“I decided that I needed to move on from short term stuff. You know, the rest of you are all on the way to being married or are married and having babies and I’m still being, well, a teenager.” He shrugged so hard the water rippled.
I wasn’t sure what to say.
Seph had always been the youngest. We had eight – nearly nine - years between us: a generation, and hearing his response made me feel older.
My little brother had almost grown up.
“You haven’t been with a woman in four months?” I tried to contain what was left of my surprise – most of it had already been used, on Seph through various dramatics.
He didn’t look smug. Which was worrying.
“No. I’ve tried a few dating apps. An agency, because being vaguely familiar in the media isn’t great at securing a date who’s actually interested inyou. But, let’s move on. There are more interesting topics. How’s the security business, Killian?”
Killian was doubled over enough with either shock or laughter to warrant me wondering whether we needed to pull him out of the hot tub, but he surfaced.
Seph looked non-plussed. A snowflake dropped onto his nose.
“Let’s move on. Fantasy football league. Callum’s at the top, which is unnecessary. Jackson’s second. We need to know what we can do to make sure Callum doesn’t finish top, again.”
I sat back, felt the warmth of the water around me and let my eyes close, for a moment thinking of everything I had to be thankful for.
It was just after two when I found my father in the garden, the snow-covered garden where he didn’t really need to be.
He was smoking a cigar, which explained why he was so far down the garden, the spot where Marie couldn’t see him. Cigar smoking wasn’t on the list of allowed activities.
“If she finds you, she’ll toast your balls.” I fake-glared at my old man. He’d had a stroke a couple of years ago; he’d been okay, but there had been modifications to his lifestyle needed, none of which he’d been thrilled about.
“She ignores it when I come down here and I don’t check her credit card balance.” He shook his head. “It’s an unsaid agreement we have.”
“If you checked Marie’s credit card balance, you’d probably have another stroke.” I had a good idea of how much my step-mother spent. Luckily, she could afford it, but my dad was fairly frugal.
“So she can’t complain about the odd cigar. Are you ready for your wedding?” He raised a brow and reminded me of Callum with his expression.
There had been a time when I’d wondered whether Callum was my father’s son or not. Their relationship was strained and I found out that before my mother’s death, she’d been having an affair, a long-term one, with a neighbour. My father knew, but didn’t challenge her, aware that he was working away most of the time and their relationship was on a knife’s edge.
As a kid, I’d blamed my father for a lot. That had carried on into adulthood – he’d rejected us to a large extent, mainly because he hadn’t a clue how to parent and his way to look after us was to make sure we never wanted for anything. But he’d been unaffectionate, almost scared of the four of us, and I knew that there was part of me that would never quite forgive how he couldn’t bear to hold Callum. But we’d made peace. He was being more of the father now than we needed, and he doted on Teddy and Eliza.
“Yes. The waiting’s killing me.” I needed it to happen sooner, get it done. Make sure she didn’t change her mind.
“This time in two days it’ll be done. Do you remember mine and Marie’s wedding?”
I laughed. “You made me wear a suit.”
He nodded, watching the tip of the cigar as it went out. “I still have it, or rather Marie does. She kept all your outfits. When you have a son, you should have him try it on when he’s old enough.”
“If.”
“If what?”
“If we have one.”
My father laughed. “You could end up with just daughters – that would be fun to see. Can’t see you liking them dating too much.”
The thought of that rankled me even without considering it too much. Killian had mentioned opening up a boarding school for girls in the middle of Dartmouth moor and if we did have a girl, that could be a possibility until she was thirty or so.
“If we have any.”
He shook his head. “Max, if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. Maybe when you least expect it.”
