‘Unless you’d like us to join you?’ Elsie grabbed the back of an empty chair from an occupied table without asking if it was free and pulled it up next to me. ‘Looks like there’s just enough room at the inn.’
‘For Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the donkey,’ I muttered under my breath.
‘Come on, Elsie, I’m sure they’d rather be on their own.’ Shiv tugged on her friend’s sleeve but it was too late, she was already down and perusing the menu.
‘Everything looks so good,’ she said, smacking her lips. She looked up at her brother who was still on his feet and offered a syrupy smile. ‘Don’t you think, Cal?’
‘Sit down,’ he said to Shiv, pulling out a chair for her before lowering himself into his own. ‘It’s nice to see you.’
‘Is it?’ She sounded hard, brittle even. ‘I’d have thought you’d be at home.’
‘Because most people who hadn’t visited their parents in a year would choose to spend the evening with them,’ Elsie said. ‘Should’ve taken into account this is you we’re talking about.’
The sharpest knife in the world couldn’t have sliced through the tension at our table. A diamond-tipped chainsaw might’ve done it but there were no guarantees.
Elsie prodded the full glass of whisky that wasn’t already in her brother’s hand. ‘Who’s this for? If she doesn’t drink?’
‘Who’s she?’ I replied, cradling my Scottish coffee, warm and precious and full of secret booze. ‘The cat’s mother?’
‘You don’t strike me as a cat person. Getting more dog vibes. When I look at you, I definitely think bitch.’
‘Elsie!’
It was Shiv who admonished her. Callum only sat back in his chair, his jaw clenched, granite solid.
‘It’s for Graham,’ I replied lightly, as though no offence had been implied. ‘But since you’re clearly in desperate need of a drink, why don’t you have it? I’ll get him another.’
‘I’m not desperate,’ she said with a scoff.
‘Really?’ I batted my eyelashes sweetly. ‘You mean you always behave like this?’
She grinned, showing too many teeth, her eyes gleaming.
‘It has been a particularly bad day, now I think about it. I’m having trouble with a new heifer. She doesn’t realise she’s destined for the slaughterhouse.’
‘That does sound annoying. Have you tried sittingdown and talking to her for two minutes? She’ll probably run down there of her own accord.’
It was a direct hit. Elsie’s expression didn’t change but she flinched, very slightly.
‘I’m going to the bar,’ Shiv announced. ‘Elsie, will you come with me?’
‘No.’
What a great friend she was.
It was obvious Elsie and Callum were related – same colouring, same tall stature – but looking at them side by side, they could have almost been twins. As well as their auburn hair, they shared an identical strong, straight nose and the same almond-shaped eyes that tilted downwards at the corners. Her mouth was smaller and her lips fuller, but she had more lines and freckles, despite being the younger sibling. There was no doubt that the McClay genes ran strong, at least as far as physical appearance went.
‘For fuck’s sake, Elsie,’ Callum hissed as soon as his ex was out of earshot. ‘Go and sit somewhere else. You’re torturing poor Shiv.’
‘And what about Caroline?’ When she glanced over at me, I wondered if she’d ever experienced a genuine, pleasant emotion in her entire life. ‘Or are you not worried about hurting her feelings?’
‘Caroline can hold her own,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘No one is worried about you,’ she assured me, a quick flick over her shoulder.
As brother and sister bickered between themselves, I leaned back in my chair, nursing what was left of my spiked coffee. With every second I spent in his family’s company, Callum’s rationale for not wanting to comehome became clearer and clearer. Before I thought I was doing him a favour; now I realised I was performing community service.
‘Here we are, two steak and chips.’
