The house seemed quieter than usual, but that was probably because most of us were exceptionally hungover. I was sitting in what’d been my old bedroom. It still was, to all intents and purposes, although the posters were no longer on the wall and it had been redecorated. There was a king-sized bed, a dresser and wardrobe that still had some of my old clothes in it, none of them any use now, so I put a note on the front for them to go to charity. I found a shirt that an ex-girlfriend had given me, which could definitely be gone, and a box filled with notes and keepsakes from when I’d been at school.
Some of it was Payton’s, including a love letter she’d been sent by a boy who was meant to be a friend of mine.
I wasn’t especially keen on its contents.
I left my old room to hunt her down on the floor above, finding her in her old room doing pretty much the same thing.
“Did you actually shag Christopher Seele?”
“Well, hello brother. Lovely to see you. What do you have there?”
I lobbed the letter over to her, which meant it danced around in the air before landing where it wasn’t meant to be. Cross, I reached over and picked it up, handing it to my twin.
“Why’ve you got this?”
“It was in a box in my wardrobe. My guess is that Mum was snooping, had a good read and forgot it was yours.”
“Plausible.” She read through the letter. “Jesus, he had a good imagination.”
“Did you actually sleep with him? He was a right tool.” My sister had enjoyed having boyfriends and some girlfriends. Her relationships had been plentiful and often short because she was easily bored.
Payton screwed the letter up and lobbed it in the bin, hitting her target the first time. “Nope. He couldn’t get it up.”
“Really? He said he’d slept with twenty girls by the time he was seventeen.” And I hadn’t the faintest idea what they would’ve seen in him. I wasn’t one to look at penises other than mine, but he’d had a noticeably small one.
Payton flipped her hair. “He might’ve. I wasn’t one. I was up for it, but it wasn’t working. He had been drinking, so it could’ve been that but he had his one shot and he threw it away.”
“Thank god for that. You’re not keeping that as a souvenir then?” I looked at the bin that was almost overflowing. She was clearly having a good clear out.
“Nope. I don’t think I’m keeping anything apart from the bookcase in Dad’s study and I’ll have the books on it too, as well as the wardrobe and bedframe. I just wanted something to remember the house by. It’ll be weird not to come here anymore. I mean, we were born here.” She looked around the room as if that day was being played on a screen on the walls.
“So was Ava. If they were going to sell one of the houses, I’d rather it be this one though and not the one in Oxfordshire.” I lay down on her bed and sprawled out.
“Same. We were saying last night we should all head down there for the next bank holiday weekend. Do three nights there. The kids can run wild and we can relax, ask the Green cousins if they can get over and make a thing of it.” She opened the wardrobe and frowned. “My taste in clothes has definitely improved.”
“So has your taste in men if you were going to sleep with Chris Steele. He was a total wanker.”
“But he was meant to be very good in bed. I heard after that he paid a couple of girls to say that though and the rumour just got around.” She closed the wardrobe door again. “Can you do that weekend?”
“Should be. We’re not going away until the October school holidays. Rose’s procedure’s the first week of school and we decided we’d rather stay close by until she got the all clear.” Maybe we’d overreacted by putting everything on hold, but I felt better knowing that we were near the hospital.
“You’re close enough. And she’s fine. Georgia was really optimistic about it all yesterday. Come for that weekend – it’ll be fun and we can really work out if Ava’s pregnant again.” Payton lowered her voice although I didn’t know why because Ava hadn’t come over.
“I thought they only wanted one?” We’d been treated to a long lecture on how she was enjoying being able to focus just on Nancy.
Payton grinned. “You only wanted three and you got a bonus. Buy one get one free on your last try.”
“Don’t. I’m still not over the shock of that scan. Or that Evie and Max are just like we were when we were that age.” Which was more worrying, especially if either of them actually turned out like me or Payts.
The door opened and Callum’s head stuck through. “We need to go through the secret room because it’s literally full of our shitfrom when we were about thirteen. I don’t think anyone’s been in it for at least a decade and a half.”
I sat up, feeling a little dizzy and still a bit delicate. Poker had finished at two this morning. Max’d won, which was the first time for about three years. Then the kids had woken up about six. Thankfully, everyone had a lunchtime nap, so I wasn’t quite as rough as a bear’s arse but I’d been fresher.
“Why’s no one been in there for that long?” I couldn’t work out why that space hadn’t been turned into something, even another wine vault – which was a point. “What are the parents doing with all the wine?”
Callum rubbed his face. “That’s a good point. I can’t see them taking it back to Oxford and they’ve got a load in the apartment already. Shall I text Mum and find out? I’m sure we can help her out with some.”
“Are you here all week?”
