Page 148 of Love ad Lib
Claire raised her eyebrows. ‘After what that arsehole did?’
His blood ran cold. ‘What did he do?’
She sighed. ‘Fucked her over good and proper.’
It was onlya half hour walk from Regent’s Park to Paddington station, but that wasn’t enough time to bring Henry’s boiling rage down to a simmer. Claire had made him promise not to say anything to Libby, and in return she promised not to tell her about their meeting.
Was Libby even over Lucas? Henry hadn’t heard their conversation the other night, but Lucas had still kissed her on the cheek. Maybe a love that strong didn’t go away so easily.
An enormous hugalmost bowled Henry over just as he was about to enter the pub.
‘Thanks, Bro,’ Estelle said. ‘I appreciate this.’
He shook his head. ‘You know as well as I do any thanks between us should come from me.’
‘Well,’ she replied, raising her eyebrows. ‘Let’s see if you still think that after you’ve heard what I’ve got to say.’
They ordered food and took a table in the corner of the pub. Tall and stunning with the voice of a foghorn, his sister usually filled any space she was in. But today she seemed smaller and more subdued.
‘You never told me what happened after we left,’ he began.
She let go of a breath with a whoosh and shrugged. ‘Just more of the usual bollocks. Same same, but different.’
‘But the guy who’s suing?’
‘A few years ago, I made a list of things we could sell to raise capital in case we needed to,’ she replied. ‘I’ve been meeting with auction houses today to see which items would give us the most bang for our buck. The trouble is, this is the third time we’ve had to do this already.’
‘What?’
‘Nearly half the paintings at the Manor are reproductions. I pay an artist to recreate them so no-one will know.’
‘You’reforgingpaintings?’ he spluttered.
His sister rolled her eyes. ‘No, dummy, I’m reproducing them. It would only be a forgery if I tried to pass one of them off as the original.’
‘Does Dad know? Mom? Mammy,Gram-Gram?’
‘Gram-Gram doesn’t. Jesus Christ, can you imagine the shit that would go down if she found out? The only ones who know are our folks, you and me.’
He rubbed his forehead. ‘I had no idea it was this bad.’
She shrugged. ‘Well, it is. I’ve tried for nearly ten years to fix it, and I can’t. This latest clusterfuck was the last straw. I’m going to have to walk away and try and split the livery from the estate before I lose that as well.’
‘But how can I make a difference if you can’t?’
She held his gaze. ‘You canbe there. No matter how Dad wangs on about worshipping the divine feminine, the patriarchy runs deep in him. Fuck, it runs deep in all of us. Even Mom, who’s as badass American as they come, still defers to him when push comes to shove. He doesn’t fucking listen to me, and even if he does, he still goes and does exactly what the fuck he wants. If I had a penis, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But I don’t, so we are.’
‘Seriously, Estelle, you think he would listen to me just because I have a dick?’
‘Yes. The only way he’s going to get into any sort of line is if you come home. For good.’
‘But—’
‘I mean, fuck’s sake, look at the sodding redesign of your bedroom and bathroom. Has he ever done that for any of us?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, I’m telling you, he hasn’t. You’re the prodigal son, Henry. That’s why he let Mom pay for you to leave Foxbrooke Secondary and go to Eton.’
