Chapter 24
Drive safely, mate. We miss you! Mab says she’s got a cunning plan, come back soon :) xxxx
Leo pulled a face. What good were plans when there was no prospect of the shop opening?
By now they should be throwing a fantastic party, flinging wide the doors, welcoming in new customers, celebrating with champagne.
He’d laid down three cases of bubbly for the guests at the launch party, and another four special bottles just for the staff.
Leo had imagined himself in his still-to-be-purchased linen suit, popping the corks before the first arrivals, with Mab by his side in a new dress, with her hair up, lovely long legs on view and a discreet bit of cleavage showing.
His brothers would probably stick to ale, except for Alex, who had a taste for the finer things in life.
Harry would be in his best cord trousers and a jacket for the occasion, even George might have some new jeans.
He sighed deeply. Would it ever happen? And it was strange that however hard he tried, Leo couldn’t imagine Sophie at the party. He messaged back quickly.
Nearly at Scotch Corner, wish I was there with the gang though. See you soon, love to G too, L x
Setting off again, Leo’s mind raced. By the time he was driving through the busy suburbs of Newcastle, he had rehearsed, for the hundredth time, what he was going to say to Sophie.
She must be back home by now, wherever she’d been the other day, but he detoured past the tanning salon to make sure she wasn’t working late.
He remembered that Sophie often organised promotional evenings, where a free tanning session was on offer, with assorted ‘nibbles’, which usually meant rather stale Cheesy Puffs, cream crackers and lukewarm chardonnay.
Sophie wasn’t big on catering, but she made up for it in charm, when it suited her.
Leo remembered long evenings spent supporting her in these efforts, the sickly smell of tanning lotion mingling with Sophie’s overpowering perfume, dance music thumping out of the industrial-sized speakers and dazzling light flooding out onto the streets.
Tonight, the salon was in darkness, and Leo accelerated away, half hoping that he’d get stuck in the teatime traffic – anything to put off the moment of confrontation.
The rows of shops became tree-lined avenues as Leo neared Sophie’s family home.
A ridiculously elongated pink limousine passed him, filled with giggling teenagers, and every house had at least three cars parked in its driveway.
All too soon, Leo reached the gated drive where he’d come to pick up his beloved on numerous occasions.
He punched in the security code, hoping he’d got it right after all this time, and watched the iron gates slowly open, creaking gently.
Beautifully raked gravel crunched as he parked on the semi-circular entrance area.
Leo looked up at the windows. The curtains were half drawn and the house had an air of abandonment.
He rang the doorbell, hearing it peal out through obviously empty rooms. Even Katriona must be out.
Leo’s shoulders slumped. What now? He had nerved himself up for an emotional rollercoaster, as Sophie would have probably put it, and now he was unsure how to carry on.
Den or Alex? He needed some brotherly advice.
Making a snap decision, Leo jumped back into the van and swung out of the drive, stopping only to operate the gates.
Soon he was heading back towards town. Wherever Den was working, he had to be home by now. Den would know what to do.
By the time Leo reached Den’s block of flats, he was ravenously hungry.
He reached for his new stock of chocolate to stave off the pangs but felt suddenly sick.
No, he would wait to see what Den advised.
Maybe they’d go out and have dinner, or even order a carry-out and have a few beers.
Leo ran up the three flights of stairs two at a time, suddenly positive that Den would have all the answers to his problems. At first there was no answer to his knocking.
Den had never managed to get the broken doorbell fixed, but after a few moments, Leo heard footsteps, and a rather muffled female voice shouted, ‘It’s OK, I’ll get it, love. ’
Leo just had time for a momentary stab of embarrassment and irritation that he’d interrupted Den with some woman or other, when the door swung open, and he came face to face with Sophie, hair wildly tousled and dressed only in a very small bath towel.
‘Oh…’ she gasped, clutching the towel more tightly and glancing quickly over her shoulder. ‘Leo, I was just…’
‘Who is it, Soph? Tell them we’re busy,’ said an amused voice. When Sophie seemed unable to respond, Den appeared in the hallway, wearing a similarly miniscule towel around his waist.
‘Fuck,’ he said, meeting Leo’s steady gaze. ‘I suppose there’s no point in saying, “This is not what it seems”?’
‘Not in the slightest, you pair of two-timing shits,’ said Leo, turning on his heel and beginning the downward journey, even faster than he’d ascended. He could hear Sophie squeaking pathetically and Den telling her to ‘chill’ as he left the building. Now where?
Ten minutes later, Leo reached his old home, and almost wept with relief at the sight of lights glowing in the hall.
He flung open the door – it was never locked – and made his way towards the wonderful smell of food.
Alex and Josh were in the kitchen, happily preparing a meal together.
They were talking loudly above one of Josh’s louder Spotify playlists, and the scent of frying onions filled the air.
Both brothers turned when they heard Leo come in.
‘Bloody hell! Look what the cat dragged in,’ said Josh, slapping Leo on the back in delight.
‘Leo; this is ace. When did you get here? There’s nothing wrong with Dad, is there?’ asked Alex, in sudden alarm.
Leo sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands. Great gulping sobs shook his shoulders as he took in the enormity of what he’d just seen. Alex patted him on the back, distraught.
‘Leo, is it Dad? Can you just tell us, mate? Please?’
Leo took a deep breath and made a valiant attempt to control his tears.
‘No, not Dad, it’s… it’s…’ He tried again but couldn’t find the words to say why he was crying. He knew it wasn’t really Sophie’s betrayal that was hurting so much. It was the loss of respect for his big brother, the one who he’d always idolised. How could Den do this to him?
Josh came to stand next to Leo with a cold beer at the ready.
All his brothers responded well to this form of comfort, and Josh couldn’t think of any other way to help.
He had never seen any of his family in this state.
Alex waited patiently on the other side of their brother and after a while, the sobs died down, and Leo managed to stutter out his painful story.
Realising this was going to take some time to sort out, Josh and Alex came to sit at the table with him, alternately murmuring their outrage and shouting their disgust. Alex was the first to comment when Leo finally ground to a halt.
‘Well, of course, this is nothing new, is it, mate?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, come on, Leo, you know Den’s always resented you, don’t you?’
‘Resented me? How do you mean? I don’t get it.’
‘You can’t have forgotten all the times he’s tried to get one over on you.
He’s been jealous of you ever since you were born, Dad reckons.
Apparently, he tipped you out of your pram the day after you came home from hospital, and I can remember how he always had to be watched really carefully when we were playing outside.
He knocked you off the swing when you were two, and you had your arm in plaster for weeks.
I suppose you were too young to remember any of that, but he’s never really stopped needling you. ’
Josh nodded. ‘I was too young to see most of this, but he always made a play for any girls you brought home. He used to chat them up when you were out of the room. What was the last one called? Lottie, that was the one. She was quite fit.’
‘What about Lottie?’ Leo felt dazed. Had he been living in a different world to the one his brothers seemed to be describing?
‘Oh, Lottie… well, I caught them naked in your bedroom while you were doing that signwriting course in Leeds. She left while you were away, I always wondered what she told you.’
‘She said she was fed up with waiting for me to make a decision about moving in with her. That’s what Carro said too.’
Alex snorted. ‘I was the one that caught him with Carro. They were in the garden. I think they were having a few problems with the nettles though. They looked quite uncomfortable, in more ways than one.’ He shuddered. ‘Serves them right.’
‘But why me? Has he never tried to pull a fast one like this on you, Alex?’
Alex laughed. ‘No, I guess mine and Den’s tastes are different, mate.’
Leo tried to take all this in. ‘So, for all these years I’ve been looking up to Den and thinking he was my best mate, and he’s been finding different ways of making me look a prat?’
‘That’s about it,’ said Alex, ‘and this last time…’
‘You mean Sophie?’
‘No, I meant Mab really.’
‘Mab? What are you talking about now? This is getting surreal.’
‘As soon as we got to Clayton, Den could see how the land lay with you and Mab. You were eyeballing each other all the time, don’t try and deny it,’ said Josh. Alex continued, seeing that Leo was speechless.
‘So Dynamic Denis moved in. He was flirting with her, teasing her, rescuing her from the lake, making her feel pampered. He knows all the tricks and he never gives in. Then suddenly, for no reason, he gets bored.’
‘But… but… if he wanted Mab, what’s he doing with Sophie?’ said Leo, feeling as if he was wandering through a swamp. He drained his beer, and Josh put another one in his hand, patting his brother on the back.
‘Den just likes the chase. He won’t want either of them really. I expect Sophie will come crawling back to you later. He’s probably promised her that penthouse flat she’s been after for so long.’
‘Do you think I’d have her back after this? I only came up here to tell her it’s over anyway. I want to be free to get to know Mab properly. She’s just avoiding me at the moment. I don’t know what to do.’
Alex turned back to his chopping board. ‘Right, forget all three of them for a bit and have dinner with Josh and me. It’s chicken in a creamy white wine and cracked black pepper sauce tonight, with crunchy garlicky potato wedges and some buttered green beans and carrot sticks.’
Alex had always been able to make his family’s mouths water.
His food descriptions were poetry. He never worried about fat content or calories, just sent himself out for an extra run the next day, and always refused second helpings.
Alex’s willpower was legendary. Leo realised that he hadn’t eaten since that morning.
He settled into his chair and drank his beer, almost moved to tears again by the way his brothers were rallying round to cheer him up.
Who needed Den anyway? Leo would think about his treachery another time. For now, he seriously needed to eat.
‘So, are there any developments on the shop opening date?’ asked Alex, as he bustled around the kitchen. ‘Did… Edward was it… the man next door, get in touch again?’
‘No, it’s all gone quiet. We never did find out who cancelled the orders for the books and catering stuff.
’ Leo saw Josh and Alex looking puzzled, and filled them in on the story of the emails, finishing, ‘And it must have been someone who knew my password and email account, or someone in the flat, but who would want to do that to me?’
There was a short silence as all three looked at each other, not wanting to speak. Alex was the first to crack.
‘Surely Den wouldn’t stoop that low to wind you up?’
‘Wouldn’t he?’ said Josh.