The Photographer

(37) The parents

Iris had only been gone for twenty minutes and Seb was already pacing back and forth in the room, going from the window to the door and back again.

He felt agitated and caged in even though the hotel room was very large and he felt like a run would do him good but he didn't want to head out in case he got spotted and photographed. Ben might have been clueless in the bedroom department but he wasn't completely stupid, it might not take him long to put two and two together if there were photos of Seb in the British press. And it would be even worse for Iris if that happened.

There had been a bit of an argument on the phone between Iris and her mother, with her mother insisting that Iris explained herself there and then while she'd insisted on going to her parent's house to talk face to face. It had turned out that Ben had spoken to them before she could herself after he could no longer keep his heartbreak, anger and bitterness to himself.

Seb couldn't help but worry, the last thing he wanted was for Iris to fall out with her family and Ben opening his mouth like he had had already stirred up bad feeling. He hoped that she'd be able to smooth things over; maybe if she explained her feelings about her marriage to her mum, explained that she just didn't love Ben anymore and hadn't wanted to hurt him then her mum might be more understanding? She hadn't sounded like the understanding type earlier on but surely she'd want her daughter to be happy?

With the traffic in London being quite heavy, it had taken Iris longer than usual to reach the smart, leafy suburbs of Rickmansworth where her parents lived.

A quick phone call by Seb to the hire car company meant that she was now able to drive the Volvo - something else which she was sure she'd be questioned on as she parked on the kerbside outside the house.

And she was right...

"Who's car is that? Is that his? That man you slept with?" Angela didn't even say hello to her daughter as she stood on the front doorstep, her arms folded across her chest and a stern look on her face that Iris remembered well from her childhood when she'd done something wrong.

Walking up the red, brick weaved drive towards her mother, Iris suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and reminded herself to tread very carefully - now was not the time to bring Sebastian into things. "No mum, it's not. It's a hire car I sorted last night." That was half true; it was a hire car, just a hire car that Seb had arranged for her to drive earlier.

Angela sighed and stood aside, holding the door open with an unhappy sounding, "you'd better come in, we don't want the neighbours knowing our business."

Iris stepped into her childhood home and anxiously hovered in the hallway on the black and white chequered floor tiles while her mum closed the door.

"Go through to the kitchen, your dads there," Angela said in a softer tone.

Iris did as she was told, as if she was still ten years old - right now that's the way she felt.

"Morning Iris, coffee?" She was greeted more cheerily by her dad, Joseph, who was reading a newspaper but then he'd always been the more laid back parent. It had always been a case of 'good cop', 'bad cop' with her parents and her dad had always been the 'good cop'.

"No thanks," she sat down on a high, white stool at the kitchen island. She just wanted to get this over with, now didn't feel like the time to be sat drinking coffee.

Angela sighed as she took a seat opposite her husband while her daughter sat next to her. Everything felt like it was such a mess; her daughter's marriage looked to have gone up in flames and Ben's heartbroken revelations had already caused an underlying tension with their close friends - his parents. And while she felt angry at Iris, she knew she had to give her the chance to explain herself. For all she knew there could have been issues in Iris's marriage that neither herself or Joseph knew about.