I hear clanking and a yelp from what I assume is the kitchen and a small woman bustles out, hastily drying her hands on a tea towel.
‘Hello!’ she cries, her eyes roving between our faces, but settling solidly on mine.
‘Nan, this is Liv,’ Finn says. ‘Liv, my nan.’
‘Hello!’ she gushes again. ‘It’s so good to finally meet the famous Liv.’
‘Nan,’ Finn mutters, looking uncomfortable.
‘Tyler! Liam!’ she hollers off to the side before stepping forward and giving me a cuddly hug.
She looks nothing at all like my own grandmother, who was tall, slim and stylish, but she has unmistakable grandmotherly vibes.
Liam mooches into the room, looking none too pleased to have been interrupted from whatever he was doing on the first Monday morning of the summer holidays. He must be thirteen now and his features are a lot rounder than they were a few years ago, his hair longer and straighter and not a little greasy.
‘Hello, Liam, it’s good to see you again,’ I say.
He mumbles something that sounds like ‘All right.’
‘Tyler!’ Finn’s grandad bellows.
I hear a low groan of annoyance and the sound of gunfire that has been spilling out of a nearby room is silenced. Finn clears his throat and raises one eyebrow as his other brother saunters in to join us.
Tyler is fifteen now and nearly as tall as Finn, but much skinnier. His face is all angles: high cheekbones, slightly narrow-set eyes and a sharp jaw.
They’ve grown so much. They’re almost unrecognisable from the boys I met outside Michael’s place on Stippy Stappy a few years ago.
‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Finn’s nan asks us hopefully.
Tyler and Liam hover in the living room with us, looking like they’d rather be anywhere else.
I glance at Finn.
‘We’re heading out for breakfast,’ he replies.
‘We could have a quick one?’ I suggest, hoping to wipe the disappointment from his grandparents’ faces.
Finn gives me another sidelong look before agreeing with a nod. ‘Sure.’
‘Take a seat, Liv,’ Trudy insists, scuttling back into the kitchen.
Finn strolls after her and Tyler and Liam slink away, leaving Finn’s grandad standing in the middle of the room with me, looking awkward.
There’s a photograph of Finn’s mother on the side table. I saw it straight away, my eyes drawn to her dark hair and dimples, her stunning bluey-green eyes. She looks to be in her late teens or early twenties in the photograph and she seems happy.
How on earth did it all go so wrong?
‘My grandparents are worried that Tyler is going off the rails,’ Finn reveals later as we walk along the beach after breakfast.
‘Oh no.’ I shoot a look at him. ‘In what way?’
‘He’s been drinking and smoking and getting into trouble at school. They want me to stick around, to be a better influence on him.’
‘Will you?’ Hope sparks.
He shakes his head and the spark goes out just as quickly. ‘This trip has already been too long for me.’
‘You’ve only been here three days!’
