Page 15 of The Good Neighbour

“Drink?” Josh asked.

“I’ll take a beer.”

Josh grabbed two bottles from the fridge.

“Sunroom or drawing room?” he asked.

Hugh took in his surroundings. “This place is bigger than Jeannie’s. Let’s go for the drawing room. It sounds so English.”

Josh led him upstairs. Each house on Queens Crescent boasted a lounge that spanned the length of the property. As the buildings curved, each house had slightly different dimensions.

Of course, those in the centre were the biggest and considered themselves the best. Josh had decorated his in neutral tones to give the impression of it being larger than it actually was.

“This is nice,” Hugh said, gravitating toward the window and that view over the gardens that Queens Crescent bordered. “There’s not much of a view next door thanks to that bloody big tree outside.”

Josh screwed the tops off the beers and sat down on the sofa.

“Take a load off,” he said.

Hugh shrugged his jacket off and draped it over the chair that Winston used to prefer to sit in. He would complain that Josh took up too much room on the sofa. Josh felt a flash of satisfaction when he saw Hugh make straight for the other end.

He sat down and grinned at Josh.

“So?” Hugh said. “What are we eating?”

“How about Thai?” Josh replied. “I’ll get us a set meal for two.”

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and fired up the takeaway app. One that he’d used far too frequently of late. Perhaps a healthy eating kick should start on Monday.

“How’s the cape?” he asked.

Hugh groaned. “It’s fine. I think. My drag sister had a go at me before for not taking care of things properly. I can’t seem to do anything right at the moment.”

The worry was etched on Hugh’s face. He reached to get his beer off the side table where he’d placed it. In doing so, he nudged a photo frame.

Hugh picked it up and studied it. Of course he had found the solitary wedding photo in the house. Winston had declared it sad to have pictures of themselves all over the place. Josh had fought valiantly to have one reminder of their special day.

“Your husband is a filmmaker?” Hugh asked.

“Have you been doing some research?”

Hugh pursed his lips and returned the frame to the table. “I might have,” he said. “I had to know about my handsome saviour.”

Josh tensed at the word handsome.

“What did you find out?”

Hugh swigged from his beer and considered Josh.

“Word is that you’ve split up. He got the all-clear from cancer and fucked off.”

Josh winced. The way Hugh laid it out there, so matter of factly, came across a little brutal. Still, he wasn’t wrong either.

“Sorry,” Hugh continued. “I tend to be a little direct.”

“That’s okay,” Josh replied. “It’s true. Winston is in Nice for the foreseeable future.”

Hugh shook his head. “What a bastard. Using you. Then throwing you away.”