Chapter 6
There was a blue Mercedes E-Class parked outside the Grants’ house, and as soon as we got out of our rental, the front door opened and a tall, skinny guy emerged, triggering the security lights. Watson ran out with him, jumping up excitedly.
‘There she is,’ Lewis said, and he and Holly embraced, briefly but warmly, and he grinned at me, revealing a set of teeth that were so white they must have been veneers.
‘Welcome to the edge of the world,’ he said to me. ‘Or is it the end?’
‘The former, I hope.’
That made him laugh and clap me on the back. ‘You can always turn back from the edge, am I right?’
Unlike dark-haired Miranda, I could immediately tell that the strawberry-blond Lewis was Holly’s sibling.
His eyes were the same shape and colour: that feline green that I found so appealing on her.
They must have inherited their Celtic traits from their mum, who Holly had explained was originally from a small town near Inverness.
That had been why the Grants had bought a house in the Highlands.
‘Big week,’ Lewis said to Holly, finding a stick and throwing it for Watson so the dog would leave him alone for a minute. ‘Big, big week.’
‘You haven’t met her yet, then? Or seen her?’
‘Nope. I was going to go and visit the old man and demand he show me her photo, but I’ve been so busy, you know, and then he fucked off to Miami for Christmas.’
‘What have you been busy doing?’
‘Oh, you know. Wandering here and far.’
Holly rolled her eyes.
‘I’m very excited to meet our new stepmother, but I am equally excited to meet your new beau.’ He winked at me. ‘Did you already start celebrating at the pub?’ He scooted forward to sniff at Holly’s mouth. ‘Just seeing how much catching up I have to do,’ he said, catching my surprised expression.
He produced his car key and, with a flourish, pressed a button to make the Merc come to life, the boot opening to reveal its contents. ‘Behold!’
‘Holy shit.’ Holly put her hands on her hips. The back of the car was full of booze: crates of wine and boxes of beer, along with enough spirits to keep all of us pissed for a week.
‘Give us a hand, mate,’ he said to me. ‘I know Princess Holly doesn’t do manual tasks so I won’t bother asking her. She’s only a tiny wee thing.’
He had put on a Scottish accent. Was this an impression of their mum?
‘Lewis and Miranda were always trying to get me to wait on them when we were kids and got resentful when I wouldn’t be their little servant,’ Holly said, slapping Lewis with the back of her hand.
‘Yeah, Mum and Dad wouldn’t let us. They totally babied her, Pat. A tiny little thing made of porcelain.’
‘That’s bullshit.’
‘No, it’s not. Remember how Dad used to try to give me business lessons from when I was ten, and Miranda would be given lists of tasks to do. Meanwhile, you lounged around in your pink parlour telling everyone you were going to be a pop star.’
‘Pink parlour?’ I asked.
‘Everything she owned and wore was pink,’ Lewis said with a grin. ‘Her bedroom at home looked like Barbie’s palace. And she spent most of her tween years trying to dance and sing like Britney Spears.’
‘Don’t listen to him.’
‘No, you should listen to me, Pat. This is our family. Miranda the martyr. And Holly the helpless.’
‘That’s rich coming from you – Lewis the loser.’
She made the L sign with her thumb and forefinger and he guffawed. ‘Such immaturity.’
‘Immature? Me?’ Holly marched over and Lewis went to grab hold of her, making her dart away, giggling.
It was the first time I’d seen Holly act in this childlike way; first time I’d seen her engage in sibling banter.
It made me feel like a spare part – so I busied myself by carrying some of the alcohol into the kitchen.
It was still freezing in the house. Zack sat at the dining table scrolling through his phone, a crease of worry on his brow. Then Miranda appeared, moving stiffly, one hand on the small of her back.
‘Are you going to stop working at any point this week?’ Miranda asked her husband as she inspected one of the wine bottles I’d carried in, unscrewing it and pouring herself a glass. Then, ‘Oh, hello, Patrick. I didn’t notice you there.’
Lewis appeared as Miranda raised her glass to her lips. ‘Making a start already?’
‘I need it. My back is killing me. It’s the long car journey. Zack insisted on driving all the way from Birmingham instead of flying.’
‘The pain zone is in your back today,’ Zack muttered.
‘What was that?’ Lewis asked.
Zack put his phone down. ‘The pain zone. It moves around Miranda’s body on a daily basis. You never know where it’s going to be from day to day, although her head is the most common spot, especially at bedtime.’
‘My husband,’ Miranda said. ‘So caring.’
‘She sees her many doctors more than she sees me.’
‘Whose fault is that, darling? You’re always at work. You definitely spend more time with my dad than with me.’
Zack got up and poured himself a glass of wine. ‘I told you. We’re at a very important stage right now.’
‘Oh yes?’ Lewis said. ‘Working on something new, are you? Something exciting you’d like to tell everyone about?’
‘Extremely exciting. It’s going to transform all our fortunes.’
He didn’t say what it was, though, and the two men locked eyes for a moment. Yet another interaction charged with some history I didn’t quite understand, though I presumed it was related to Lewis’s unhappy spell at Gravitas.
‘My shoulders ache, too,’ Miranda said. ‘It’s the tension. I’m all knots. And you can’t even get a massage in this godforsaken place.’
‘May I remind you that it’s you who insists we come here every year.’ That was Holly, who had joined us in the kitchen.
‘I made a promise to Mum, remember? To keep this family together.’
‘We both did.’
Miranda ignored that. ‘And now …’ She pinched the bridge of her nose. It looked like the ‘pain zone’ had spread to her head. ‘An interloper is coming in.’
For a moment, I thought she meant me. Lewis noticed my flicker of consternation and nudged me. ‘Not you, Pat. You’re just Holly’s new plaything. She’s talking about our new stepmummy.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘A younger stepmother. It’s given a whole new dimension to my internet searches.’
‘You’re so disgusting,’ Miranda said, while Lewis guffawed. Zack had gone back to his phone, but he was smirking.
‘Shall we finish what we started earlier?’ Holly said when we were alone in the bedroom.
A couple of hours had passed since the conversation in the kitchen.
We’d all gone to the living room – except Zack, who said he had work to do – and I had tried not to doze off in front of the fire while the siblings caught up.
The living room contained a single bookcase, a couple of huge sofas and, on a table in the corner, an iMac that looked at least a decade old.
The siblings started speculating about Jasmine until Lewis asked if they could change the subject and they gossiped about some family friends instead.
Holly made me feel included, sitting close to me and involving me in the conversation, explaining about her Uncle Martin and Aunt Janet’s open marriage and how Avo-Carlo had got his nickname: he was an old schoolfriend of Lewis’s who had encountered his first avocado at their house and hadn’t realized you weren’t supposed to eat the skin.
‘He sat there pretending it was delicious,’ Holly explained, almost weeping with laughter at the memory.
Watching them interact, I had wondered how they would act around Charles when he arrived the next day. Would their roles shift when their dad was around?
I stopped thinking about the Grants as Holly, hair damp from the shower, let her robe fall to the carpet.
I caught my breath, watching her approach the bed, the lamplight glinting off her belly button piercing.
She tasted of toothpaste and her breathing quickened as she kissed me and tugged at the T-shirt I was wearing.
I pulled it over my head and kissed her again, and she reached down for me.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, finding that I wasn’t ready.
I whispered my reply. ‘Your sister and Zack are in the next room.’
‘Don’t think about that.’
We kissed some more. Her skin was soft and her hands were warm, but I couldn’t get it out of my head: Miranda and Zack could be listening to us. Holly kissed my chest and moved to slip beneath the covers, trailing kisses downwards, but I stopped her and said, ‘Let me.’
I ducked beneath the duvet. Over the last nine months I had learned what she liked. How she liked it. She’d told me. Light circles at first, then a little faster, using my fingers, too, my other hand snaking up to her breasts, her fluttering stomach.
‘Oh God!’ A pause. ‘Don’t stop.’
‘That was really loud,’ I said.
‘It wasn’t. Please, keep going.’
I refocused.
‘Oh fuck. Oh my God.’
Was I imagining it or was she being twice as loud as normal? She grabbed the back of my hair and said, ‘That feels amazing.’
I carried on. Holly was definitely being louder than normal.
And then I heard it: a bang on the wall.
Was Miranda telling us to be quiet? I stopped again until I heard another cry, coming from the other side of the wall.
Another woman’s voice, and then I realized the banging was rhythmic.
The sound of a headboard knocking against the wall, accompanied by moans of pleasure that had to be exaggerated.
‘Patrick, don’t stop.’ Holly grabbed at my hair. ‘Please.’
Holly turned up the volume as I started again, and then it was in stereo, one speaker muffled, the other loud and clear, and part of me wondered if Miranda was mocking us, but no, although the noises coming from her room sounded over the top, it definitely sounded like they were actually having sex, too, and then I wasn’t worrying any more because I realized something else.
I was turned on. And after Holly came, with what can only be described as a scream, I pushed into her, kissing her hard as I lost myself in her, the moaning continuing from the other room until Miranda yelled out like she’d just heard she’d won the Lottery and, seconds later, I came, too.
I lay panting on my back.
‘What the hell?’ I said, when I’d recovered my breath. ‘I didn’t imagine that, did I? Next door.’ They were quiet now. ‘I thought Miranda had a bad back.’
Holly giggled. ‘It seemed to get you going, anyway.’
‘No, it didn’t,’ I protested.
She laughed. ‘Let’s go to sleep.’ She rolled over, and I thought she’d fallen asleep. Just as I was about to drift off she laughed to herself and whispered, ‘I love you. You pervert.’