Chapter 14
When he let himself and Liam in through the kitchen back door, Harry was pleasantly surprised at the sight that greeted him.
There was still plenty of work to be done, but the worst of the mess had been cleared up and each individual workstation had been wiped down.
He found himself grinning as he ushered Liam inside.
He and Russ had trained their kids well and they had too much pride in themselves to leave things in a total state.
Liam clapped his hands together. ‘Right, this is your domain so tell me what you want me to do.’
Harry pointed to the counter where there was a stack of dirty crockery. ‘Can you empty the two dishwashers over there and reload them, please? Plates and that go in the lower cabinet behind you and you can just swap out the clean cutlery trays with the dirty ones.’
While Liam sorted that, Harry tackled the big pots that had been left soaking overnight in their industrial-sized sink.
He emptied them and turned on the tap to let it run hot a minute.
‘So,’ he said, keeping his voice conversational.
‘What was it you wanted to talk to me about?’ Silence greeted his question and Harry glanced over his shoulder to see Liam staring at him, his face a picture of such guilt Harry couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Come on, big brother, I know you didn’t volunteer to come and help me because of your love of washing up. ’
Liam held up his hands. ‘Okay, you got me. I mean, I never need an excuse to hang out with you, but yeah, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.’
A lead weight settled in Harry’s gut and he turned to face the sink.
Plunging his hands into the hot, soapy water, he began to scrub.
‘About the cookery school? You don’t think I’m up to it, do you?
’ It was easy for Liam, he’d always been the smartest of the four of them.
His brains had earned him a scholarship to private school and a top-notch university degree.
He’d only returned to live in Halfmoon Quay in the past six months after a stellar career in the city.
Liam’s hand settled on his shoulder a moment later. ‘Hey, look at me.’
Harry shrugged him off, but he did turn to lean his back against the sink. ‘Don’t soft soap me, Liam. We both know I’m the idiot of the family.’
His brother’s brows drew sharply down. ‘Stop it! You know I hate to hear that kind of stupid bullshit coming out of your mouth. You might not be book smart, Harry, but that’s not your fault.
Your brain is just wired differently to mine.
Doesn’t make me any better than you just because I hit better on some stupid societal metric about what counts as success. ’
It wasn’t the first time he’d had this kind of telling off from Liam, nor either of their other two brothers for that matter.
Harry raised his hand and rubbed the back of it against his forehead, leaving a soapy streak.
‘I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and the 3 a.m. demons got in my head a bit,’ he admitted.
Liam handed him a towel to dry his hands then clapped a hand on his shoulder again.
‘Hey, I get it. I could tell upstairs you were having some doubts, which is why I wanted to talk to you about it. For what it’s worth, I thought it was a brilliant idea when you told me about it last night and I still do. ’
Harry gave him a rueful smile. ‘I don’t disagree that it’s a good idea, I’m just not sure I’m the right person to pull it off.’
Liam’s mouth set in a stubborn line. ‘Why not you? I watched you last night feeding everyone from a couple of random things you found in the fridge and again this morning. If half a dozen people showed up at my door unannounced expecting to be fed they’d be lucky to get more than a bowl of cereal.
I couldn’t cook a meal without needing at least three different spreadsheets and a fortnight to plan it. ’
Harry laughed. ‘Come on, you’re not that bad.’
Liam grinned. ‘I can knock a half-decent meal out but I’m not flexible like you are. You just roll with whatever comes along and you do it effortlessly. That’s such an amazing skill, and one I wish I had more of.’
Harry knew what his brother was trying to do but he still couldn’t overlook the glaring error in his plan that had occurred to him overnight. ‘The cooking is only part of it though and I don’t see how I’m going to manage the rest.’
It was Liam’s turn to raise a hand to his face and scrub at it in frustration.
‘So you do what I’m doing with the hotel and you get people in to help you fill in those gaps.
I didn’t know anything about interior design, nor about how to engage an architect, or how to jump through planning hoops.
I would’ve been completely clueless about the design if Anya and Chloe hadn’t stepped in with all their brilliant ideas.
And look at how much help Adam is giving me with the building works! ’
Harry closed his eyes. ‘I know you’re right, I know…’
He sensed Liam moving closer even before his brother’s arm enclosed his shoulder.
‘You’re just scared of trying and failing.’
Harry leaned into the comforting strength of Liam’s hold. ‘Everyone already thinks I’m a fuck-up.’
‘Only the people who don’t know you, and since when did we care about what a few judgemental idiots think?’
Harry opened his eyes and finally found the strength to admit what was really bothering him. ‘What about Mum and Dad? I can’t let them down again.’
‘You didn’t let them down, Harry! Not because of what happened at school and certainly not because of what happened to Ed! You have to stop torturing yourself over that – it was an accident.’
‘He was my responsibility, though.’ Harry should’ve never let Ed talk him into looking for the old smugglers’ caves under the castle that day.
Liam shook him gently. ‘No, he wasn’t! The only person who is responsible for the things Ed does is Ed himself. He’s always been too impetuous for his own good.’
A loud cough sounded behind them and they both spun around to see Ed standing in the open door.
‘If you guys have finished shit-talking about me, there’s a couple of heavy boxes I need a hand getting up the stairs.
’ He turned on his heel and disappeared before either of them could find the wherewithal to reply.
Horror filled Harry and his immediate instinct was to run after his twin, but Liam’s hand clamped around his upper arm and held him back.
‘Let me go, I need to check on him,’ Harry snapped, trying to shake Liam off, but his brother held firm.
‘No, let him cool off for a minute. And besides, you weren’t the one criticising him, so if there’s a conversation to be had it’s between me and him.’ Liam’s eyes were steely.
‘But you will make it right with him?’ Harry urged. ‘You’ll tell him you didn’t mean it. You know Ed doesn’t mean to get into the scrapes he does, it’s just the way he is.’
Liam shook his head. ‘Maybe the only reason he keeps screwing up is because we keep making excuses for him. We’ve all treated him as the baby of the family for far too long. It’s time for him to grow up, and if that means hearing a few home truths then so be it.’
It went against Harry’s every instinct but there was a small voice in the back of his head whispering that just maybe Liam had a point.
Only last night Harry had been worrying about Ed’s behaviour and vowing to spend more time looking out for him.
Maybe that was part of the problem. ‘I’m worried about him. ’
Liam nodded. ‘Me too. I’m not saying we don’t keep an eye on him, I’m just saying we stop cleaning up after him all the time so he can learn about the real-world consequences of his actions.’
Harry figured Ed knew plenty about real-world consequences given how badly he’d smashed his leg up on those rocks, but Harry had also covered for Ed and let their parents blame him for the twins climbing down there that day.
He sighed. ‘I hear what you’re saying. Come on, let’s not leave him stewing out there any longer. ’
When they stepped outside it was to find Ed stomping his way back down the stairs. ‘So where’s these boxes you needed a hand with?’
‘I carried them up,’ Ed said with a shrug as he hit the ground level and kept walking. ‘I’ve got other stuff I need to do today.’
Liam planted his hands on his hips. ‘I’m sorry we kept you waiting, but you shouldn’t be putting that kind of strain on your leg.’
Ed had reached the gate by then and he turned to face them, the ugliest version of a smile Harry had ever seen plastered across his face.
‘I guess it’s like you said, bro, I’m just too impetuous for my own good.
’ He raised two fingers to his temple in a mocking salute before turning back around and disappearing down the alley.
The urge to run after him was overwhelming but Harry stood his ground. He glanced over at Liam, who was staring towards the empty gateway with a pensive expression on his face. ‘I really hope you’re right about this,’ Harry murmured.
Liam scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. ‘Yeah, me too.’ He turned away. ‘Come on, let’s get the kitchen sorted.’
Harry shook his head. ‘No, you go and see if Kat still needs a hand moving her stuff. I can finish up here.’