Chapter 13
13
By the time he’d packed everything away and headed home for the day, Rick was ready for nothing more than a hot shower, the takeaway he’d just picked up and an early night. The forecast for Sunday was even better, so he could expect another busy day. Not that he was complaining, far from it. Given this was only the start of the season, with any luck it might be their best year yet. He paused by the back door to wash the sand off his feet with the garden hose. It was a futile task trying to keep the floors completely clean, but they all did their bit to minimise the mess.
Leaving the bag with his dinner on the side, Rick headed upstairs and stood under the pounding hot water until the ache in his back and arms eased. He’d just reheated his food and was carrying it up to his sitting room when the front door opened and his parents walked in.
‘Oh, you’re not coming out tonight, then?’ his mum asked by way of greeting.
Rick frowned. ‘I didn’t know we had plans. ’
‘There’s a band on at the Smuggler’s Den, I mentioned it to you earlier.’
So she had. ‘Sorry, it completely slipped my mind. You guys go and have a good time, I’m going to eat this and have an early night.’ He was also going to try and get hold of Liam and invite him and Caroline for Ma’s birthday meal, but he decided to keep that to himself for now. He didn’t want Mum getting her hopes up.
‘All right, love.’ She turned to Jago, who had shut the door and was toeing off his work boots. ‘Do you want the shower first, or shall I go up?’
Jago slid an arm around her waist. ‘We could always share one, good for the environment and all that.’
‘Well that’s definitely my cue to leave,’ Rick said with a laugh as he ascended the stairs. ‘Just try not to flood the en suite like you did last time!’ he called to them over his shoulder.
‘There was a blockage in the drain, and you know it, Frederick Penrose!’ his mother exclaimed in a tart voice.
‘If you say so!’ Rick stepped onto the landing and hurried quickly to the peace of his sitting room at the far end. He adored his parents and he was glad they were still clearly in love with each other. He did wonder sometimes if the reason he and the twins were all so resolutely single was because the example their parents had set them was such a high one. It was something to ponder on as he forked chicken fried rice into his mouth with one hand and flicked through his various streaming subscriptions with the other. He settled on a new action film on Netflix, which looked interesting enough without needing much in the way of concentration to follow it, put his feet up and ate.
Forty minutes later the protagonist was in all kinds of trouble and Rick was already anticipating how he’d manage to turn the tables on the bad guys. Though it was tempting to watch through to the end, he paused the film and reached for his phone to call Liam. It rang half a dozen times and Rick was just about to hang up when his brother answered. ‘Hey, stranger!’
‘Hey, yourself. How’s things?’
‘Fine, fine. Everything’s fine. To what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘I was just calling about Ma’s birthday in August. She’s going to be eighty.’
‘Bloody hell, is she really? Oh, hold on a sec.’ Liam’s voice sounded further away when he spoke next. ‘It’s Rick.’ Pause. ‘No, no, I won’t be long.’ Another Pause. ‘Sorry about that.’ His brother’s easy tone had vanished.
‘Everything all right? If I’m interrupting I can call back another time.’
Liam sighed. ‘Just another one of Caroline’s interminable dinner parties. Don’t worry about it; the guests aren’t due for another half an hour and it won’t take me that long to open a couple of bottles of wine.’
‘As long as you’re sure?’
Before he could continue, Caroline’s voice interrupted them again, much closer this time. ‘Unless someone’s dying I need you to come downstairs and help me.’
‘To do what? All you’ve got to do is peel the covers off a couple of trays; the caterers have done all the hard work.’ There was no mistaking the note of irritation in his brother’s voice.
‘I need you to do it because I’ve had my nails done. God, Liam, why do you have to be so bloody awkward about everything?’
Rick cringed. This sounded like an ongoing argument and not something he wanted to get in the middle of. ‘Hey, bro. It’s cool. I’ll send you a text and we can catch up in the week, okay? ’
Liam sighed again. ‘Yeah, okay. Sorry.’ He hung up without saying goodbye.
He knew it wasn’t his fault, but Rick still felt rubbish about spoiling their evening. He quickly tapped out a brief explanation for his call, including the details about the planned dinner, sent it off and flicked his film back on.
An hour later and the hero had delivered vengeance on the bad guys in various creative ways. Rick let the what-to-watch-next recommendations pop up, but nothing caught his eye. When a huge yawn almost cracked his jaw he reminded himself he was going to have an early night. He hauled himself up off the sofa, turned off the TV and picked up his phone. A text had come through about five minutes earlier; he must’ve missed it with all the action on screen. It was a reply from Liam.
Sorry about earlier. Things a bit tricky. I’ll call in morning.
Rick sighed as he tucked his phone in his pocket and ambled across the landing towards his bedroom. He’d had a feeling it wasn’t plain sailing for his brother at home. They were in the habit of speaking every couple of weeks but things had gone quiet at Liam’s end over the past few months and it had got to the point where Rick had felt like he was intruding. Maybe it was time to stop ignoring his instincts and try and get Liam to talk about it.
When his phone rang the next morning not long after six, it took Rick by surprise. ‘Hey, I thought you’d be nursing a hangover until at least lunchtime,’ he said by way of greeting to Liam.
‘You’re right about the hangover,’ Liam grumbled, his voice sounding scratchy. ‘But the mattress on the spare bed isn’t conducive to a lie-in. ’
Yikes. ‘Things didn’t improve between you and Caroline, I take it?’
Liam’s chuckle turned into a cough. ‘Hang on, let me get a glass of water.’
Rick took advantage of the dead air to pop a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and pour himself a coffee from the freshly brewed pot. The only standing rule in his parents’ house was whoever was up first, put on the coffee. No doubt the smell would have his dad stirring before too long, but for now he had the kitchen to himself.
‘Right, that’s better.’ Liam came back on the line sounding much more his normal self.
‘So, what happened?’ Rick asked between bites of his toast. ‘How did you end up in the spare room?’
His brother sighed. ‘Before I met Caro I had no idea it was possible to sustain an argument for more than a couple of hours, but we’ve been having the same one off and on for weeks. Every time I think things have calmed down she has a dig and then we’re off again.’
‘That can’t have made dinner fun, trying to be nice to each other when you’re both pissed off.’
Liam laughed, a bitter sound that made Rick wince to hear it. ‘Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, because Caro didn’t even make a pretence of it. I mean, I can’t stand the couple who were here last night at the best of times, but having them here in the middle of all that turned a bad evening into an absolute nightmare. Lucinda and Caro have been best friends since school, so of course she immediately took Caro’s side. And her boyfriend, who by the way is some red-trouser-wearing army plonker called Tarquin Granby-Plungar?—’
Rick, who had been taking a sip of his coffee at the time, choked. ‘You’re shitting me. ’
‘I shit you not, bro. You thought we had it bad when it comes to names, but I tell you, mixing in the kind of circles Caro does is an eye-opener. Anyway, good old Tarquin clearly thinks he’s some kind of banter merchant and he told me I should do what he does and just agree with everything Caro says. Well, you can imagine how well Lucinda took that, and so then they were fighting too.’
‘Bloody hell, Liam, I know I shouldn’t joke about it, but it sounds like you were in an episode of some hideous old sitcom.’
His brother’s laugh was more genuine this time. ‘I might as well have been. Really, we should’ve just knocked it on the head but instead we made the very unwise decision to open more wine. I eventually poured Tarquin into a taxi about half-one this morning. Lucinda was too upset to go home with him and she and Caro ended up in our bedroom with a bottle of Baileys, a box of tissues and the Bendicks mints Lucinda had brought as a gift.’
‘Christ, I hate to think about the state of your en suite bathroom this morning. Maybe you were better off in the spare room after all.’
Liam groaned. ‘Bloody hell, I didn’t even think about that.’ He sighed. ‘Look, I don’t want to make it seem like this is all Caro’s fault, because it’s really not. She is right, I do make things awkward, but I just get so fed up of having to pretend I care about stuff I find boring.’
‘You’ve not been happy for a while.’ Rick made it a statement because there was no room for anything less than total honesty between them.
There was a long period of silence. ‘No, you’re right, and what’s worse is I’m making Caro miserable too. I still care about her but we’re not the people we were when we met at university.’ He sighed. ‘Or maybe we are but we were too blinded by love to see the flaws in our relationship. She’s a good person?—’
‘You just have different priorities,’ Rick put in. He raised a hand to rub the ache in his chest. It didn’t matter what he thought about Caro; if this really was the end of the line for her and Liam, then it was a sad day.
‘Yeah. Yeah, that’s it.’ Liam made a strangled sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. ‘Christ, I’m going to have to bite the bullet and talk to her about it, aren’t I?’
‘I think you should, for both your sakes. But if I can offer one piece of advice?’
‘Please.’
‘Don’t do it today when you’re both hungover and upset. Take her out somewhere – not to a restaurant or anything like that. Go somewhere you both like – a park, maybe – so there’s enough privacy to be open with each other and space to walk away if things get heated.’
‘That’s good advice, thanks, and look, whatever happens I’ll make sure I’m back for Ma’s birthday party, okay? Just let me know the date when Mum’s finalised the booking with Harry.’
‘It’ll be good to see you. It’s been too long.’
‘Yeah, it has. Hey, how are things there, anyway? How’s Anya settling in?’
Rick was immediately on alert at the mention of her name. ‘Fine, as far as I know. She was on the beach with Freya yesterday and they seemed to be having a good time.’
‘You haven’t seen her since she got back?’ There was definitely a note of curiosity in the question.
‘I’ve seen her around a couple of times, and I sorted out a job for her helping Uncle Davy at the hotel.’
Liam snorted. ‘Way to bury the lead there, bro.’
Rick rolled his eyes even though Liam couldn’t see him. ‘I’ve already had a load of nonsense from Ed about this; don’t you start.’
‘I’m not starting anything! You’re the one acting like you barely know who I’m talking about and then the next second you drop the fact you’ve squared away a job with her – and with Uncle Davy of all people, who is notorious for rejecting anyone’s attempts to help. What happened? Did you bump into the devil at a crossroads and sell your soul?’
He couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Don’t be daft. I just found a way to kill two birds with one stone, that’s all.’
‘Sure, sure, you only helped her out of the goodness of your heart and not because it might make her look kindly upon you.’ Liam’s tone was gently mocking.
Rick gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Give over will you. Why does everyone keep going on about her like she’s the love of my life or something? It was just a stupid crush and I’m well over it.’
‘Isn’t she? Are you?’ Liam’s voice had grown serious. ‘Come on, Rick, this is me you’re talking to; you don’t have to pretend.’
That stopped him in his tracks. After Liam had opened his heart to him about Caro, didn’t Rick owe him at least the same level of honesty? ‘It doesn’t matter what I may or may not feel about her, I’m sure starting another relationship is the last thing Anya wants or needs.’
‘Has she told you that, or are you just assuming you know what’s best for her, just like you do with the rest of us?’
Rick shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. ‘You make me sound like an arrogant idiot,’ he said, unable to keep the hurt from his voice.
‘Come on, don’t try and deflect, you know that’s not what I meant. There’s a reason everyone comes to you for help and it’s because they know they can rely on you to do your very best for them. I’m just pointing out that it’s been eighteen months since Drew died, and given the mess he left Anya in, do you honestly think she’s still mourning him?’
That made Rick sit up and think. ‘Well, no, I suppose not, but she’s still got Freya to consider…’
‘And that would put her off wanting to get involved with you because you’re the kind of unreliable guy who would mess around a woman with a kid, not a decent reliable one who would offer his stupidly big heart equally to a little girl as much in need of love and support as her mother?’
Rick laughed, awkwardly. ‘When this call is over, I’ll have to go and polish my saintly halo. Look, I’ll admit I still find her attractive, but we barely know each other.’
‘So get to know her! Bloody hell, Rick, it was always a mystery to me why you’ve been single all these years but now I realise it’s because you’re basically an idiot when it comes to women.’
‘All right, all right, Mr Domestic Bliss.’ Rick felt awful as soon as he’d said it, but he’d had enough of Liam’s teasing.
‘Brutal!’ Liam protested.
‘Sorry, that was a dick move on my part.’
‘Nah, it’s all good. Look, I’ll make you a deal, okay. By the time I come home for Ma’s party I’ll have sorted things out here with Caro one way or the other and you’ll have talked to Anya and found out how she really feels.’
‘Hold on a minute!’ Rick protested. ‘I never agreed to that.’
‘ Bwoak, bwoak, bwoak .’
Rick gritted his teeth. Damn Liam for knowing how to push his buttons. Rick could resist most things, but being accused of chickening out of something had always been his downfall. ‘Okay, you’ve got yourself a deal.’
‘Great! We can compare notes when I see you in a few weeks. Oh, and while we’re at it, Saint-boy, you can tell me how you got Davy to accept some help, because that’s little short of a miracle.’
‘It was nothing really,’ Rick muttered, that familiar queasiness at lying churning his stomach. He had to find time to speak to Davy. He supposed he could pop into the hotel next week on the pretext of seeing how Anya was getting on. That was a perfectly reasonable course of action given he was the one who’d recommended her for the job.
Plus it would be a good excuse to talk to her…