Page 40 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
She didn’t need to ask what he was referring to. Pulling herself up against the pillows, she took his hand. ‘I’ll be fine. But please don’t mention the email to Liam.’
He raised an eyebrow, with amused cynicism. ‘Not very likely, eh? Since he seems to think I don’t actually exist.’
She winced at his tone. Having Liam in the house was not going to be easy if he and Ted didn’t start to get on. ‘All right, but please, I don’t want him passing stuff back to Max, who’d just love this.’
‘Would he really?’
Peggy let out a sigh. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe not. But can we just keep it under wraps for the time being?’
Ted shrugged. ‘Think you’re being a bit paranoid, Pegs.’
Even if I am, she thought,someone clearly has it in for me.She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to tell her son whathad happened. Perhaps because she still hadn’t got her head around it herself. And the more people she told, the more real it would become.
There was no sound from Liam’s room come eleven o’clock. Peggy accepted he must be tired from the drive but was impatient for him to get up: she almost didn’t believe he was really there. In the end she made coffee– ridiculously, she wasn’t sure what he drank these days: it was milky tea when he was younger– and took it through to the annexe.
Her son was awake and lying half propped against his pillows, scrolling on his phone. He was pale and haggard and Peggy realized that couldn’t just be from the journey.
Glancing up at her, he smiled a little distractedly. ‘Hi, Mum.’
‘I brought you some black coffee,’ she said, handing him the mug.
‘Oh, magic. Thanks.’ He hauled himself into a sitting position. Looking around the room as he took the first sip, he went on, ‘This place is pretty swish.’
Peggy smiled her agreement. She and Ted had spent a lot of time making it so. The space was airy and light, a large glass door letting in the morning sun, en-suite tucked into the corner, a small sofa and built in cupboard, even a wood-burning stove for the winter.
‘Well, we want our guests to be comfortable… and not too close,’ Peggy joked, sitting down on the sofa, which was already covered with her son’s discarded clothes, a laptop and a bundle of wires wrapped round a charger.
‘With you on that,’ he said, grinning. ‘I’m tempted to take up residence.’
She knew he was joking, but she still cringed inwardly, thinking of Ted.I will say something, despite Ted asking her not to. It wasn’t right, her son’s casual disregard for her partner. But she didn’t want to ruin this first proper moment together in so long. ‘Get up and I’ll make you breakfast,’ she offered instead.
Later they sat together on the sunny terrace, Liam hungrily attacking the scrambled eggs and bacon Peggy had cooked for him.
‘What’s been going on, sweetheart?’ she asked. ‘You don’t look at all well.’
He glanced up from his plate, his eyes clouding. ‘It’s basically been a shitshow, Mum.’ He swallowed another mouthful of coffee. ‘Job goes tits up. Girlfriend legs it with a hedge-fund dickhead from Ouagadougou of all places. Dan never has time for me any more because he’s too busy fighting with Dad.’
‘Fighting with your father? Over what?’ Dan had not implied, when she’d seen or talked to him recently, that there was any problem with Max.
‘I think Dan desperately wants to modernize the business and Dad doesn’t– says it works perfectly well how it is. But the gallery’s website is rubbish and Dad won’t consider installation or video art. Nothing from the last twenty-five years.’
‘I suppose that’s inevitable,’ Peggy replied. ‘Young lion versus old.’
Nodding, Liam said, ‘Maybe. But Dan’s not enjoying work any more. He’s beginning to think it might be better if he left the gallery– he’s very employable now, of course.’
Peggy wasn’t altogether surprised her son was havingproblems with Max. The surprise was that he’d lasted so long under his father’s benign but quite dictatorial thumb. But she also knew how upset Max would be if Dan did defect– he didn’t take rejection well. ‘It’s a big decision.’
Liam looked worried. ‘Yeah, maybe he and Dad can sort it out.’ He took a bite of toast and chewed it slowly. ‘I hate seeing him like this, Mum. I can’t get through to him. He just snipes at me. And he’s drinking too much.’ He gave a sad smile. ‘Wish he was here with us.’
Patting his arm, she said, ‘Yes, so do I. But you certainly need a break, sweetheart. Let’s focus on you for now, get you back on track.’ She wanted to ask why he’d lost his job, but this didn’t feel like the right moment. He seemed wound up enough about his brother as well as the problems in his own life.
Liam stared blankly at her, letting out a long, tired breath. Then his eyes focused. ‘So it’s okay if I stay for a while, Mum?’
‘Of course it is,’ she said, wondering nervously what he meant by ‘a while’. ‘But if you’re going to be here, you’ll have to shape up with Ted.’ She saw his mouth tighten, but she pressed on. ‘This is his home as much as mine. He’s my partner. You weren’t very polite to him last night.’
She felt the old mothering instincts, so long dormant, kicking in. She’d been quite a tough mum, insisting on good manners and a regular routine– homework, mealtimes, bedtimes– when the twins were growing up. Although whenever Max was around or in charge– which wasn’t often in the early years, but progressively so as teenagers– he would blow a hole through all her efforts. The more out of control and badly behaved the boys were– first fuelledby sugar rushes, later by the alcohol with which Max plied his teenage sons– the happier their father seemed to be. It had driven Peggy mad.
‘I wasn’t rude, was I?’ Liam looked surprised. ‘What did I say that was rude?’
