Ed Friar wasn't surprised to discover his son Nicholas waiting outside the front door of his flat when he got home from work -- Nick had arranged weeks before to stay that night, as he was going to a party near where his father lived -- and nor was he surprised to find that Nicholas had a girl with him -- Nick had said something about that in advance, too. What left Ed bemused was that the first thing he saw of either of the two visitors was the girl's nearly naked bottom.
It was, Ed reflected as he climbed the stairs, a very
nice
bottom, and in many ways it was the most attractive sight which Ed had come home to in many months. It was just unexpected. Nick and the girl were embracing, too wrapped up in each other to notice Ed's arrival at first, and Nick had his hands fondling the girl's hips, unintentionally pulling her short skirt up so as to expose her to the gaze of anyone coming up those stairs. The fact that she was wearing a lacy thong so skimpy that it couldn't be said to cover her buttocks in any meaningful sense was, Ed had to admit to himself, a bonus.
Still, he felt obliged to cough as he reached the top of the stairs, and the pair broke apart with unselfconscious smiles; Ed guessed that they hadn't realised how much he'd seen. Nick introduced his friend as Louise while Ed found his keys, and Ed apologised for his lateness as they entered the flat. Nick accepted in his usual chilly manner; Louise was actually much more charming about things. She was definitely attractive, Ed decided, slim, with coffee-coloured skin and hair a mass of short curls, and she smiled a lot at Ed, which he couldn't help enjoying.
Ed had shown the couple to his spare room, where he noticed something indefinably odd in their reactions to what he said about their using it. Then, Louise announced that she'd travelled a long way, and asked if she could use the shower. While she was doing so, Ed took Nicholas to the kitchen for a cup of tea.
"So," Nicholas said, "what are the rules?"
"Pardon?" Ed was bemused.
"The rules -- your ground rules for your house."
"Oh good lord. Nothing like that. You're my son and my guest -- the place is yours."
Nicholas looked startled for a moment, then actually smiled. "Okay, yes, you're not like Mum."
Ed laughed, understanding. "Oh, no," he said. "She's the sort for ground rules in her house, I suppose."
"She is." Nick looked at his tea. "In by midnight, don't disturb her, girlfriends to sleep on the sofa..."
"Oh, but I hope that you'd take the sofa and let Louise have your bed."
" I would, but Mum made it clear that her beloved son got the proper bed, and any visiting
girl
would take the sofa and be grateful. And it wasn't just Louise, by the way; I think it was Mum and her rules drove at least one of the others off."
"There've been others, then..." Ed bit his tongue; relations with Nicholas could be difficult enough, without seeming to pry. But Nicholas found his own sort of retaliation.
"A few," he said. "How about you?"
"Pardon?"
" I assume that you have a
romantic
life."
Ed laughed. "I'm a fifty-two-year-old man living alone in a small flat and working long hours to pay off the mortgage on your mother's house. Not very romantic, I'm afraid."
"Well, you managed to play around when you were with Mum."
"According to her, I take it. There are two sides to every story, you know."
Nicholas stared at his father. "Really? So what is yours?"
Suddenly, Ed tired of his months of effort not exposing his son to the details of his divorce. Nicholas was an adult, who could stand a bit of truth, and it was clear that his mother had been quick enough to put her own slant on the business when she got the chance.
"It was simple enough," he said, "believe it or not -- and I know it's an old line -- we drifted apart. Truth is, we hadn't had sex for nearly a year -- but that's not the point. It was just a symptom. Anyway, I got friendly with Kate Jones..."
"
Kate Jones?
"
"Yes, she was an old friend. I know you found her dull, but she was unhappy, and we ended up spending time together. Then your mother found out..."
"...And chucked you out for screwing Kate Jones."
" I wasn't
screwing
Kate, as you so charmingly put it, and I don't want anyone thinking that I was. Her husband was in hospital, and she needed moral support. We might have been tempted, I suppose, but Ian Jones is an old friend and I wouldn't have betrayed him like that, and I don't believe that Kate would either."
Nicholas stared at his father. "So you're saying that Mum threw you out for having a
non-
affair with Kate Jones?"
"Yes. Believe it or not as you choose."
Nicholas stared a moment more, then reached out a hand to pat his father's shoulder. "You know," he said, "I do believe it. It all fits. Which means that I owe you a hell of an apology..."