I shove the last piece of apple tart into my mouth, staring disappointedly at my empty plate; I’ve polished off my dessert without even realising. When my mother offers me a second slice, I take it, my mind wandering sadly to my hard-earned abs.
She smiles kindly as she scoops another slice onto my plate. I watch her gratefully; but before this second wave of saturated fats and sugars can plunge into my stomach, someone knocks at the door.
“Who’s that? It’s so late.” My father gets up to go and check.
“I’ll do it,” my mother says, stopping him.
We both glance at her suspiciously.
“Are you expecting someone?”
“What? Me? No, of course not.” She paces quickly into the living room, disappearing from our eyesight.
“You don’t know anything about this, do you?” I ask my father.
“And I’d like to keep it that way,” he says, sinking the contents of his second glass.
“Oh, shit! So you weren’t kidding!”
I turn suddenly at the sound of an all-too-familiar voice.
“Our little lost lamb has found its way home!”
“I’d say he’s more of a goat. It gives you a better idea,” my father says from beside me, earning himself a glare.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Your mother told me you’d come back.”
“Oh, really? When?”
“Yesterday morning over breakfast at my mum’s house.”
My father glances questioningly at her.
“I don’t owe anyone an explanation,” she says, defending herself. “Anyway, I happened to mention that you were arriving today, so…”
“You told me he was like a stray dog with nowhere to go. You asked me to come and play with him.”
I stare incredulously at my mother.
“I didn’t say it exactly like that…”
“That was the main gist of it.”
Tyler steps towards me, his hands on his hips. His expression is hungry: he has the face of someone who can’t wait to get his own back.
“Good to see you, Kerry.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
Tyler laughs. “You never change, you old bastard,” he comments, in my parent’s house: and no one objects. “Come on, come here.” He stretches his arms out, waiting. “Give your buddy a hug.”
“If I have to.” I reluctantly pull myself to my feet and let myself be hugged. “I still have no idea why he’s here,” I say to my mother as soon as Tyler releases me from his clutches.
“I thought it might be nice for you to see some of your old friends, to get back in contact with some people around here.”
“And by ‘old friends’, she just means me,” Tyler says. “You know, the others…”
