I picked it up, examined it.
‘You’ve got a dog?’
He took the leash from me gently, glanced at my mother.
‘Now how’d that get here?’
In my stomach, a sherbet fizz. I did a happy dance, grin so wide the corners of my mouth practically touched my ears.
‘Oh my God, Matty! Is it for us? You got us a puppy? For Christmas?’
I tried to spot a hiding black nose, made clucking noises to draw it out. Matty laughed, shook his head.
‘Sorry, pumpkin. Lead belongs to my ma’s beagle. Cute hoor, that fella. Turned my back for a second and he pinched my dinner. Ma thought it was mighty craic. Can’t say I shared the joke.’
Matty was notoriously proprietorial about his food. Allowing me to steal even a French fry off his plate was a massive concession.
‘Now how about some drinks for you ladies? I’ve got squash, Coke—’
‘Since when do you smoke?’ my mother interrupted, picking up a half empty packet of Marlboros.
He rotated his shoulder slightly, cricked his neck.
‘They’re a good ice breaker. Loosen people up.’
‘Your patients?’ I clarified.
He smiled.
‘Who else?’
My mother just stood there looking like she was trying to work out a tricky maths sum. Matty began tidying up. I used the opportunity to poke around.
‘Binoculars. Cool!’
They were hanging over a chair. I tried them out. The lenses weren’t in focus though, set up to watch things close up rather than far away.
Matty ‘stole’ my nose along with the field glasses, tucked them away in a drawer.
‘Can we get some, Mum? I can be Harriet the Spy.’
A character in the book I was reading.
‘Mum?’
She was appraising something in her palm, a strange expression on her face. I became very aware of the pulse beating in my neck, the soft crackle of static in the air.
‘What’s up, Ams?’
Matty’s words were light enough, but there was unease beneath the surface. The same tone a kid gets when it knows a telling off’s coming.
My mother opened her hand slowly like the reveal in a magic trick. In it, a small object, round and gold. An earring. She glanced at the empty champagne bottles, the crumpled clothes.
‘Have you had a woman here, Matty?’
Her voice was tight, eyes pinched to slits.
I felt the heat spread to my cheeks, a pit opening in my belly. Matty would never cheat on us. Would he?