Chapter 52
LIV
Dread and anxiety swirled in a vortex in my tummy all day as I watched the clock creep ever closer to eight o’clock.
My sister Linda was going to come over to mind Finn.
I had explained to her what was going on and told her we wouldn’t be too long; I imagined neither family would want to prolong the discussion.
‘Let’s just get this over with.’ Jay exhaled deeply as we drove through the Laurences’ electric gates that evening.
It had taken a lot of convincing to get him to come.
He’d echoed my worries that things would inevitably get heated but in the end, I had managed to talk him around and we agreed to try.
He brought the car to a stop on the gravel outside their house and silenced the engine.
Maya appeared on the top step to greet us.
‘Liv, Jay, thanks so much for coming.’ She beamed at us as we climbed out.
She was dressed in a cashmere cardigan and a big, voluminous skirt that swept down to the floor.
Gold hooped earrings dangled from her ears and her make-up was flawless as always.
It looked as though she had put a big effort into getting ready.
I started to wish I had at least changed out of the jeans and hoodie that I had put on that morning.
‘Would you like a drink?’ she asked as we followed her inside. She lifted an already opened bottle of red wine and refilled her glass. ‘I have white too but I do love red when the colder weather sets in.’
‘Ehm, actually, water will be fine,’ I said. Although I could have used some Dutch courage, I wanted to have a clear head for what we were about to discuss.
‘Yeah, I’ll stick with water too,’ Jay agreed.
‘Sure,’ she said, pouring two glasses of mineral water for us. ‘Hugo is just putting Elliot to sleep; he’ll be back down in a few minutes. I’ve made a coq au vin for us to eat; I hope you like it.’
‘Wow, you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble…’ I was taken aback by the effort she had made; I thought we’d be getting straight down to business.
‘Don’t worry, the weather has turned so cold today that I needed something hearty to warm me up. I also made some canapés to snack on while we’re waiting for Hugo,’ she said, removing a steaming tray from the oven.
‘These look delicious,’ I said, picking up a spring roll.
Jay lifted a filo-wrapped prawn and flashed a look in my direction and I knew he was thinking the same thing. This was meant to be a discussion between four grown-ups about what was going on with our sons but Maya was acting like she was hosting a dinner party.
After a few minutes of awkward small talk where we discussed everything but the boys, Hugo appeared downstairs.
‘There you are, darling,’ Maya trilled. I was surprised by how affectionate she was being.
Maybe things were better between them again since the night of the fundraiser.
Their marriage seemed to be more volatile than the Atlantic on a stormy day and it made me thankful once more for the calm, loving, stable relationship that Jay and I shared.
‘Everyone sit down and I’ll serve,’ Maya ordered.
We all took our seats around the table as she placed bowls of fluffy rice and creamy mashed potatoes and a cast-iron dish full of the delicious-smelling casserole into the centre of the table.
She dimmed the lighting so that the room was lit by gentle candlelight flickering from the glass tealight holders and soft acoustic music played in the background.
We heaped the food onto our plates. If circumstances had been different, it would have be an inviting and atmospheric dinner party.
‘I just wanted to thank you for asking us here tonight so we can talk it all out properly,’ Jay began. I knew he was keen to get down to the real reason we were here. He wasn’t going to get caught up in the charade of being at a dinner party.
‘Yes,’ I chimed in, smiling at Maya and Hugo. ‘I think it’s important to remember that ultimately, we all want the same thing here so hopefully, by us adults talking about it maturely, we can help the boys.’ I wanted to keep this as amicable as possible.
‘What are you all talking about?’ Hugo asked, wrinkling his brow and shooting a confused look in his wife’s direction.
I turned to Maya, who was sitting beside me. ‘You didn’t tell him?’ I whispered.
‘I know… I’m sorry but I knew there was no way he’d have agreed to it,’ she replied.
I exhaled heavily. This had been sprung on all of us and it felt unfair in its own way.
‘The boys have been having a few problems in school,’ Jay began, filling Hugo in. ‘I thought you would have known this?’
‘What kind of problems?’ Hugo asked, spearing a piece of chicken on his plate.
‘Well, Finn claims that Elliot has been bullying him,’ I said.
‘But Elliot is also being excluded by Finn and his friends,’ Maya jumped in.
Hugo turned to Maya. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’ he asked.
‘I only just realised what was happening a few days ago. And besides, you haven’t been home early any evening this week so when were we meant to discuss it?’ she said pointedly.
‘So that’s what this dinner is all about: to discuss the boys?
’ Hugo asked in disbelief. His face grew redder as he became increasingly worked up.
‘You told me that you had just invited them over for dinner – you never told me there was a reason. I would have liked to have at least been informed about all of this!’ He lifted the wine bottle from the centre of the table and filled his glass without bothering to top up Maya’s.
‘Because I knew you wouldn’t do it. You’d find some silly excuse not to be here.’ Maya lifted her wine glass and took a generous sip.
‘Cheers, love, you too,’ he snarled. ‘So would anyone like to tell me what’s going on?’ He eyeballed me and Jay, daring one of us to speak.
I took a deep breath. ‘Elliot has been calling Finn names,’ I began, my voice wobbly with nerves.
Hugo seemed so riled up and I didn’t want things to escalate.
‘I-It started with his weight, then it was his hair. He was getting really upset and didn’t want to go into the school in the mornings.
’ I turned to Jay for reassurance. ‘W-we told Finn not to play with Elliot if he was being mean.’
‘But he and the other boys have excluded Elliot; that’s also bullying,’ Maya interjected. ‘I’ve spoken with the teacher and she confirmed it’s true.’
Jay reached for my hand underneath the table and gave it a squeeze.
‘Only because you went to her first,’ Jay defended Finn. ‘I wanted to go to the school but Liv was convinced we should wait and that she wanted to talk to you first but you just went straight in there.’
‘Look, clearly, the kids don’t have anything in common. Elliot can hardly be blamed if he doesn’t like Finn,’ Hugo reasoned.
‘There’s a difference between not liking someone and being mean to them,’ I said.
‘Oh, come on. Don’t you think you are both overreacting here? They’re kids – this is what they do. They are learning life lessons. In my day, you could have had the head boxed off you by another child and nobody would bat an eyelid.’
‘Times are different now, thankfully,’ Jay muttered.
‘I hope you don’t take this wrong but you are both so overprotective.’
‘Maybe we are,’ I said in disbelief, ‘but it’s not right to call a child names based on their appearance, Hugo!’
‘We can’t wrap them in cotton wool. Finn’s going to come up against worse, mark my words. That’s life. You both have him totally mollycoddled. He needs to toughen up.’
‘Oh you want him to be a macho man like you, fighting with his fists and getting hooked on porn?’ Jay challenged.
Hugo blinked angrily. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘You know very well,’ Jay went on.
‘Stop now, Jay,’ I said, placing my hand on Jay’s arm, feeling mortified.
Maya blinked back tears. ‘I told you that in confidence, Liv,’ she said, shaking her head.
‘You told them?’ Hugo blazed, turning to his wife. ‘You told them something that was private and meant to be between us?’ He shoved back his chair and stood up from the table in fury.
‘Hugo, wait,’ Maya begged. ‘I was upset, I didn’t know who to turn to…’
‘That’s our business,’ he said, hammering his fist down on the table, causing the crockery to jump. ‘It was meant to stay between us.’
Maya started to cry. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Suddenly, we heard a small voice behind us. We turned around to see Elliot had woken up and wandered downstairs.
‘Mummy,’ he said, rubbing his eyes with one hand and a well-worn comforter gripped in his other one. ‘I can’t sleep.’
‘Oh look, it’s the little bully himself!’ Jay quipped under his breath.
‘Jay!’ I hissed. ‘That’s not helpful.’ Why was he adding fuel to the fire?
Hugo leaned across the table towards Jay. ‘What the hell did you just say?’ he challenged.
‘You heard me,’ Jay said, not backing down.
Elliot started to cry and despite everything that was going on between him and my son, I felt awful for him having been woken up from his slumber and walking into this mess. I knew he must be scared and confused.
‘Come over here, baby.’ Maya opened her arms to him to climb up onto her knee.
‘See? See what you’ve done?’ Hugo went on. ‘You’ve some cheek coming here tonight, coming to our house, sponging off our hospitality and then you go and upset my family!’
‘Now, hang on a minute,’ I said, trying to defuse the situation. ‘Maya asked us to come here tonight; she said we were going to talk about the bullying. We didn’t know it was going to be a bloody dinner party. We just want to get this sorted out.’
‘Please can everyone just calm down,’ Maya begged. ‘Let’s not do this in front of Elliot.’
Hugo turned to Jay and me then. ‘Finn is such a prissy mummy’s boy, is it any wonder Elliot can’t stand him?’ He was like a cornered animal, fighting back.
‘Come on, Liv, let’s get out of here,’ Jay said, standing up. ‘I’m done. We’re wasting our time. Clearly, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’
Suddenly, Hugo lunged across the table at Jay, grabbing him by the neck of his t-shirt.
‘What the fuck did you just say?’ he blazed. The bottle of wine was knocked onto its side and red liquid glugged out of the neck, spreading in a bloody pool, soaking along the white linen tablecloth.
‘Go on, hit me, macho man,’ Jay goaded.
‘Jay!’ I chastised. ‘That’s enough!’
‘Stop it, both of you,’ Maya ordered. ‘Sit down, Hugo. You’re scaring Elliot.’
But his words seemingly had no effect as Hugo drew back his fist.
Jay struggled to release himself from Hugo’s grip and the two of them moved away from the table and tousled around together.
Time seemed to slow down as I watched Hugo’s fist move stealthily through the air just as Elliot jumped up and ran in front of his father screaming, ‘Daddy, no!’ Instead of punching Jay, Hugo’s fist connected with the tiny face of his son.
Maya screamed in horror as the little boy flew through the air, falling to the floor at her feet.
‘What have you done?’ she shrieked at her husband.
‘Oh my God,’ Hugo cried. ‘I-I didn’t mean to hit him!’ He held his head in his hands in shock as he stared at the crumpled mess of his son lying on the floor.
Jay rushed over and began checking Elliot’s vital signs. I stared in shock at the tiny body, with its pale, wan face and a trickle of blood trailing from the side of his mouth, pooling onto the tiles beneath him.
‘Oh my God,’ Maya cried over and over again as she cradled him in her arms. ‘My poor baby.’
‘Do something, Liv!’ Jay shouted at me. ‘Call an ambulance!’
His words brought me to life and I fumbled with my bag, trying to find my phone within it. My fingers were awkward and clumsy as I tried to press the right buttons.
‘Hurry up!’ he roared.