I nodded. ‘Okay. We’ll go to a shopping park then. But I don’t know how we’re going to get your hair cut.’
Sam shrugged. ‘If you’ve got some clippers, I’ll do it myself.’
‘I can get some.’ I opened the door and ushered him out into the hallway. He reached for his coat. ‘Leave it,’ I said, my voice sharper than I intended. ‘I’m buying you a new one, remember. You’ll only have to carry it.’
He rolled his eyes, but left the coat on the rack as he followed me out to the lift. ‘I feel like a kid going shopping with his mum,’ he muttered as I tried to brush some dried mud off the leg of his jeans.
‘Oh be quiet,’ I said, as the lift doors opened with a ping. We stepped in and stood in silence as the elevator travelled down to the ground floor.
‘It’s a nice place you live in here,’ Sam said as the lift came to a stop and we stepped out into the main entrance. He looked around at the freshly painted magnolia walls and grey carpet. It still smelled new. ‘Most places I see are covered in graffiti and smell of piss.’
‘Shh,’ I said, as the couple that lived upstairs appeared from outside, stamping their feet on the mat and shaking their umbrellas. Hearty and happy, they were always up at the crack of dawn and going off on walks in their matching anoraks. ‘Hello! Hello!’ I boomed, enthusiastically like some kind of children’s TV presenter.
‘Hi, Emily. It’s raining cats and dogs out there! You’ll need full waterproofs.’ They looked curiously at Sam who was peering out at the driving rain with a look of concern. Maybe I should let him go back up and get his coat. I dithered for a moment.
‘We’re just popping to the shops in the car,’ I said. ‘This is Sam, by the way.’
‘Hi, Sam,’ they said cheerfully.
‘Hello.’ He smiled at them and I grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the rain before they could ask any questions.
‘See you later.’
‘I’m a bit out of practice with introductions and all that,’ Sam said as we ran to my car and climbed in. The windows steamed up instantly. ‘But I seem to remember that it’s a sort of two-way process. Like, you say my name and then you say their names. Now I have no idea what they’re called.’
‘Well that makes two of us,’ I said, slotting the key into the ignition and starting up the car. ‘We were introduced on the day I moved in and I can’t remember what their names are but they always remember mine so I feel bad about asking them theirs.’
Sam sighed as he pulled the seat belt around him. The shoulders of his hoody were dark with rain. ‘Thanks for making me leave my coat,’ he said, faux cheerfully.
‘You’re welcome!’ I said, equally bright.
The rain drummed on the car roof and the windscreen wipers thrashed backwards and forwards. I reversed out of my parking spot, swiping at the windscreen with my demister pad as I did so.
‘Jeez! Do you think you could do that before you start driving?’
‘Oh shut up!’ Bouncing over a speed hump, I indicated right to join the main road. Sam gripped the handle above his head. ‘Relax,’ I said, spotting a gap in the traffic and accelerating off up the road. ‘I’m a good driver. I’ve never had an accident.’
‘There’s always a first time,’ he muttered. ‘I’m not exactly Mr Lucky.’
‘We’ll be fine.’ I shot him a smile as I fiddled with the radio and music blasted out. He batted my hands away.
‘Concentrate on the road, will you,’ he said. ‘Let me do that.’
‘You’re so jumpy!’
‘You make me jumpy. Keep your eyes on the road, will you. Bloody women drivers!’
‘That’s so sexist!’ I raged. ‘How dare you say that to me.’
‘I’m joking.’ He laughed. ‘Have you got any CDs?’
‘In the glovebox.’
He rooted around in the glove compartment while I focused on the road, irritated by his comments.
‘God, you’ve got some shit taste in music,’ he said after a moment of rooting through my CDs.
‘Oh, so you’re going to insult my driving and my taste in music now, are you? Anything else you want to criticise?’
He laughed. ‘I’ll have a think.’
‘Just because I’ve got stuff that was made after 1995?’
‘Pretty much.’ He grinned across at me, obviously enjoying the fact that he’d wound me up so much. I stared at the road ahead, steam practically coming out of my ears. Sam shoved the CDs back into the glovebox and slammed it shut.
‘I don’t even listen to them,’ I said when the silence got too much to bear. ‘I just listen to the radio.’
‘The Archers?’
‘Oh get lost!’
Sam grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, peering through the steamed-up windows at the fields passing by. I turned the heating up to clear the condensation.
‘Have you got any music on your phone?’ he said, picking it up and staring at it. I glanced across at him and frowned.
‘Yes, I do as it happens. I’ve got that fancy Bluetooth thing going on.’
‘What’s your passcode?’
‘0382.’
‘Is that your date of birth?’
‘No,’ I said, going red.
He laughed and tapped in the code, head bent forward as he concentrated on what he was doing.
‘If you go into music…’
‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’ There was a pause. ‘Have you been telling Lydia I killed you?’
‘Give me that!’ I went to snatch my phone and the car swerved across the carriageway.
‘Aagh! Emily! Watch the road, you flaming lunatic!’
‘Don’t read my messages!’ I shouted, giving up on the phone and grabbing the steering wheel instead. ‘Well, what do you think you’re doing?’
‘I wasn’t trying to. It was just open when I unlocked your phone and I saw my name. Fucking hell! Don’t you think Lydia’s suspicious enough without telling her shit like that? Jesus, Emily!’
‘It was a joke, that’s all. I’ve spoken to her since. It’s all fine.’
‘Well, come on!’ Sam shook his head, sighing. ‘Not exactly helpful, is it?’
The sign for the shopping park appeared and I turned into its entrance. It was busy, as I knew it would be on the last Saturday before Christmas. I tried to get as close as possible to the shop I had in mind but the car park was almost full.
‘This place looks like hell on earth,’ Sam muttered, staring out through the window with his face screwed up in disgust. I ignored him, suddenly spotting a vacant car park space up ahead.
‘Careful!’ Sam protested as I zoomed in. ‘You nearly knocked that old bloke over, then!’
‘I did not!’
‘You did!’
‘I did not! He was miles away. God, you’re such an exaggerator.’ I wrenched on my handbrake with a nasty clicking noise and climbed out. ‘Come on, get out then.’
Reluctantly, Sam took off his seat belt and stepped out into the driving rain. Taking his arm, I dragged him into