Chapter 17: Three Taps

Estelle's POV

Rhys came home from New York on a Friday night and sat on the edge of the bath while I brushed my teeth.

"I have to tell you something," he said.

"You've said that twice this month."

"This one is worse."

I put the toothbrush down.

He told me about the July pages, and the stack of renewals, and the three sheets at the bottom.

I did not cry.

I sat on the closed toilet lid and thought about a Thursday in July.

Hugh in his shirtsleeves, handing me a pen.

Initial where I flagged, Nor, I'm late for lunch.

I had signed forty pages in six minutes, and I had been proud of how fast I was.

"I signed it," I said.

"You were lied to."

"I signed it. I'm the one who doesn't read."

"You read everything," Rhys said. "You read the back of every tin in my cupboard."

"That's different."

"It's not different. He chose the one person who trusted him."

I looked at my hands.

"Teddy signed one too."

"Teddy's the other person who trusted him."

Someone knocked on the door of the flat.

It wasn't the bell.

It was a small, uncertain knock, three taps, and a pause, and three taps again.

I knew it.

It was the knock our father had taught us, so we could tell which of us was outside the nursery.

I was down the corridor before Rhys got off the bath.

I opened the door.

Teddy stood on the landing with a rucksack and a split lip.

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