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“Thanks.”
She tilts her head and narrows her eyes at me. “You’re looking relaxed.”
“I’m feeling relaxed.”
I clink my glass against Drew’s bottle and take a sip. “Who is she?” he says.
“Who’s who?”
“Whoever’s taken the edge off.”
I’m not in the mood for talking about Livia… not yet. “Who says there has to be a ‘she’?”
“I do.”
“Leave your brother alone, or I’ll send you back to the cottage with no dinner.” We both turn to Pat, who’s folded her arms again and is staring at the two of us, although her gaze is more sternly fixed on Drew. He holds up his hands in surrender.
“There’s no way I’m going anywhere until I’ve had my chili.”
I look over at Pat. “You’ve made chili?”
She nods her head, and my stomach growls, making us all laugh. “Guess someone’s hungry,” she says.
“Well… at least we know he can’t be in love, not if he’s still got an appetite.” Drew chuckles at his own joke, but it hits a little too close to home for me, and I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
“And what would you know about love?” Pat turns to him.
“Absolutely nothing, other than my love for you, dear Pat… and your chili, of course.”
She rolls her eyes, turning away to fetch the dishes, muttering, “Dear Lord,” under her breath.
Pat’s chili is second to none and has always been a firm favorite in this house, and while Drew and I eat, she cleans up the kitchen. When we were younger, she and Mick used to live in rooms in the main house, but now they have an apartment over the garage and I know she’ll have cooked enough food for them to eat later. Even so, she’s always made a point of hanging around while we have our meal. She did it when we were kids, taking the time to make sure we were okay, letting us know we could talk to her if we needed to. I’m not sure why she does it now. Probably for the same reason, knowing Pat.
“I’ve been meaning to call you,” I say, taking a sip of beer between mouthfuls of chili.
“Who? Me?” Drew twists in his seat, so he’s looking at me.
“Yeah.”
“You’d have been lucky to get hold of me. I’ve been up to my eyes in work.” He lets out a long sigh. “Was it anything important?”
“Only that I spoke to Ella last week.”
Pat turns around and Drew raises his eyebrows, like he’s slightly fearful about what’s coming next.
“How is she?” he asks. “It’s been ages since I’ve spoken to her.”
“She’s fine.”
“Did she call for a reason?”
“Yeah. To let us know she’ll be coming home soon.”
“That’s fabulous news.” Pat’s clearly keen to see her.
“Believe it or not, she’s got a job lined up.”
Drew drops his fork and Pat’s mouth falls open. I laugh and, after a couple of seconds, they both do too.
