Page 24 of Just the Beginning

‘Fine, fine. Everything’s fine. To what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘I was just calling about Ma’s birthday in August. She’s going to be eighty.’

‘Bloody hell, is she really? Oh, hold on a sec.’ Liam’s voice sounded further away when he spoke next. ‘It’s Rick.’ Pause. ‘No, no, I won’t be long.’ Another Pause. ‘Sorry about that.’ His brother’s easy tone had vanished.

‘Everything all right? If I’m interrupting I can call back another time.’

Liam sighed. ‘Just another one of Caroline’s interminable dinner parties. Don’t worry about it; the guests aren’t due for another half an hour and it won’t take me that long to open a couple of bottles of wine.’

‘As long as you’re sure?’

Before he could continue, Caroline’s voice interrupted them again, much closer this time. ‘Unless someone’s dying I need you to come downstairs and help me.’

‘To do what? All you’ve got to do is peel the covers off a couple of trays; the caterers have done all the hard work.’ There was no mistaking the note of irritation in his brother’s voice.

‘I need you to do it because I’ve had my nails done. God, Liam, why do you have to be so bloody awkward about everything?’

Rick cringed. This sounded like an ongoing argument and not something he wanted to get in the middle of. ‘Hey, bro. It’s cool. I’ll send you a text and we can catch up in the week, okay?’

Liam sighed again. ‘Yeah, okay. Sorry.’ He hung up without saying goodbye.

He knew it wasn’t his fault, but Rick still felt rubbish about spoiling their evening. He quickly tapped out a brief explanation for his call, including the details about the planned dinner, sent it off and flicked his film back on.

An hour later and the hero had delivered vengeance on the bad guys in various creative ways. Rick let the what-to-watch-next recommendations pop up, but nothing caught his eye. When a huge yawn almost cracked his jaw he reminded himself he was going to have an early night. He hauled himself up off the sofa, turned off theTVand picked up his phone. A text had come through about five minutes earlier; he must’ve missed it with all the action on screen. It was a reply from Liam.

Sorry about earlier. Things a bit tricky. I’ll call in morning.

Rick sighed as he tucked his phone in his pocket and ambled across the landing towards his bedroom. He’d had a feeling it wasn’t plain sailing for his brother at home. They were in the habit of speaking every couple of weeks but things had gone quiet at Liam’s end over the past few months and it had got to the point where Rick had felt like he was intruding. Maybe it was time to stop ignoring his instincts and try and get Liam to talk about it.

When his phone rang the next morning not long after six, it took Rick by surprise. ‘Hey, I thought you’d be nursing a hangover until at least lunchtime,’ he said by way of greeting to Liam.

‘You’re right about the hangover,’ Liam grumbled, his voice sounding scratchy. ‘But the mattress on the spare bed isn’t conducive to a lie-in.’

Yikes. ‘Things didn’t improve between you and Caroline, I take it?’

Liam’s chuckle turned into a cough. ‘Hang on, let me get a glass of water.’

Rick took advantage of the dead air to pop a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and pour himself a coffee from the freshly brewed pot. The only standing rule in his parents’ house was whoever was up first, put on the coffee. No doubt the smell would have his dad stirring before too long, but for now he had the kitchen to himself.

‘Right, that’s better.’ Liam came back on the line sounding much more his normal self.

‘So, what happened?’ Rick asked between bites of his toast. ‘How did you end up in the spare room?’

His brother sighed. ‘Before I met Caro I had no idea it was possible to sustain an argument for more than a couple of hours, but we’ve been having the same one off and on for weeks. Every time I think things have calmed down she has a dig and then we’re off again.’

‘That can’t have made dinner fun, trying to be nice to each other when you’re both pissed off.’

Liam laughed, a bitter sound that made Rick wince to hear it. ‘Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, because Caro didn’t even make a pretence of it. I mean, I can’t stand the couple who were here last night at the best of times, but having them here in the middle of all that turned a bad evening into an absolute nightmare. Lucinda and Caro have been best friends since school, so of course she immediately took Caro’s side. And her boyfriend, who by the way is some red-trouser-wearing army plonker called Tarquin Granby-Plungar?—’

Rick, who had been taking a sip of his coffee at the time, choked. ‘You’re shitting me.’

‘I shit you not, bro. You thought we had it bad when it comes to names, but I tell you, mixing in the kind of circles Caro does is an eye-opener. Anyway, good old Tarquin clearly thinks he’s some kind of banter merchant and he told me I should do what he does and just agree with everything Caro says. Well, you can imagine how well Lucinda took that, and so then they were fighting too.’

‘Bloody hell, Liam, I know I shouldn’t joke about it, but it sounds like you were in an episode of some hideous old sitcom.’

His brother’s laugh was more genuine this time. ‘I might as well have been. Really, we should’ve just knocked it on the head but instead we made the very unwise decision to open more wine. I eventually poured Tarquin into a taxi about half-one this morning. Lucinda was too upset to go home with him and she and Caro ended up in our bedroom with a bottle of Baileys, a box of tissues and the Bendicks mints Lucinda had brought as a gift.’

‘Christ, I hate to think about the state of your en suite bathroom this morning. Maybe you were better off in the spare room after all.’

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