‘He’ll be fine. He’s gone back to their house. He said he couldn’t face coming back here to Mimi.’
I screwed my nose up. ‘Really? But it was just an accident. She seems pretty cut up about it.’
He levelled his gaze at me. ‘He doesn’t seem to think so.’
‘Really?’ I laughed a little. ‘Of course it was,’ I insisted, even though I had wondered the same thing. ‘Mimi didn’t mean to shoot him, she’s just an incredibly shit shot.’
‘That’s what I said. He’s adamant she did it on purpose though, and he said he couldn’t be in the same room as her, otherwise he “didn’t know what he would do”.’ Tristan gestured air quotes and shook his head.
‘What?’ I said, flabbergasted. ‘Did he elaborate?’
‘Not exactly, he wouldn’t tell me what’s going on there… As you know, we’re not exactly close. But whatever is going on with them, it isn’t good. It sounds like they might be heading for divorce.’
‘Interesting,’ I said, more to myself than to Miles.
‘Is it? Why?’ he asked, although his tone suggested that he didn’t care one jot about the state of his brother’s marriage. ‘Do you know something?’
‘Not specifics. But I overheard your mum and Aunt Clem talking in the kitchen. Jeannie was telling Aunt Clem to keep her mouth shut around Grandma Toots… Then Aunt Clem said, “But what if they get a divorce?”.’
‘Oh, right.’ I watched Miles carefully, but he gave no other reaction.
‘Juicy huh?’
‘I guess…’
I barked a laugh. ‘What do you mean, you guess? I’d say this trip has just livened up.’
Miles shrugged. ‘I guess it’s mildly entertaining, my brother being shot by his wife… but I could have done without the seven hours in A&E. It would have been longer, but Tristan started throwing his weight around and said that he was in the same class as one of the consultants… Insufferable prick.’
Gloria got up and left the room, our conversation clearly disturbing her sleep.
Miles noticed my expression and sat up. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be a grumpy sod. It’s just, there’s always some drama or other with them… Do you remember when she caught him in the hot tub in Mexico?’
I grimaced. ‘How could I forget? The hookers in the hot tub. It’s all anyone could talk about for the next two Christmases.’
‘Exactly. All anyone does around here is talk about them. It used to be a fun bit of gossip but now… I just can’t wait to get away from all the bullshit. I just can’t bring myself to care aboutthemand their marriage. They’re awful, Liv.’
‘Can’t argue with that,’ I said smiling. ‘And please, don’t apologise. You’re not grumpy. I’m the awful wife who’s gossiping about your family when you’ve just suffered the loss of your father.’
Miles stared into the distance. I searched his face for some sign of what he was feeling, and I could practically see the wall of impenetrable iron sliding up and leaving me alone on the other side. ‘Do you want to talk about anything? About what happened to your dad?’
He continued staring ahead of him, not seeming to hear me. I ran my hand through his hair, and his attention snapped to me. He slowly traced his hand up my thigh. He leaned in close, brushing his lips across my ear.
‘I don’t want to talk about my father. I won’t say I’m glad he’s dead. Of course I’m notglad. But right now, the only thing I feel towards him is resentment. I’m resentful that he never took the time to be a good father to me or Tristan. And as for my brother and his vacuous wife,’ he whispered, ‘fuck’em.’
I turned to face him, so close we shared a breath.
‘Yeah.Fuck’em,’ I breathed into him.
He slid to the ground, kneeling before me, and began unbuttoning my jeans.
God, I sincerely hoped Jeannie had a camera installed in here too.
* * *
The next morning the entire Weiss clan was herded to the Christmas-tree farm. The atmosphere was fully charged by the time we arrived, and steam practically rose off Aunt Clementine; she’d had to drive Uncle Fergus because he was too inebriated to do so himself. We walked down long rows of fat pine trees, thin pine trees, barely-hanging-in-there pine trees, lying-atop-one-another-like-they’d-had-a-heavy-night pine trees. Forty minutes of pointing out ‘perfect’ trees to Jeannie, and as per every year, none of them was ‘the one’.
‘Itoldyou all we should have come here days ago; all of the best ones are gone!’ Jeannie cursed as she stormed along. ‘We might as well just wedge a branch into a stand and call it a year,’ she grumbled, kicking a pinecone out of her way like a petulant child.
