Page 98 of Fix Them Up
His voice grew a bit desperate towards the end. Like he was suffering.
I gasped as Liam nipped at my neck, biting harder than he should. ‘Everyone saw us at the market. The cat is out of the bag. We can tell people if you want.’
Liam pulled back, assessing me. ‘Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable –’
‘It’s just family, right?’
Liam nodded. ‘Well –’
He didn’t finish his sentence because the door swung open, and Lydia stood in the doorway, her mouth full of food.
Her eyes widened at the food in Liam’s hands. ‘Is that the chocolate pie?’ she murmured through her mouthful.
‘It’s a torte,’ Liam responded in a deadpan tone.
Lydia rolled her eyes. ‘Wanker.’ She took the plates from him,smelling under the foil. ‘Ah, this smells amazing.’ She turned around to head back down the hallway. ‘Mum! Liam and Kat are here. We can all pretend we didn’t see them feeling each other up on the porch for the last ten minutes.’
‘Lydia!’ Sandra shouted from the front room as my face lit up bright red.
‘I made extra,’ Liam shouted as Lydia disappeared with the plate. ‘It can go in the freezer.’
‘Yes, chef!’ Lydia shouted back, and I snorted.
‘Sandra!’ Uncle Brian shouted. ‘Where did you put the beers?’
‘Are you blind? On the side in the kitchen. In the box,’ Sandra shouted back. I could hear Lydia laughing in the kitchen at her dad’s expense.
My eyes caught on the pictures hanging in the hallway of shoes and coats. In mismatched frames were photographs of Lydia at school and on holiday and wedding photos of Sandra and Brian from the 1980s, everyone decked out in big, puffy hair and dresses. I spotted my dad with his ginger mop of curly hair.
I couldn’t stop the morose thought popping into my head.
He’ll never come to my wedding, my brain muttered quietly.
Liam stepped closer, tucking an errant curl behind my ear.
Are you okay?he mouthed.
I nodded, unable to untangle my complicated emotions, even if I wanted to.
He dropped a quick kiss on my cheek. ‘We can leave whenever you want. If it’s too much.’
I wanted to squeeze him. ‘Thank you.’
‘Come on, I’ll get you a drink.’
We walked into the kitchen, and there was a pop of a confetti cannon.
‘Happy birthday!’ my aunt, uncle and cousin shouted, along with another grey-haired man who had to be Liam’s dad. Acrooked birthday banner hung above the patio doors to the garden. A huge table with mismatched chairs was set up for dinner.
Sandra hugged me, and then Brian kissed my cheek, sweat forming on his brow. ‘Happy birthday, love.’
Lydia handed me a glass of something fizzy.
Brian dashed back to the oven, staring through the glass as the pale batter puffed up. ‘I gotta keep an eye on these Yorkshires.’
‘He burnt them last time,’ Lydia whispered to me.
‘I heard that!’ Brian shouted from the kitchen.
