Page 48 of The Mismatch

‘Did your family not want one?’

‘Well, they had one when I was little, but I don’t remember it. When she died I think my dad was quite cut up about it, so they never wanted to get another.’

‘That’s sad,’ Soraya said, trying to envisage Magnus as a child. ‘What were you like growing up? I can’t imagine it.’

Holly ran towards them with the toy in her mouth. Soraya pulled it out and mimicked Magnus, pretending to throw it a few times before hurling it as far as she could. It wasn’t a long way. She wiped her now wet hand on her coat.

‘I was a bit of a geek really.’ He looked sheepish. ‘I didn’t fit in at school.’

‘Seriously? That’s not the vibe I get from you at all. I’d have guessed you’d have been popular.’

He shook his head. ‘Not really. I mean, I guess I hung out with the more popular lads, but I never felt like I belonged when I was with them. Stuff at home was always intense, and I never told anyone about it. I definitely didn’t tell them I wrote stories.’ He let out a short laugh. ‘Thatwould be a sure-fire way to get the piss taken out of me.’ She noticed the tops of his ears were pink.

Magnus wrinkled his nose. ‘I sound pretty lame, don’t I?’ he added quickly.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Not at all. You keep surprising me.’

He gave her a sideways grin. They reached the bandstand and walked up the steps to stand under its canopy. She gazed out across the common, at the pond in the distance, the people walking around it through orange leaves scattered on the ground.

She realised then that Magnus, like her, put a mask on to cope with his dysfunctional family. Whilst his response was to become more extroverted, she, by contrast, became more introverted. She wished, so badly, she had it in her to tell himabout her dad. She wondered what he would say, whether he’d feel comforted by it, whether they’d both feel less alone.

‘What were you like growing up?’ he asked.

She thought for a moment. ‘I wasn’t unpopular, I wouldn’t say, but I wasn’t popular either. I’d say my time at school was quite unremarkable. I wasn’t really allowed to do anything fun – sleepovers or parties or anything like that. So, I don’t know, I found growing up a bit boring at times.’ She was careful to omit the occasions on which it was far from boring, but distressing, when her dad would get angry, or when Laleh was mentioned.

‘I get parties, but why weren’t you allowed to go to sleepovers?’

She took a sip of the coffee they’d bought before they began their walk, thinking about how she’d word this.

‘As a teenager my parents were suspicious that instead of going to sleepovers I’d really be with boys. Or,’ she let out a small laugh, ‘when I was younger, my mum always thought someone’s dad would be a paedophile so was doing it to protect me.’

‘Wait … what? A specific person you knew – their dad?’

‘No, just other people’s dads in general. It doesn’t make that much sense but she must have read about something like that happening in the news. They’re super-protective. I guess living in a foreign country, you have to be on your guard. It was only when I was older that they switched their suspicions towards boys. It was really shit at the time. I just wanted to be normal. I guess I’ll never know what a girly sleepover is like.’

‘Were they strict with your brother too?’

Soraya snorted. ‘No, different rules apply to boys, in my family at least. It pisses me and Parvin off so much.’

Magnus simply nodded. Probably because there was nothing else he could really say. After a short pause, he said, ‘You have another sister, right?’

At this, Soraya began to cough on her own saliva from the shock. ‘What? Why would you ask that?’

‘When we first started talking you mentioned having more than one? Or did I get that completely wrong?’

Soraya was left with a decision: tell the truth or lie.

‘As far as I’m aware, I only have one sister,’ she said, pretending to laugh.

Her phone pinged with a WhatsApp message. She knew she shouldn’t check it immediately, but her mind ran wild when she received texts from her family. They were the only ones she spoke to on WhatsApp.

It was from Parvin:Found out Dad has been taking zopiclone. Explains why he’s sleeping even more lately …

Soraya’s heart sank.

She quickly googled zopiclone. A highly addictive sleeping pill.

‘Hello?’ Magnus waved a hand in front of her face, giving her a start.