Page 45 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
Ted did not reply. There was a loud scraping of chair legs on stone as Peggy reached the window. She saw the back of Liam’s head as he stalked off towards his room and thought she heard him mutter, ‘Can’t deal with this.’
Peggy leaned out of the window. ‘What was all that about?’ she hissed down at Ted, who was standing by the table, arms crossed tightly across his chest, looking out across the bay.
He spun round at the sound of her voice and looked up at her. She thought he seemed annoyed, his grey-green eyes dark, his mouth pressed in a stiff line.
When he didn’t speak, she said, ‘I’m coming down.’
Grabbing his phone from the table, he replied, ‘I’ve got to go to work.’
‘Wait, please. I’ll be right there.’
‘I need to open up,’ Ted said briskly, turning to walk back into the house.
She scooted downstairs in her bare feet, still dressed in the T-shirt and pyjama bottoms she wore for bed. Ted had made it to the front door and was collecting Bolt’s lead from the coat hook by the time she got to the kitchen.
‘Ted!’
He stopped and she heard him let out a long-suffering sigh.
Peggy went up to him. ‘What just went on out there?’ she asked.
He looked a little sheepish. ‘I know it’s generally none of my business how your son behaves. But he’s currently in our house. Getting drunk and staying out– we’ve alldone it in our time. But coming back in such a state on the first day he’s here, not even bothering to let you know he was okay…’ Flicking an eyebrow in a resigned manner, he added, ‘I knew you wouldn’t say anything.’
‘Liam asked if I minded him going to the party. I said I didn’t,’ she said, feeling the irritation building in her chest. ‘And I don’t need to say anything. As he just reminded you, he already apologized.’
There was a standoff as they gazed fixedly at each other, Peggy knowing this was stupid, that they should talk about the problem rationally, not snipe at each other.
It seemed Ted was of the same mind because his face softened. ‘Sorry, Pegs,’ he said, letting go of a long breath and reaching to stroke her bare arm. ‘It’s just I came down this morning and Liam had let the coffee pot boil dry– practically wrecked the thing. He didn’t notice the smell because he’d gone outside to light a cigarette. And you know how I hate smoking.’
‘Fair enough.’ Ted’s morning coffee was messed with on pain of death.
Bolt was getting impatient, giving small barks at the sight of his lead and scrabbling on the floor in his eagerness to be off.
‘I’d better get going.’ Ted kissed her cheek. ‘Sorry,’ he repeated, as he opened the door.
Confused and upset by the events of the morning– and it was not yet seven thirty– Peggy wandered disconsolately over to fill the kettle, finding the parts of the Italian moka pot, rinsed out but charred by Liam’s carelessness, in the sink. There was still the bitter odour of burned coffee on the air.
She knew Liam wouldn’t be asleep, but needed a minute to compose herself, after the row with Ted, before she tackled her son’s behaviour.
She was making a cup of tea, when she heard footsteps on the terrace.
‘Morning, Mum,’ Liam said cheerfully, as if nothing was amiss, although she thought his tone a little forced. ‘Ted gone to the van?’
Peggy glanced up as she removed the teabag from her cup. ‘I heard it all.’
She saw his face fall. ‘Yeah, well…’
‘We need to talk.’
Liam glanced around the room, his expression hunted, as if searching for escape. Finding none, he nodded reluctantly. ‘Can I make coffee first?’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t know, can you?’
He sighed. ‘Mum, please. Don’t start. I’ve never used one of those contraptions before and I didn’t realize it boiled so quickly.’
Peggy relented and went to reassemble the coffee-maker– this time showing him how it worked.
When they were seated outside in the early-morning sunshine with their mugs, neither said anything immediately. Peggy’s thoughts were churning inside her brain. She wanted to make an impact, to say something that would really get through to her son, not just increase the tension between them all, to no effect.
