feet and you
two got settled at schools. Now it’s time to move on.’

I felt my heart sink.
Oh Lord, here it comes. Where’s it to be? India? South America? The Isle of Bongo-wunga-land?

‘Where will you go, Mum? And when?’ Lewis asked. He looked as anxious as I was – even though he no longer lived with us, I knew he loved having us nearby.

‘Absolutely no rush,’ she replied.‘We will only go when we have found somewhere.’

‘Yes, but
where
, Mum?’ I asked.

Dad opened his file and put a pile of brochures on the table. ‘From estate agents,’ he said.‘We’re on the hunt and I want you to help. It has to be somewhere reasonably
near your school but probably not Holland Park. I don’t think we can afford the prices here.’

‘Near school? Dad, did you say near school?’ I asked.

Dad nodded.

‘So you won’t be moving as in to another continent or country?’ asked Lewis.

‘Heavens no. Not the time for it. I have work with the orchestra. Your mother has work making her bath products to sell in Sarah’s shop. And we need to be reasonably near if only to
do your laundry, Lewis, and I want to be near my grandchildren.’

‘Cheek,’ said Lewis, although he couldn’t deny it. He was always turning up with bin bags full of dirty washing to be done.

I could have fainted with joy. I didn’t have to leave my mates or Joe. Phew, phew and phew.

‘We wanted to let you know our plans first, then we will tell Ethan and the others. Kate knows about Tom moving in, but she doesn’t know about us going. OK so far?’ asked
Dad.

Dylan shrugged. Lewis and I nodded.

‘We thought now would be a good time to let everyone know while the family is gathered,’ said Dad. He didn’t have to wait long, because the door pushed open and all the others
piled through.

‘What’s going on?’ asked Kate.

Dylan pointed at the brochures.

‘Is someone moving?’ asked Ethan.

Kate flicked back her long dark hair from her face in a gesture of annoyance. ‘I want my own flat,’ she said.

The noise level escalated as everyone started talking at once.

‘
ATTENZIONE!
’ Dad called.‘You can talk later, just let me speak will you?’

Everyone shut up and turned back to him.

‘Right. That’s better. Now, Sarah, do you want to speak?’

‘No, you go ahead,’ she said.

He turned and picked up a wad of papers and brochures. ‘Dylan, India Jane, Fleur and I will be moving,’ he said.‘Not far. Not out of London.’

Mum got up to join him.‘I’d also like to say something. First, thanks to my lovely sister for making us feel that this was our home and I wish you all the best for your future with
Tom. You deserve to be loved and you deserve to be happy.’

Sarah smiled, but I noticed Kate roll her eyes when Mum said this. I hadn’t spoken to her lately and wondered how she felt about having her home invaded again. She’d been good about
us moving in, considering how different it must have been to when it was just her and her mother.
Change. It upsets everything,
I thought. Sometimes I wished things could just stay as they
were.

‘Thank you,’ said Aunt Sarah.‘Early days but . . . yes, I do feel ready, but I want to assure you all that there is no rush. Only go when you have found somewhere you are happy
with.’

‘In that case, we’re here for ever then,’ said Dylan. Everyone laughed and Dylan began to polish off a bowl of crisps that were on the table as though his declaration resolved
everything and we were staying put.

Afterwards, I went straight upstairs to email the girls, including Erin, and then I called Joe. I wanted to share the good news about us staying nearby, even if he hadn’t
seemed that bothered when I had first told him about the possible move. He sounded delighted.

‘Let’s celebrate. Come out,’ he said. ‘I’m down near Notting Hill tube, going to meet some mates later. Come and join us.’

‘Cool,’ I said. ‘And I can help Dad and look in some estate agents’ windows while I’m there.’

Half an hour later, I saw Joe sitting on a bench. He waved when he saw me, wrapped me in a big hug when I got to him and wouldn’t let me go until he had almost squeezed the breath out of
me.

‘Excellent news,’ he said, when he finally released me. ‘I am so pleased you’re not going away.’

‘Really? Because the other day you acted like it was no big deal.’

Joe shrugged, then smiled. ‘I don’t always know what I’m feeling until later. Like that day you told me about the possibility of you going, it was only when I got home that I
thought,Whoa, India leaving? No, that wouldn’t be so great. I really like being with you and your family. I was sorry I missed the lunch today.’

‘So why didn’t you tell me you didn’t want us to go?’

‘Hey, I don’t do the cling-on thing.’

I put my arms around his neck. ‘I wouldn’t mind. I like knowing that you care.’

‘OK, in that case, I would have found you somehow. I decided that I wouldn’t let a bit of distance stand in the way.’

And there was my answer as to how to deal with it if he did go travelling or away to university. I would find him too.

Five minutes later, we were joined by his mates, Sam and Chris, who were both dressed in their football kit. Both were cute but in different ways: Sam was classic tall, dark and handsome and he
knew it. He even had a dimple on his chin. Chris was medium height with blue eyes and an open, friendly face.

Chris smiled and said hi – he was always friendly. Sam didn’t look pleased to see me at all. No change there. He had been distant with me ever since I had started going out with
Joe.

I was determined to win him over.‘And hi to you too, Sam,’ I said.

Sam shrugged and without even giving me a glance said, ‘I thought we were playing footie, Joe.’

‘No can do,’ said Joe.‘Me and India here have some celebrating to do.’

Sam now turned to me. ‘But our team will be one short,’ he said accusingly. ‘And you brought your football gear with you, didn’t you?’

Joe nodded and indicated his sports bag on the ground next to him.

I got up. ‘Hey, I would never stand between a man and his football,’ I said.‘You go, Joe. I’ve got a lot to do.’

‘No, er . . . I know,’ he said. ‘Come with us. I won’t play for long, then we can go and do something.’

Sam’s expression darkened.

‘Actually, Joe, I am way behind on work,’ I said.‘I really ought to go back and study. You go.’

‘Sure?’ asked Joe.

‘Yeah, she’s sure,’ droned Sam.

‘OK, then I’m just going to get some water,’ said Joe.‘Don’t go yet, India Jane.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Chris and the two of them disappeared into a nearby mini supermarket.

‘Make the most of it,’ said Sam, when they were out of earshot.‘You do know that Joe’s record for dating a girl is three months.’

‘So I have some time to go,’ I said. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. ‘And I like a challenge. Maybe I can break the record.’

‘They all think that,’ he replied. He gave me such a cold look, and I thought,
What have I ever done to you?
but I was determined not to let him see that he made me
nervous.

‘So nice to meet you properly, Sam,’ I said.

He didn’t reply. With a shrug, he turned away and looked in the window of the supermarket.

On my way home after the boys had gone, I called Leela and filled her in.

‘Jealous,’ she said.‘Boys get very precious about their buddy-buddy time.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Definitely.’

‘It made me think too. I’ve never had a proper boyfriend before as in “going steady” and it has made me realise something. He comes with a package. Friends.
Mates.’

‘And family,’ said Leela. ‘Sometimes pets too. Don’t forget them. Never get between a man and his dawg.’

I laughed and, after we’d finished our call, I went to look in estate agents’ windows. It had never occurred to me to ask or care if Joe liked my mates, nor if they liked him
although they seemed to. When I thought about it, it was definitely love me, love my mates. They were a huge part of my life. I suppose that went for his friends too, although I could never imagine
getting on with Sam.
Just because I like Joe doesn’t mean that I will automatically like his choice of mates. Maybe I should organise a get together with us all. Zahrah would soon sort
moody Sam out,
I thought as I looked at the prices of houses and flats and immediately saw why Dad had said we couldn’t afford to stay in the area. You needed megabucks to buy even a
one-bed flat in Holland Park.