Page 36 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

Ben retrieved his phone and scrolled. “Hey, Mum,” he said finally, angling the phone so she could see them both.

“Boys,” their mum said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she sat down on one of the suede dining room chairs. “How are you both? You caught me in the middle of cleaning.”

Alex bit down on his tongue. The frenetic cleaning his mum did for forty-eight hours before their dad came home. While Dad hated the place looking messy when he arrived, he had no problem turning the place into a shit tip while he was there. Muddy boots traipsed through the house. Clothes left in the bathroom that his mum would be expected to move to the laundry basket. And all the washing he’d bring home with him after two weeks on the rig he would expect to be laundered and repacked, ready to go back.

“You don’t have to do that,” Alex said.

“I do. You know how your dad likes it. Plus, I find cleaning therapeutic.”

And anxiety-inducing because everything had to be just so. He was certain the nervous anxiety she had around mess was nothing more than a fear-based reaction to how his dad would feel about it.

“We’re serious. We want to help you move out. Now, if you like. Or, go on holiday while he’s there. Two weeks in Spain. Our treat.”

“Or move into mine while I’m away,” Ben jumped in. “Then let us help you move into a nice place of your own when we get back.”

His mum’s eyes misted with tears. She’d been a looker once, but she had the lines around her lips, at the corner of her eyes that said life had been hard. “Well, it’s lovely the two of you are both in a financial position to help, but also want to help your old mum out. But it’s fine. No relationship is perfect. And there’s a strain seeing your dad is away so much.”

Fine. There was that fucking word. A rage grew inside him.

Ben sighed. “But do you want him there twenty-four-seven, Mum?”

“Can we talk about this when you get back? I need to crack on with what I’m doing.”

“Fair enough. Just think about it,” Alex bit out. “Love you, Mum.”

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