“Only metaphorically.”
January scowled as she rounded the island to hug Mum. “I’m going to have to do it literally, I’m afraid.”
“Is this guy really that bad?” Mum asked.
“Worse.” Jan sighed heavily. “This might be breaking the girl code, but a new friend at uni knows him. She said he’s dating her friend too. So, the motherfu—fritter is cheating on Belle. My Belle! The audacity.”
I felt sick for my younger cousin.
Aunty Jo looked murderous. “Are you kidding me?”
Jan shook her head. “Unfortunately not. I’m telling Belle today. And if she doesn’t believe me, I’m going to have to make her face some harsh truths no matter what. I might even enlist Sara.”
Sara was another pseudo-cousin of sorts. Growing up, my dad and Uncle Cam were best friends with Uncle Peetie. However, tragically, Uncle Peetie and Aunt Lyn died in a car accident when I was eleven and Sara was nine. Sara’s paternal grandparents adopted her, but Dad and Uncle Cam and our whole extended family had gone out of our way to make sureSara was looked after and loved. Sara, Jan, and Belle were particularly close because Sara was only a year older than them. However, Sara was in Illinois, on a semester abroad program at Northwestern University, and probably couldn’t be of much help thousands of miles away. Not that I thought Jan’s plan was a solid one.
“Is that wise?” I worried anything too forceful would only humiliate our cousin in an already painful situation.
“Tough love.” Jan shrugged unapologetically. “She’ll thank me for it one day, even if she hates me today. And Sara is the ying to my yang. Together we can make Belle see sense. She’s calm and reasonable like you. While I’m blunt, like a tire iron to the face.”
I snorted in my glass of soda.
“Despite the tire iron reference, I’m so grateful she has you.” Aunty Jo’s eyes were suspiciously wet before she looked away. “She doesn’t seem to want to talk to me much these days.”
“It’s just a phase,” Mum promised. “Lily wouldn’t talk to me for the last two years of high school.”
“That’s not true.”
“It’s so true. I had to get everything out of January.”
“Uh!” I glowered at my sister. “Traitor.”
“Tough—”
“If you say tough love, I’ll stick the rest of that carrot up your nose.”
My wee sister cackled, completely unthreatened. “Drinks, anyone? I fancy Sunday mojitos!”
“Before the men return from the cave, any exciting dating news, Lily?” Aunty Jo asked. “I had to stop listening to your podcast,sweetie. Too many details for your aunt. You’re still Lily-Billy to me, you know.”
“Me too,” Mum agreed.
Thank goodness for small favors. I’d die if my family listened to the podcast.
“Jan’s done an episode.” I attempted to turn the limelight off me.
“Oh? How did that go?” Aunty Jo inquired with laughter in her eyes.
January sipped loudly through her mojito straw. I was nursing mine slowly.
“It was just introductory. But I’ve got a date this Friday, so I’ll have something more to talk about next time.”
“Date?” Mum and I asked in the same overprotective tone.
It was an ingrained reaction, not a necessary one. If there was one person I didn’t need to worry about when it came to dating, it was January. She was confident, assertive, and took no prisoners. Which was probably why she was more of a casual dater. She’d never had a long-term boyfriend, and I thought it might be because the boys she’d met so far were a little intimidated by her.
January nodded. “He’s a second year. I met him at Teviot. He knew of the Shambolics, so I said yes to a date. We’re going to a gig together.”
“Who are the Shambolics?” Mum asked.
