Chapter Twenty-One
“Why is my mother calling me and asking to meet my girlfriend?” Theo adjusted the phone on his shoulder as he leaned on his sofa, television humming in the background with the World Cup on.
The boys had all been supposed to meet up to watch the game, but Finn was out of town on business and was having to watch it on an ancient box television set in a run-down bed and breakfast near Bristol, Jono was visiting his long-distance girlfriend, and Danny had to work.
England was winning, and Theo’s spirits had been high and mighty until his mother had called him thirty minutes into the second half demanding to know how and who he had spent his past few weekends with.
“Mate, I don’t know what you are on about.” Finn demurred, the sound of the game also echoing from his side of the receiver.
“Nice try, man.”
“She name-dropped me, didn’t she?”
“Yep.”
“I swear Gladice can’t keep a secret to save her life.” Finn huffed. “Okay, you caught me, man. But what was I supposed to say? She was asking about who you were hanging out with. When it was just me, Georgia and Robert going to weekend family dinner she caught on pretty quick.”
“His name is Ross, and he’s Georgia’s fiancé.”
“Yeah, yeah. Robin. That’s what I said,” Finn nonchalantly muttered under his breath.
Theo huffed. He couldn’t help but notice now how Finn had a strong vendetta for his little sister’s fiancé, one that caused every weekend family dinner to be incredibly strained and not at all like the calm, humorous and obnoxiously positive dinners they used to have.
“I thought I did enough to get my mother off my back about my love life, or lack thereof, but clearly not.” Theo opened another bottle of beer with a shiny silver bottle opener, a present he had received from his father after their family trip to Canada a few years back.
It was tacky, incredibly different to Theo’s minimalistic taste, but it did the job: opening cold bottles of beer and helping him forget about his nagging mother for half the duration of a football game.
She couldn’t even wait the full ninety minutes before pouncing.
“Your excuses to miss family dinner have not been great. You can only have the flu once, Theo. Any more and your mum would probably call an ambulance and demand you see a doctor.”
Theo took a long thoughtful swig of the brew before leaning his head against the back of his sofa. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But that doesn’t stop the fact that she’s invited me and Olivia to dinner with her and Dad on Friday.”
“Would that be such a bad thing, though? After all, aren’t you supposed to be dating? Georgia has been very adamant about what she wants for her wedding. Random hook-ups immortalised in photos are not one of them.”
Theo frowned, eyes narrowing. “How do you know what Georgia wants for her wedding?”
“She was over at Mum’s looking through their wedding box,” Finn stumbled, a curt laugh weaving around all of his words. “Something about borrowing stuff and then they just rambled about wedding nonsense. I didn’t understand half of it, and to be honest, my ears are still bleeding a little bit.”
“You’re just jealous cause you’re not invited,” Theo said pointedly to his friend.
“Don’t even start on that, T.” Finn huffed on the other end of the line. “Plus, you have other things to worry about.”
“You’re right, instead of rubbing salt in your wound, I guess I better brief Olivia.” Theo glanced at the screen just as the opposing team stole the ball, and cursed.
“Uh, yeah. You probably should. God, sometimes I feel as though you should pay me. I give out enough advice. It would be nice to get something in return.” A loud crash sounded on the line, just as the crowd went wild on the TV, England shooting another goal.
Theo shook his head at the volume of Finn’s cheers before tipping his bottle back, this time taking a celebratory swig.
Maybe England winning the game would give him good luck, and maybe, just maybe, he’d survive the family dinner with Olivia.
Small stones of white and caramel crunched under Olivia’s feet as they approached Theo’s family home.
For a girl who grew up in a small, terraced house in the middle of nowhere, the grandeur of the building was overwhelming.
It loomed, filling her mind with a sense of inadequacy and making her feel like the lower-class peasant girl she supposed she’d always been.
Before her words had unlocked wealth – monetary and otherwise – she had never understood what it meant.
She wasn’t rich by any means. Her bank account now reflected a comfortable number, and for that, she was grateful.
Having financial security was something that had made such a difference for her and the more time she spent around those who’d always had money, something her success forced her into, the more she felt alienated from such circles, as she couldn’t relate to people who took it for granted.
Even more so, that people actually purchased them.
“Do you think they’ll like me?” she asked, turning to Theo as they came to halt outside a wide, prune-purple front door. Olivia glanced up at the obnoxious gold-plated lion door knocker. Everything about this place screamed wealth.
“I like you. So yes, they’ll like you,” Theo assured her.
Taking in a rattling breath, she smoothed her hands over her dress, partially to get rid of the creases that had appeared from their car journey, but also in attempt to dry her clammy palms. “Am I dressed alright? I feel underdressed. Is that even possible? I haven’t even seen them, but you’re dressed in cashmere, and I’m just in a cheap black dress—”
“Olivia,” Theo butted in, halting her ramble. He grinned. “You look beautiful. What you’re wearing is perfect.”
He always had the right thing to say to calm her, and she didn’t quite know what to do with that information.
Theo Constantine had a way of stopping her pinball thoughts, instead pulling her down to reality with an invisible string and tying her feet to the here and now.
Reaching up, he took the mouth of the lion in his hand and rapped it three times against the solid wooden door.
A screech of excitement sounded from beyond, before it swung open revealing a woman with wavy grey hair and warm honey eyes. She was dressed in a navy blue and white striped top and red cotton dress pants, her neck adorned with a string of statement red blown-glass pendants.
“Ah! Teddy, you’re here.” The woman reached forward and squeezed Theo into a suffocating hug. “I missed you, my Teddy Bear.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Mum,” Theo replied, sending Olivia a look that said don’t you dare comment on the Teddy Bear thing.
Lifting her hand, Olivia pretended to lock her lips closed, and threw away the key with a smug grin.
She would definitely be using that nickname in the near future.
She found it incredibly endearing. Her father had never called her anything other than her full name, and this type of informality reflected the warmth and love of a stable household. Something Olivia was not familiar with.
Gladice turned her thin frame towards Olivia and held out her arms. “And you must be the mystery woman who keeps stealing my baby away on the weekends.” Her smile was warm, the corner of her eyes crinkling with age and a lifetime of laughter.
Olivia felt herself blush, as she stepped into Theo’s mother’s arms and gave her a soft squeeze. “Uh, yes. I guess that’s me.”
“Mum, this is Olivia.” Theo placed a gentle hand on her lower back.
“Oh Teddy, she’s just gorgeous, where have you been hiding her?”
“It’s all kind of new, really. Can you blame me for wanting to keep her all to myself?” Theo grinned.
His mother was squeezing the life out of Olivia. She was quickly learning Gladice Constantine’s hugs were just as deadly as her stare. They were often all consuming, the kind of hug that crushed you with love until you had to tap her on the shoulder like a pro wrestler just to break the hold.
“Theo has told me such wonderful things about you, it’s lovely to meet you, Gladice.” Olivia’s voice was muffled into his mother’s shoulder, as her hand began slow tapping on his mother’s upper back.
“Okay, Mum. That’s enough. I don’t want you to squeeze her to death. I’d like to keep her around for a while,” Theo joked.
His mother pulled out of the hold and gave him a glare. “Are you saying I would scare her off with a hug? Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to hugs, don’t you agree, Olivia?”
Olivia glanced between the duo and gave a small grin at the way their features mirrored each other’s so well.
Both their eyebrows furrowed in a way that made the bridge of their noses scrunch up slightly in the middle.
Sending a smirk Theo’s way, she looped her arm in Gladice’s.
“Yeah, Teddy. There’s no such thing as too much when it comes to hugs. ”
Theo glared playfully at her, stepping forward to reach for her, but she turned quickly as his mother guided her through the front door.
“Come on, deary, let’s get you a nice cup of tea.
My husband’s just finishing up dinner and he’s so excited to meet you…
” Gladice led Olivia through a tiled foyer, the dark red walls littered with framed pictures of Theo and Georgia as kids, as well as hand-painted landscapes probably worth a fortune.
As they walked past the kitchen, a tall man with whispery black and silver hair stood by the stove, turning something in a saucepan.
“Denis, come and say hello to our guest. This is Olivia, Teddy’s girlfriend.” The elderly man looked up from the pan and gave Olivia a once-over before nodding his head and letting out an awkward, “Hello.”
A man of few words, Olivia concluded as Theo’s mum ushered them around a large oak table for dinner.
“I hope you’re not allergic to anything, Theo didn’t tell us much about you, but if there’s anything you don’t like then you don’t have to eat it.
I wasn’t sure what you ate so I went a bit overboard with everything.
” Gladice gave Olivia a motherly smile, before untying her husband’s apron and ushering them into the dining room next door.
“This looks sublime, darling,” the old man said, before settling into a red-cushioned dining chair. Once they were all seated, he turned to the younger couple and told them to dig in, or it would get cold.
Theo’s parents were unusual, quirky. Their outfits matched in a way that made Olivia look twice.
From his mother’s red pants and navy and white striped top to his father’s navy pants, white shirt and red pocket hanky.
It was all very formal, and despite Theo’s reassurance that her outfit was alright, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit underdressed.
“So, tell us a bit about yourself, lovey.” Gladice smiled. She looked like an older version of Georgia, the same honey brown eyes shining back at Olivia as the ones she had seen during the games night.
“Well, I’m an author.” She gulped, waiting for their reaction. Waiting for the hesitance that often came after she said this, the way their smiles turned tight and unsure. Waiting for the ‘why are you doing that when you could be doing something else’ comments that her own mother voiced.
Instead, Gladice responded with a surprising, “That’s lovely.
We are a family of booklovers.” She gestured to her husband, who was busy tucking into a gravy-covered slice of turkey.
“Denis here even published his own short story collection back in the day. I’ve got so many copies hidden away.
I’m sure I could find one for you to flick through… ”
Olivia turned to Denis with a surprised look. “Theo never told me…”
“They’re just some silly short stories,” Denis cut in, forking a parsnip and plopping it in his mouth.
Theo leaned close to her, nudging her shoulder with his as he spoke. “Dad likes to keep his writing more private these days. He does small clips for the local county magazine every now and then, but for the most part, it’s just personal writings.”
“Published or not, it’s great to meet a fellow writer.” Olivia smiled at the old man, who gave a curt nod in response before asking Theo to pass the gravy.
Dinner came and went with pleasant conversation.
Olivia learned a lot about Theo’s family, about how alike his father he was, but with the warmth and kindness of his mother.
She heard how the seemingly gruff old man spoke of his daughter, how his eyes lit up when talking about Georgia’s teaching.
By the time they got to the end of the main course, Olivia was smiling ear to ear, watching as Theo laughed at his mother’s bad jokes, and how his father kept getting up to fill her drink, lift the heavy pots and ask everyone if they wanted seconds.
They were lovely.
“Now, time for dessert!” Gladice sprang up faster than anyone could blink and began taking everyone’s plates and bowls. “Teddy, give an old girl some help would you and take Olivia’s plate into the kitchen for me?”
“Sure, Mum.” Theo gathered her plate in his arms before turning to Olivia with a small grin, “Will you be okay if I leave you here with my father?”
Olivia blinked up at him, their faces a hair’s breadth away from one another as he gathered the cutlery. “He’s not that scary, I’m sure I’ll survive,” she murmured.
Theo grinned at her before leaning down and planting a firm kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back in a second,” he whispered into her ear before disappearing into the next room.