‘Because,’ I said, ‘we’re spending it with my …’
‘Sister,’ Callum supplied. ‘Otherwise, obviously—’
‘We’d love to,’ I finished up. ‘Maybe next year.’
‘Ah, you can’t be serious?’ Derek gave me another whack on the back and I had to do a quick check to make sure all my teeth were still in the right place. ‘If you’re spending Christmas with your sister, there’s no reason Cal can’t come up to Scotland.’
‘Dad, leave it, would you?’
There was a clear warning in Callum’s voice but Derek McClay didn’t strike me as the kind of man who had taken a hint even once in his life.
‘You’re coming home,’ he insisted, not leaving anything at all. ‘You said the only reason you couldn’t come was because Caroline had to work and you couldn’t leave her in London on her own. She’s not on her own, is she?’
‘That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with her,’ Callum replied and without warning the atmosphere in the room shifted. A dark look passed over Derek’s face and his tone switched to something more irritable.
‘Enough’s enough, you’re coming home,’ he said, leaning forward. ‘Get your act together, son, you’re breaking your mother’s heart.’
‘What’s breaking my heart is the fact he’s still starkers,’ Lizzie said, looking away as though she’d only just noticed. ‘For the love of God, Callum, at least go and put on a pair of pants.’
With a despairing look in my direction, my fake boyfriend backed away down a dark corridor before slamming a door behind him and rattling what sounded like every window frame in the flat. I gulped, sweating bullets inside my duffle coat.
Alone with the enemy.
‘So,’ I said, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence. ‘Braewick? Sounds … nice?’
‘It’s the most magnificent place on God’s green earth,’ Derek replied. ‘Which you’d already know if you’d been up to visit.’
Fiddling with one of the toggles on my coat, I clucked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. ‘Well, it’s a big step, isn’t it, meeting the parents. We haven’t been going out that long.’
‘Has it not been almost a year?’
I looked up to see Lizzie watching me like a hawk.
‘I’m not holding him hostage,’ I said, a cold tremor running down my spine. ‘He can go home without me.’
‘Can he? That boy won’t cross the street without you, it feels like.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ I replied. ‘But either way, I really can’t leave London. I can’t leave my sister on her own at Christmas.’
Ten minutes earlier, I’d been a single, only child and now I had a boyfriendanda sister. Quite an impressive morning, all things considered. Both of Callum’s parents were quiet for a moment, until Derek sat up straight, a glowing lightbulb practically appearing over his head.
‘Why don’t you bring your sister with you,’ he suggested. ‘We’ve more than enough room.’ He drew closer until I could see the wiry grey outliers peekingthrough his dark eyebrows. ‘Hen, I’m not going to take no for an answer. All we’ve heard all year is Caroline this, Caroline that. Cal cancelled every trip home to spend more time with you. This is the perfect opportunity to make it up to us, isn’t it?’
‘As inviting as you made that sound, I don’t think she’d be able to come,’ I said, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. ‘It’s her husband. He can’t go to Scotland, he’s, well, he’s banned.’
‘Banned?’
‘Yes.’
‘From entering Scotland?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Why?’
Why? Why was my non-existent sister’s equally non-existent husband banned from entering Scotland?
‘For impersonating Sean Connery,’ I said. ‘And a criminal misuse of bagpipes.’
