Page 63 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
He was sitting on the side of the unmade bed, texting furiously on his phone. He glanced up briefly, then dropped his head to his task. ‘Won’t be a sec, Mum.’
She sat down on the sofa, pushing aside his clothes and the aquamarine-striped linen bed cover he’d slung on top of the pile.
Liam finished whatever he was doing and threw his phone onto the sheet. Giving her a rueful grin, he said, ‘Bit of a meltdown earlier, eh?’
She nodded. ‘I’m sorry about Ted. He didn’t mean it, about you leaving.’
Raising an eyebrow, he replied, ‘Er, I think he probably did, Mum.’
‘Yes, well, in the moment perhaps.’
Her son continued to regard her, a weary expression in his eyes. ‘I can’t blame him, to be honest. Me and Dan were pretty unwelcoming to him from the off. Dad wound us up about him and we stupidly went along with it. I’m not proud of myself.’
‘I sort of knew that.’
‘Ted’s a decent guy… Although this Lindy business is freaky.’ He hesitated for a long moment. ‘He’s not having a thing with her, is he?’
Peggy gasped. ‘With Lindy?God, don’t be ridiculous. Of course not.’
Liam held his hands up. ‘Okay. Sorry, Mum.’
She sighed. ‘No, look, I had a bit of a wobble on that score before Ted told me what was going on. But I trust him. You can’t knock him for being concerned about her, can you, whatever the reality is?’
‘I suppose not,’ Liam said doubtfully. ‘But I reckon it’s dangerous to take something so serious at face value, without any independent verification.’ He let out a slow breath. ‘I mean, it is a possibility, isn’t it, that things aren’t quite what Lindy claims?’
‘It’s a tricky case of he-said-she-said, of course. But I’m beginning to think it’s more than a “possibility”,’ she agreed. ‘Lindy was behaving very strangely with Ted the other day.’
‘Strange in what way?’
Peggy shrugged. ‘Hard to say. Just sort of not really there… and totally focused on Ted in a slightly creepy way.’
Liam raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you think we should do?’
Peggy blew out her cheeks. ‘I wish I knew. Ted, as you witnessed, won’t listen.’
But she hadn’t come here to talk about Lindy. She straightened. ‘So tell me about this job,’ she said, looking hard at her son, needing to smoke him out.
Liam bit his lip. ‘There’s no job.’
‘Thought not.’ She felt her mouth tighten with annoyance. ‘Please, don’t go. I’ve spoken to Ted and he’s promised to make more of an effort.’ She wasn’t sure this was what Ted had actually said, but he needed to, even if he hadn’t.
Liam hung his head. ‘It’s not because of Ted, Mum. It’s Nisha. I used the first excuse that came into my head earlier. Felt it was a bit pathetic to be rushing off after a girl who’d just royally dumped me.’
Peggy groaned: the revolving-door girlfriend. She frowned. ‘You don’t look particularly happy about it.’
‘She’s tricky,’ was all her son said.
‘So what happened to the banker from Burkina Faso?’
‘Just a stupid fling, she insists.’
Peggy sighed. ‘Why go round the houses with her again, sweetheart?’
‘Because I’m an idiot?’
She smiled. ‘What can I say?’
They fell silent.
