“You and the whole of my family like telling me that.” It was true; I was reminded at least weekly that change was as good as a rest or something equally turgid. It wasn’t that I didn’t like change, I didn’t tend to analyse how I reacted when things went a bit different. But in the last year or so, there had been a lot of change, most of it good, some of it excellent. Just everything seemed to have changed but me.
Amelie retied her hair and glanced at the door to the café as it opened, a woman entering with dark red hair that fell almost to the small of her back. She was striking rather than pretty, with a face and a figure that most men would have trouble forgetting.
“I’d best serve some customers and help with that queue.” Amelie got up to her feet and patted my shoulder, just like she’d been doing since I was about six.
I stared at my phone, an email notification flashing up on the screen, and tried not to stare at the redhead. I didn’t have time to focus on anything but work: I needed to prove that I was more than the youngest brother who relied on his siblings to sort his life out.
Jackson was alreadyin the office when I got there, his tie not yet done and his hair still damp. His expression suggested that his day had already been at least two hours too long. The weight of the world after it had eaten a five-course meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet was permanently on Jackson’s shoulders when he was in the office. Before Vanessa, that weight had been carried to whichever building he’d been in, unless it was at the gym, when he lifted it instead. Since he’d met Vanessa, his axis had shifted slightly. At work he was still grumpy, busy, cross with other’s disorganisation, but as soon as he saw a photo of Teddy or heard Van’s voice or even spoke about them, he thrived as if they were a miraculous life-giving drink.
“What time did you get here?” I messed with a button on my cuff.
Jackson pushed his fingers through his hair, cut the shortest I’d seen it for years. “Just after five. I stopped at half six to go to the gym.”
“Why so early?”
He shook his head. “Babies. When you have one, you automatically give up your right to have any sleep at all.”
I let out a laugh. I enjoyed Teddy’s torture of my brother, although it often resulted in Jackson being grumpier than usual.
“Claire was saying that Niamh’s been sleeping six hours already.” It was probably too early in the day to be baiting Jackson, but I couldn’t resist; it was like having a tickling stick and a really ticklish person held down in front of you and not using it. “When I spoke to her yesterday she was telling me how - ”
“Stop.” Jackson put his hands over his ears. “I don’t want to hear it. One day, Teddy will sleep through the night and so will me and Van. Actually,” he folded his arms and looked at me through slitted eyes. “Don’t you owe us a night of babysitting? A full night? One where we can go to a hotel and lie in bed…”
“Please don’t finish that sentence. I don’t need to be scarred!” I covered my ears. It was all an act. I was well aware that all of my siblings had healthy relationships and big smirks on their faces some mornings which told me they’d got lucky. I was just fed up of being the only one who was playing a five fingered piano solo each night.
“Sleep, Joseph, sleep. We just want a night where we can sleep from ten until eight, with no interruptions, nappy changes, feeds, crying for no known reason, loud bangs caused by some petulant ghost – just sleep.” He rubbed his eyes with his hand. “Please tell me you owe us a night.”
I was pretty sure I didn’t, but given I’d shelved my social life in the cellar for the duration of the year, I was happy to spend a Friday night with my nephew.
“I can do tonight. Book a hotel. Make sure you have fresh sheets on the bed. Not like last time.”
Last time I’d stayed over, they’d forgotten to put fresh sheets in the guest room after Vanessa’s gran had stayed. I’d not only found her underwear, but also one of her vibrators. Safe to say, it was one of my nightmares come true.
Gran, true to form, hadn’t been in the least apologetic. She’d also defended the unwashed sheets, saying there was no point in washing sheets if they’d only been slept in for a couple of nights. Bad for the environment.
It had all been bad for my sanity. Whatever had been saved in terms of the environment was lost again with the amount of scorching hot water I used in the resulting shower.
“The sheets will be fresh, although if Van makes them up, you might find her passed out on them when you get there. She’s on about two hours sleep today.” Jackson lightly slapped the side of his face, trying to wake himself up.
“Is she working today?”
My brother shook his head. “She’s not going into the office or seeing clients. Paperwork day.”
Vanessa ran a marketing company, which was how she and Jackson had met. The company had grown over the last couple of years, tripling in size and giving her more flexibility to be with Teddy, which is what I knew Jackson would also like to be doing, but he couldn’t get away from the office as much.
He was the chief operating officer, still retaining a small caseload, but for the majority of the time his job was to make sure we were all doing what we needed to. He dealt with a lot of the clients and his serious persona still went down well with the more traditional businesses we dealt with.
The look he gave me was one I recognised. One that told me he was about to land a whole heap of shit on my desk.
“What is it?”
He mumbled something completely unintelligible, but I caught one word: Hartfords.
Dread infiltrated my every vein.
“Did you say Hartfords?”
Jackson nodded.
