Nathan didn’t argue the point. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them for extra warmth before he hunched over more. He’d rather do this inside but he didn’t want Scarlett involved when Kyle was in this state. ‘I don’t know much about you, Kyle, and you don’t know much about me. But can you tell me why you came here tonight? Was it to see Scarlett?’
‘It was hardly to come to you for sympathy.’
‘No, but what’s with the vodka? It’s hardly a packet of condoms, but do you see why I might have a problem with you spending time with my daughter when you show up like this?’ He grabbed Kyle’s arm before he bolted and persuaded him to sit down again. ‘Amelia told me about your dad.’
‘None of anyone’s business.’
‘It isn’t, but would you believe me if I told you I understand how you feel?’
‘No.’
‘I didn’t lose my dad, but my brother – my best friend, my sidekick – he died, and it’s almost like I was bookended by what happened. There was the Nathan before he lost Robbie and then there’s the Nathan afterwards. Death changes people.’
‘Fuck’s sake,’ Kyle muttered when a group of carollers gathered at the bottom step singing ‘Deck the Halls’.
‘Don’t you move, I’ll sort it.’ Nathan, one eye still on Kyle, went down the stoop, paid them enough to move to the other side of the street and leave them to it.
Back beside Kyle he took away the vodka that Kyle had picked up again and this time, tipped the contents into the pot for the pine tree. ‘So you’re not tempted.’
‘You’ve probably killed the tree now.’
‘I doubt it, and if I have I’ll buy Darcy a new one.’
The strains of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ mingled with the mist high above the buildings and the carollers moved along the street gradually.
‘I was sixteen when my brother died,’ said Nathan. ‘I kept up with my school work so my parents were none the wiser, but out of school I was a nightmare. I started drinking, got involved with petty crimes. I hung around with some horrible people. Your auntie Amelia seems to think I might understand a bit about what you’re going through. I still have my dad so I don’t completely get it but I know what it means to have your world fall apart.’
‘I bet your parents never turned their backs on you.’
‘They didn’t, I shielded them from most of what was going on.’
‘Mum knows everything I get up to, she’s embarrassed about me. She’s every right to be. But she never lets me talk about my dad, she changes the subject whenever I bring him up.’
‘That must hurt.’
‘It does.’
‘People handle grief differently, do what they can to cope. I know I did.’
‘I spoke to Mum the other day and she didn’t say a word about the house. She was nice to me, I felt good about myself for once. Now she’s got Auntie Amelia promising to look after me. Amelia was crying, too, which is understandable – I’m not her child and she’s stuck with me.’
‘What else did you hear?’
‘Nothing, I’d heard enough. I left.’
‘That’s the problem with eavesdropping. You only hear part of the story.’
Kyle found a stray branch from the pine tree closest to him and picked its needles off one by one, dropping them onto the stoop. ‘I got the gist.’
‘Where did you get the vodka?’
‘Found it at the apartment.’
‘Does Amelia know where you are?’ He shook his head. ‘I’ll go check on Scarlett then walk you back.’
‘I don’t need a chaperone.’
‘Don’t argue. We’ll grab you a coffee on the walk and get you sobered up a bit.’
