‘Hello, Olivia,’ he said, suddenly acknowledging me. ‘Sorry didn’t see you there.’
No because you were too busy looking for Kate I thought, smiling at him.
‘How are you?’ He shifted on the spot, his head narrowly missing Mum’s shelf of cookery books over the door. ‘Heard you had a spot of bother. Daniel was telling me about vandals in Earlsfield. Not good.’
‘I’m fine thanks, Bill. Just a scratch,’ I said warmly.
I really didn’t understand my sister. When I first met him, like a lot of people, I made the mistake of assuming from his heavy-lidded, sleepy blue eyes that he was slow and plodding. But I knew that wasn’t the case at all. Aside from learning that he had a first from Cambridge, I’d seen him in action. He was like a canny fisherman, biding his time before reeling someone in. It had crossed my mind more than once that he was playing the same game with Kate, deliberately cultivating a laid-back approach by ignoring her spiky comments.
‘Excuse the smell. Mum’s playing doctors and nurses.’
‘Really?’ Bill’s voice brightened with enthusiasm before he remembered where he was.
Dad chuckled as Bill blushed, and then took pity on him. ‘Want a beer?’
‘Only if I’m not interrupting. My folks are out for the night. I was just on my way for a quick pint and bite at the pub.’
‘Say no more. What’ll it be, I’ve got some Old Speckled Hen, Brains SA Gold, Greene King...’
Dad led him out to the utility room where we had another fridge that was always well stocked. I came from a long line of lushes.
Mum shook her head. ‘Poor boy. Shame Kate was never interested. Just as well she’s gone. Give him a chance to forget about her. Debbie Meakin, the new barmaid at the Pea and Hen’s been casting eyes at him. And she’s not your normal run of barmaid. Speaks as if she’s been at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.’
I concentrated on cleaning up the oil, which had left nasty slicks around the sink and had already seeped into my T-shirt. Debbie whatever-her-name was couldn’t possibly be a match for Kate, but sadly she was here and my sister was over 10,000 miles away. Surely there must be some way of getting Kate to contact Bill?
* * *
Bill ended up staying for pizza. Dad’s hope of talking match tactics for tomorrow’s game was dashed by the re-emergence of Ben who was star-struck and insisted on talking England rugby. The rest of us weren’t much better and soon joined in.
‘Wow, Bill. Sounds great,’ I said enthusiastically. ‘Who can you introduce me to?’
Dad is nothing if not generous with the wine, I’d had far too many glasses.
The conversation degenerated even further when Mum and I started to dissect the team one by one assessing availability, looks and arguing about who had the best bum. Mum was veryconcerned about Bill getting cauliflower ears until Bill kindly explained that players wear protection these days.
* * *
Dad and Mum disappeared at around eleven, leaving me, Bill and Ben at the table with another bottle.
When Ben nipped out to the loo, I felt bold enough to say to Bill, ‘Have you heard from Kate?’
He looked startled and hopeful at the same time. ‘Not recently,’ he answered warily.
‘She... she told me you’d seen her in Australia,’ I ventured.
‘Yeah.’ Bill sighed heavily, putting his head in his hands. ‘I’m such a muppet. She’s not interested. Not flash enough for her.’
I leaned over and put a hand on his forearm. ‘Don’t be so sure about that.’
‘Yeah, right.’
‘What if she’d had a change of heart?’
He looked up, hope flaring in his eyes.
I carried on. ‘What if she’d made a mistake?’
The sparkle faded and he shook his head. ‘No. To be honest I was surprised she even agreed to have dinner with me, let alone what... well... you know. Anyway, if she had changed her mind, she’s been home for weeks, she’d have called.’
