We took our drinks outside, and crossed the invisible divide between his front garden and mine, sitting on the rusted patio furniture that came with the house.
Even in the summer, the air was cold and a little damp. I tucked my feet up, pulling my legs to my chest, quietly letting the whisky warm my tongue.
“You feeling okay?” Alistair asked after a minute.
He looked so out of place on the crooked chair, his feet hurriedly shoved into unlaced brogues, that I would have laughed if I had the energy. “Yep, just a long day.”
He nodded, and I knew I didn’t need to explain.Cameron.Teddy. He’d had the up-close-and-personal experience of the shitshow that was my everyday.
“Want to talk about it?”
He hadn’t mentioned it, but I got the sense he’d overheard most of what Cameron had said anyway.
I tipped my head back, considering what to start with. That Cameron seemed to care more about my relationship with Alistair than he did his own daughter? That Teddy had put on a brave face but gone to bed with a broken heart, and it was bloody killing me? Or maybe how thoroughly I was failing her, because I still had no idea how I was going to pay for her school trip?
“Just Cameron being selfish, as usual.” I shrugged, like it could encapsulate everything. I really didn’t want to talk about myself. “Can I ask you something?”
“Might as well, you’ve already started now.”
“Is it hard for you?” I asked, fiddling with the end of my braid. “Constantly being around Callum and Juniper?” He stared at me for a beat, and I rushed on. “I’m just hoping it will get easier . . . seeing Cameron.”
“That’s a different situation; Juniper and I broke up years ago.” The wind tossed his hair across his forehead, making him look younger. Boyish.
“And that didn’t answer my question.”
“I love it,” he said. “Shame Mal is already married; I was thinking about calling up my old uni girlfriend and introducing the two of them. Maybe the girl who dumped me in high school for being the captain of the chess club.”
“You’re being sarcastic.”
“Aye, Lang. I’m being sarcastic.” He slouched down in the chair, turning his face up to the clear night sky. I assumed we were done, that I’d pushed him too far. But he continued, “It was weird at the start, and it’s definitely awkward at times, but for the most part . . . I’m over it.” I watched his face, looking for any hint of a lie. I didn’t find one. “I loved Juniper. But . . . we were never right together. She needed – no, shedeserved– someone to scale her walls, and I was too tied up in my career to bother trying.”
I toyed with my glass, taking another sip. At least he was honest. “Is it true you punched Callum in the face?”
His eyes flew to mine, then he scoffed. “Fucking small towns.”
“So itistrue.”
“Aye.” His jaw worked back and forth. “We weren’tscrappers growing up, so it wasn’t exactly my proudest moment. Turns out I really hate being lied to.”
“I get that,” I murmured. And I did. I’d never been a violent person, but every time I watched Teddy cry over Cameron, I felt like I could breathe fire. Burn his life to cinders.
“I kicked my own arse for a long time,” he said. “Callum forgave me right away, of course, because that’s just who he is. But . . .” Another pause. Then he extended his left hand, showing me the little finger I noticed him rubbing sometimes. Up close, I could see it was slightly crooked. “It still doesn’t bend right, so I guess I paid the price long term.”
I resisted the urge to brush my fingers over it. “And Juniper—” I quickly broke off. “Sorry, I’m being nosy.”
“If you want to ask about her, just ask.”
“It’s none of my business.”
“Hasn’t stopped you so far,” he said, not unkindly.
There was an eagerness in my chest. For some reason, I wanted to know more about him. Wanted to dig beneath the mystery that was Alistair Macabe.
“Did you cheat on her?” The question hung in the air for a long moment.
He turned in his chair, studying my face as he asked, “Would it change this arrangement if I had?”
I started to shake my head. Paused. “I’d like to say no, but . . . I think that would be the old optimistic Isla talking.”
