I laugh at his play on menstruation that sounds more Liv than Mase. “Fuck off.”
“I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t take Anita with you to Mum’s. I was just a little surprised. It’s very unlike you not to fly solo at these things.”
I nod. Mase’s summing up is entirely accurate.
“What did she say when you asked her?”
“She was a little reluctant, but she has agreed to come, and she knows you and Liv will be there, so that probably helped.”
“Please pre-warn Mum, you know how she gets when we take a girl home…in fact, pre-warn Anita, you know how Mum gets when we take a girl home.”
I really hadn’t thought this through. Mum will see this as significant, like marriage and babies significant. It wasn’t. I wasn’t marriage and babies significant. I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken a girl home…that wasn’t true, I knew exactly when and I knew precisely who.
My face must morph into one suggesting a bad memory or bitter taste, probably both because Mase is on his feet and standing next to me. He pats me on the back, causing me to look up at him.
“Anita will be fine and the past, well, it’s precisely that. Look, I have to go. I promised Liv I wouldn’t be too late.”
I roll my eyes at my brother who is seriously whipped, but happily so.
“Don’t do it, Dec. Not a fucking word or I will be forced to tell you that I have a bath for two and mutual massage on the agenda if I’m not too late.”
I feign a distasteful expression, but the truth is, I could go for a bath for two and some massaging, not with Liv because Mase would kill me for the suggestion alone and certainly not with my brother, but with the right person, I can see the attraction of an early finish.
Looking out of the office window, I watch Mase head to his car, talking on his phone, presumably to Liv judging by his grin of shit eating proportions. He really is happy. I mean genuinely ecstatic, like his life couldn’t be any more perfect, and it couldn’t. He has a successful business that he works hard to maintain. He’s married to a beautiful, funny and bright wife who adores him and who is the light of his life and together they’re having a baby they are both desperate for. I smile for them both because they deserve all that they have.
My phone is already in my hand and as much as I want to call Anita or drop her a text, I don’t. Instead, I call my mum to warn her about me bringing a plus one.
She answers on the second ring. “Declan, darling.” She sounds genuinely pleased to hear from me.
“Hey, Mum.”
Before I say anything else, she speaks again, suspicious about the reason for my call.
“Declan, please tell me you’re not about to make some feeble excuse to avoid my afternoon tea tomorrow. You simply must be here, it’s important to me.”
I frown down the line, not that she can see it. The truth is if she could see me, I wouldn’t frown.
“Mum, calm down. No, I am not making any excuse, quite the opposite. I’d, like to, erm, bring someone with me.”
Silence. I wait for her to say something for so long that I pull my phone from my ear to check the call is still connected.
“Mum,” I repeat wondering if her silence is a prelude to her denying my request to bring Anita.
“Sorry, darling. Of course you can. Anyone I know? She must be very special if you want to bring her home to meet us all—”
I cut her off. “Don’t get carried away, Mum. She’s nice, she’s called Anita, and we’ve been seeing each other, but that’s all.”
I sense her satisfied smirk from the other end of this conversation. “Of course, dear…Anita?” She sounds as though she is trying to place the name. “Declan!”
She’s placed it.
“Is that a good idea? I assume this is the same Anita as Olivia’s sister? The one you danced with at Mason’s wedding. Please, tell me you’re not playing with fire—”
Time to cut her off again. “Mum, stop. You really are getting carried away, but yes, the same Anita.”
Silence again, but only for a few seconds this time.
“We’ll see you tomorrow then, both of you.”
