Page 99 of Oar Than Friends

‘That’s a grand you owe me, now. Cough up.’ Hector held his hand out to Alex, whose throw of the dice hadtaken him to Park Lane and the little green houses Hector owned.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ Alex snapped, his panicked eyes darting to our mother who was deep in conversation with Phoebe, and sighed in relief when she didn’t react to his swearing. ‘That’s all my money you’ve taken now. You’re cheating. Banker! I object.’

Olly peered over the board. ‘Looks fair to me. You’ll have to borrow.’

‘I’m not borrowing,’ he sulked at Hector, ‘I’m not playing any more. It’s boring.’

‘You’re such a shit loser, Al.’

‘I’m not a shit loser, it’s impossible to beat you! One day I’m going to find out how you consistently cheat in Monopoly. There’s no way you can always win without it.’

I sat back, lacing my hands behind my head as Olly and I shared the same grin. It didn’t matter how often we played, the game always ended with Alex quitting.

Phoebe sat up from where she’d been lying on our mother’s lap, grabbed the bottle of champagne and poured out a glass for herself and another for Mama, topped them both up with grapefruit juice, and settled back against the cushions.

‘Oh, here she is.’

I spun around to find Kate carrying another bucket of drinks in one hand, and a tray balanced in the other; James and Marco followed close behind, their arms also full. I jumped up and ran over to help, relieving her of paper napkins and small bowls of ketchup and mayonnaise.

Looking at what the guys were carrying, it all became clear what she’d been doing.

‘Holy shit, you made your lobster rolls!’

She grinned up at me, ‘I did.’

As I breathed in the scent of dill, butter and fresh lobster, saliva pooled in my mouth. ‘I’m such a dumbass, why didn’t I guess this?’

‘Hey, don’t speak about your ass like that,’ she snarled playfully, ‘it’s nothing but cute.’

She leaned into my lips as I kissed her cheek, a move I was quickly becoming obsessed with. ‘Come on, I’ll walk ahead then you can watch my arse.’

Hector was hurriedly clearing away the Monopoly to make space on the table; Phoebe’s contribution was to put on the purple New Year’s hat and pull a popper as we arrived back so the streamers floated in the air. Most of them landed in the ketchup, which was swiftly removed and replaced.

‘Sorry it took so long,’ Kate smiled, placing her tray down next to the huge bowls of fries and rolls the guys had set in front of us. ‘I hope you’re hungry.’

‘Starved,’ Alex stole a fry and stuffed it in his mouth.

Kate picked up a plate and handed it to him, ‘Help yourself, then.’

He didn’t need telling twice, and took the nearest one to him brimming with lobster meat, and dripping in sauce.

There was silence for an excruciating ten seconds, all eyes on Alex before he broke it with a garbled mouthful. He tried again after washing it down with a swig of his Coke and being scolded by our mother for poor table manners.

‘Holy shit, this is really good. You seriously made it?’ he barely glanced at Kate before reaching for another one.

She nodded, nervously, ‘Really? You like them?’

He nodded through another enormous mouthful, looking over at me, ‘Yeah, seriously. I’m not even faking it.’

Kate took a deep breath of relief while everyone else reached in and helped themselves. There was another ten seconds of silence as we made our own assessments. Alex was correct. They were excellent.

‘Yeah, these are better than that place in Cornwall.’

‘These are so good. How’ve you made them like this?’

‘Do you remember those lobster rolls in St Barts? They weren’t as good as these.’

Even the renowned hard-to-impress Daphne Drakos was impressed. ‘Kate, these are truly excellent. You must give the recipe to Marco, we should have these again.’

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