43
THE NEXT MORNING, there’s knocking on my bedroom door that starts gentle, for about a second, and then becomes very vigorous.
‘I’m coming in,’ Hayley says.
I was in the kind of deep sleep that I don’t snap out of easily, and my brain doesn’t quite compute what’s happening until Hayley sits on the bed.
Mac and I are both naked.
‘Hayls, no,’ I say, yanking up the sheet.
‘Good morning,’ Mac says, also making sure he’s covered. He is already awake, and, I notice, reading my book.
‘I’m sorry to intrude, but better me than what’s coming.’
‘What’s coming?’ I say, sitting up a little, the sheet thankfully still covering my boobs.
‘Your mum.’
‘She’s here?’ I’m fully awake now.
‘And my mum.’
‘Where?’
‘Downstairs.’
‘What time is it?’
‘Eight thirty.’
‘Why are they here?’
‘My mum is dropping off some book you wanted and they brought us coffee and pastries.’
‘God.’
‘They think Patrick is up here with you. They bought him a gluten-free brownie.’
‘Did you tell them he’s not?’
‘No. I wasn’t sure what your plan was.’
‘Surprisingly, I don’t actually have a plan for the mums barging in at the crack of dawn with the wrong impression of which man is in my bed,’ I say.
‘Well, now is the time to make one,’ Hayley says.
‘What should we do?’ I say.
‘Come down separately,’ Hayley says, getting up to go.
‘And then what?’
‘I don’t know. I’m giving you the beginning of a plan, you have to have some input too.’
‘You know what? Let’s just get up and go down there. I am an adult. This is no one’s business and I don’t have to answer anyone’s questions.’
‘Good luck with that,’ Hayley says as she leaves.
I pull on an old T-shirt, leggings and my bathrobe and Mac gets into his clothes from last night.
‘Should I try and sneak out?’ he says. ‘Climb out the window and shinny down the drainpipe?’
‘No, just come down. My mother is not worse than a broken neck, surely.’
‘They’re going to think—’
‘What?’
‘That I seduced you away from your soulmate.’
‘You did.’
‘Be serious. What are we saying?’
‘We’re saying nothing.’
‘You have to say something . Or do you have a Patrick mask here I can wear?’
‘You’re too short to be Patrick, sorry.’
‘Hey now, don’t underestimate my acting skills. I can project the presence of a much taller man.’
‘And too handsome. And your voice is too sexy.’
‘That’s better,’ he says, kissing my neck from behind. He touches my arm, and then turns me around to face him.
‘You didn’t tell me I was in your book acknowledgments.’
‘You read the acknowledgments before the book?’
‘I wanted to see who made the cut,’ he says.
‘Only a select few have the immense privilege.’
‘I’m honoured.’
We stare at each other and smile. I wrote, as my last line in the acknowledgments, Thank you to Cormac, for helping me figure out the ending .
‘Now I need to get to this ending,’ he says. ‘Maybe I’ll just hide up here and read.’
‘Come on,’ I say, grabbing his hand.
We walk down the stairs together, and pause at the bottom. I can hear Bobbi rummaging in the kitchen cupboards.
‘Where’s that dish I lent you?’ she is saying to Hayley.
‘You never lent me a dish,’ Hayley says.
‘I did. My good red one, for lasagne.’
‘I would never take that dish, because I would know it would lead to this conversation.’
‘Darling, I know I lent it to you. And here are the Tupperware containers you swore you didn’t have.’
‘Please don’t go through my kitchen cupboards, not before midday. I don’t have the strength,’ Hayley groans.
Bobbi straightens up as Mac and I walk into the kitchen lounge area. I can see Mum sitting at the table with her back to us, Luke across from her and Hayley on the couch.
‘Good morning,’ I say.
Mum turns, smiling at me, and then does a double-take at Mac behind me. Bobbi makes a small noise of surprise, and then bites down a smile.
‘Good morning Anna. And…Mac,’ Mum says.
‘Good morning,’ Mac says. His hair is mussed, and he’s run his hand through it twice already.
‘So. Um. I guess Patrick isn’t here?’ Mum says.
‘Patrick isn’t here,’ I say.
‘Where is he?’ she asks.
‘At his home. I assume.’
‘And you and Mac are—?’
‘Having breakfast.’
‘Right then,’ Bobbi says, walking back to the table. ‘Let’s eat.’
Mac sits down gingerly next to me at the table. Everyone is unusually quiet. Luke is chewing his muffin and staring at the table.
‘So, what happened after we left last night?’ Mum asks, eventually.
Everyone has a takeaway coffee in their hand except for Mac. The untouched cup in the middle of the table has ‘Patrick’ written on it in black texta. They must have asked for his soy-milk latte to be labelled.
‘Nothing much,’ I say.
‘Mac, would you like this coffee? It’s made with soy milk,’ Mum says.
‘Oh, no thanks.’
‘Here have some of mine,’ I say, sliding my cup towards him. I pick up the Patrick latte, take it to the kitchen, pour it down the sink and throw the cup in recycling, which feels very dramatic and symbolic, but it sitting untouched in the middle of the table felt somehow even more so. Especially because the yellow flowers he bought me are displayed in a vase in my eyeline as well.
‘Well, I am assuming you and Patrick broke up,’ Mum says. ‘Or does he, does he not know about…this?’
‘Mum! Please.’
‘I’m just asking so I know to be discreet the next time I see him.’
‘There is no next time you see him.’
‘So you broke up.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well. That’s that then, isn’t it.’ She sounds disappointed.
‘You barely knew him. I’m not sure why you’re upset,’ I say.
‘I’m not upset. I just thought he was good for you, that’s all.’
Mac looks like he wants to die.
‘Well, I guess you just need to trust me that I know what’s good for me.’
‘I better call your father and tell him.’
‘Why!’
‘Patrick was going to help him with that new camera he got last year and hasn’t used once.’
‘Mum! When did you ask him to do that?’ I say.
‘Last night, at the launch.’
I sit at the table and lean my head into my hands.
‘I know a little about cameras, I could help, maybe,’ Mac says, and this makes me laugh. Once I start, I can’t stop, and I can hear Hayley getting the giggles across the table.
‘And I better email Sue,’ Bobbi says.
‘Psychic Sue?’ I say.
‘Yes, we should update her.’
‘That’s what I said,’ Hayley says.
‘Please don’t,’ I say, my head still in my hands.
‘I have to sweetheart, I sent her an email to say you and Patrick got together in the end and wasn’t that lovely, and she asked if she could use a quote from my email on her website.’
‘Oh my god, Bobbi,’ I say, sitting up now and looking at her in horror.
‘I got carried away,’ she says, holding up her hands. ‘I know that.’
Hayley is checking Psychic Sue’s website. ‘She’s already put up the quote.’
Hayley turns her phone to me. There’s a quote in the testimonials section that says: Sue told my goddaughter she would meet a man named Patrick in six months time and she did!! And now, eighteen months later, they are happily together!!!
‘Mum, the exclamation marks are so excessive,’ Hayley says.
‘She must have added those,’ Bobbi says. ‘I never use more than one.’
‘Okay, we need that taken down ASAP,’ I say, pushing Hayley’s phone back to her before Mac can see anything, but it’s too late, I can see him absorbing it all.
‘I’m just going to have a shower,’ he says to me quietly.
He leaves the room and the minute we can hear running water, Bobbi turns to me.
‘Okay, tell us everything,’ she says.
‘Yes, I need details,’ Hayley says.
‘You literally heard me break up with Patrick,’ I remind her.
‘But what was going on in your head?’
‘Yes, darling, we’d all like to know that,’ Mum says.
‘Nothing! Or, just, I guess Mac being here made me realise that I wasn’t head over heels for Patrick.’
‘You don’t need to be head over heels to have a happy marriage—look at your father and me,’ Mum says.
‘That’s something you should only be saying to a therapist,’ I say.
‘I mean, sometimes, when it comes to long-term stability, companionship, friendship and overall compatibility are more important than butterflies.’
‘So you want me to be with a man I’m not attracted to?’
‘Well, I didn’t say that. You never said you weren’t attracted to him.’
‘I was attracted to him, but it’s just, I’m not, I don’t know…’ I trail off. I don’t know how to explain it. Or I do. I don’t love Patrick, and I love Mac. It’s actually very simple, but I don’t want to say this out loud.
‘The sex was bad,’ Bobbi says knowingly.
‘Mum, no,’ Hayley says. ‘Don’t go there.’
‘Can you all please just trust me? I know how I feel. I know how I’m meant to feel. And I didn’t feel it for Patrick.’
‘He did have a vibe about him. Something was off, I always knew it deep down,’ Bobbi says, nodding sagely.
‘Mum, can I remind you that at my wedding you told Anna, and I quote, “He’s your soulmate. I can feel it”,’ Hayley says.
‘Well, it was a wedding. Nothing anyone says at a wedding can be taken seriously. I was swept up in the moment. I’d just seen my daughter in her wedding dress. I was emotional,’ Bobbi says.
‘I do want to say something to you both,’ Hayley says, standing up from the table, looking serious. She glances around, making sure the shower is still running, and then lowers her voice. ‘Mac doesn’t have a mother anymore. And the way you two are treating him, like he’s a suspect in a crime, it’s not good enough. This man needs to be mothered . The two of you need to step up and start being more caring. Because no matter what happens with him and Anna, he’s Luke’s friend, and he’s going to stay in our lives. And, also, he loves Anna. He really does.’
Both Mum and Bobbi look sufficiently chastised at this. There’s a palpable shift in the air. The mums could go either way, they could bristle and dig their heels in or they could soften and start doting on Mac. Before they have time to say anything, we hear the water turn off and, not long after, Mac emerges, wearing yesterday’s clothes and towel-drying his wet hair.
‘Hi,’ he says, as everyone turns to look at him.
He looks, somehow, especially vulnerable in this moment.
‘Darling, why don’t you sit. I was just about to whip up some eggs,’ Bobbi says to him, standing up. Hayley hates it when Bobbi cooks in her kitchen, but she remains silent, watching.
Mac looks startled at both the offer and the word darling .
‘Here, sit here,’ Mum says, pointing to the chair next to her. Mac glances at me, and then sits where he was told to.
Hayley and I exchange a smile. I mouth ‘thank you’ at her.