The first time we met, I thought you hated me. Perhaps you do.
Ryan had warned me about you as we drove from Oxford. It was shortly after exam season had finished and we had decided to take a week together in the countryside, at your “ancestral home” as he put it, to unwind. Although we’d been dating for six months, I didn’t know anything about his family, except that you were “loaded” – his term, not mine – and that his father had died when he was a toddler. This was my chance to meet you, and Ryan had made plans to leave me alone at your house for the weekend while he visited a friend. The idea of being alone with his parent was intimidating, to say the least.
“It’ll be fine,” he said, “Honestly, the place is massive, and you can go out in the gardens, or just read or whatever. Far too much space for things to be awkward.”
“What is she like?” I asked, “Your mum.”
He sucked his teeth and thought. “She can be a little cold,” he said finally. “It’s nothing personal, she just doesn’t have much time for other humans.” He thought for a moment longer, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “She likes to mind-fuck people.”