Chapter Seventeen
Connor had waited until Boxing Day to broach the tricky subject of staying on at the flat.
He hadn’t wanted to spoil Christmas by causing a family row; there had been enough of those over the years without adding to the pile.
Probably the reason why he’d stayed away for the last couple of Christmases.
Last year Connor had spent the whole of the festive period at The Grange, playing the genial host to Bonnie’s many friends.
It had been open house and Ryan, Bear and the rest of the gang had all called in at various times.
In fact, it had been a non-stop social whirl of drinks and gossip, and Bonnie had worked her culinary magic and kept the fridge stocked up with all manner of delicious Christmas treats.
In comparison, Christmas Day at Patrick’s house had been like organised chaos.
His sister-in-law, Lisa, spent most of the time running round after Brendan, their energetic three-year-old, while Patrick seemed to do most of the cooking.
Patrick had collected Grandad and he’d sat in the big armchair in the lounge happily talking to Lisa’s sister, husband and parents who had also joined them for Christmas Day.
The highlight of the day for Connor had been getting an opportunity, in amongst the mad whirl of activity, to chat with Grandad.
It was comforting to reminisce over the past as well as update each other on more current events.
Sorry I haven’t been in touch more seemed such a feeble apology, but, as ever, Grandad had understood.
Nine of them had squashed around Patrick’s dining room table for dinner, and there was barely enough room for the humans, never mind the additional dishes of roast potatoes, vegetables, bottles of wine (supplied by Connor) and Christmas crackers.
Within seconds, Brendan had dropped a beaker of orange squash on the carpet, which had splashed down the side of Connor’s trousers.
Lisa offered to put them in the wash for him without even asking if they were dry clean only.
For the rest of the day, Connor had taken steps to avoid Brendan whenever he had a drink in his hand.
The toddler seemed to find him fascinating though and now, after the mayhem of the previous day, he was busy finding toys and bringing them to show Connor.
‘I think he’s trying to tell you something.’ Patrick laughed, scooped up his son and sat next to Connor on the sofa.
‘This is Uncle Connor,’ said Patrick. ‘You probably don’t recognise him because he doesn’t turn up very often, but believe it or not he is actually part of our family.’
‘Isn’t Daddy hilarious,’ replied Connor with a silly grin, and giving Brendan a friendly tickle.
Brendan waved a red car at Connor with an excited shriek that sawed through his eardrums at close range. He then crawled over to Connor and ran the car up his arm pulling out a thread from his Ralph Lauren Christmas jumper.
‘Hey, buddy, drive carefully!’
The car continued along the top of Connor’s head. He winced as the hard tyres dug in to his ear while Brendan drove it down the side of his face.
Patrick removed Brendan’s driving arm from Connor’s face. ‘Cars drive on floors, not faces.’
Connor rubbed his ear tenderly to check it was still functioning.
Having got bored of using his head as a race track, Brendan wriggled off the sofa, and Connor watched him run after Lisa. If, in the future, he ever thought about what it would be like to have a kid, one evening in Brendan’s company would be enough to remind him.
‘Is he always this full of beans?’ Connor asked.
Patrick laughed. ‘This is him being quite calm actually. Lisa thinks he needs a brother or sister to play with, which I think is an unsubtle way of saying she wants another baby.’
‘What about you?’
‘Yeah, it’d be nice for him to have a playmate, but I’d need to be around more to help Lisa. And we’d also need a bigger house.’
‘Oh?’ replied Connor warily.
‘Which will mean some financial changes. Look, I know you’ve been staying at the flat while you sort yourself out, but what are your long-term plans? Have you been trying to get a job?’
‘Working in television is a lot about having the right contacts. I’m working on it.’
‘But there must be local jobs you can do. Have you even been looking? You can’t spend the rest of your life waiting for some perfect job that probably isn’t even out there.’
Connor recognised a familiar topic of conversation. ‘I’m trying, okay? Don’t hector – I’m not qualified for things in the same way you are.’
Patrick sighed. ‘Here we go again. It’s not fair. I didn’t get the lucky breaks. Well, for your information I worked damn hard at school and maybe you didn’t.’
Connor leapt to his feet. He’d had enough of Patrick’s morality lectures and he knew he was about to lose his temper and that would get him nowhere. He marched over to the window and took several deep breaths.
‘Look, you’re my brother and I want to help out, but at the end of the day I have to make some financial decisions.
I know we had Lisa’s inheritance from her godmother, but we still had to extend the mortgage to buy the flat, so the rent on that is needed to pay for this house.
A very good friend of mine is returning from Thailand after Easter, looking to rent, and I’ve told him he can have the flat for as long as he needs it. ’
Connor spun round, his mouth open. ‘What? You’d let someone else stay there instead of your own brother?’
‘For goodness’ sake, can’t you stop behaving like a spoilt brat! The difference is that he’ll be paying rent. The full market rate, just so as you know, which is seven hundred pounds per calendar month.’
‘Thanks. Rub it in, why don’t you?’
‘You’ve got three months to find yourself employment. I’m sure you’ll think of something.’