BooksBarbecue
Back The Imposter
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. ANNA WHARTON
  3. Dedication page
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  54. Praise
  55. THE IMPOSTER

Chloe takes a familiar path. She knows both the curve and the camber by now. When she reaches the park she pushes through the short yellow metal gate and it whines a greeting back. She sits down on an empty bench, surprised to feel the cold through her coat. A mother watching her little boy on the slide looks over at her. From her bag Chloe pulls a Tupperware box; inside are two cheese sandwiches. She smiles as she remembers Maureen handing them to her this morning.

‘Well, I was making them anyway for Patrick,’ she’d said, excusing her fussing.

‘I could get used to this,’ Chloe said, and they’d laughed. She and Maureen had anyway. Patrick had taken his clingfilm-wrapped sandwiches from the worktop without saying a word. Maureen hadn’t seemed to notice.

Chloe takes a bite of her sandwich – nothing tastes better than a sandwich made by someone else and Maureen has a particular way of spreading the mayonnaise on the top slice that makes it really perfect.

Chloe smiles to herself and the woman moves her child over to the swings.

The park is quieter than usual. Chloe has watched the toddlers playing in here while eating her lunch before. They race around with their wobbly gait, often falling onto their knees, their mums rushing to pick them up and wipe them down, sending them off again with a kiss in their ear. Chloe has pictured Maureen doing the same with Angie many times. She must miss having someone to make a fuss of. Perhaps that’s why she’s been making fewer and fewer excuses for fussing around Chloe. She’s stopped pretending she’d made too much food by accident and now just serves up Chloe a plate of whatever they’re having each night. Chloe and Maureen take their time at the small kitchen table, chatting about this and that. Patrick eats faster now, excusing himself to the television. Maureen notices less and less. Chloe helps her tidy up – she washes while Maureen dries – her small way of saying thanks. She likes to be extra particular about washing dishes, especially as it buys them more time together. Anyway, she knows Maureen enjoys the company, it must have been lonely for her with it just being the two of them all these years. She’s often looked up from the soap suds and caught Maureen’s eye in the glass that is made a mirror by the black night.

As she takes a bite of her sandwich, the child cries out from the swings, his fingers twisted in the cold metal.