‘I remember,’ he says softly. ‘But as the moreexperiencedparticipant, I shouldn’t have responded. I should have laughed it off.’
‘Do you have any idea what that would have done to my self-esteem?’
‘You’d have got over it.’
‘I’m not saying I’m glad it happened, but I don’t blame you. What Ididfeel angry about was that you fucked off and left me carrying the can.’
‘I didn’t know,’ he says quietly.
‘You didn’t know what?’
‘That someone saw, and you covered for me.’
My hands curl into fists as my temper flares. ‘A guy literally barged in and saw us.’
‘But he couldn’t have known who we were.’
I stare at him, incredulous. How much hashedrunk? ‘He might not have known who you were, but I was the host’s sister – of course he bloody knew me. Then Yan arrived after you left, and I had to tell him something.’
He meets my angry stare with conciliatory eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d had to tell this big lie. That must have been hard for you.’
‘It’s fine,’ I tell him dismissively. And far too little, far too late.
I want him to leave now, but he’s not showing any signs of moving.
Then, as luck would have it, thebouzoukiplays the opening notes of akalamatianothat Tig wants to dance at the wedding, She waves me to the dance floor, and I get up.
‘Well, it was great chatting with you,’ I say, with fake gusto. ‘Have fun wherever you’re going. And feel free to spend as many nights away as you want.’
Chapter 31
Theo’s gran lives thirty minutes away on the outskirts of Nicosia. The plan is to take her out to lunch, but Theo has dropped off Yan, Pen,
and me in a nearby Starbucks so he can introduce Tig to her in private.
It’s a relief to walk into the Starbucks because they’ve got their AC set to Arctic, and while I’m sure the car was blowing plenty of cold air towards everyone else, I was sitting in the middle at the back where the cold air only reached my right knee.
Mark left early this morning. I heard his car on the gravel at 6 a.m. Our conversation last night was useful, I guess. At least we faced the elephant in the room and hopefully silenced its trumpeting call.
We sit down with our sugary, icy frappés, and Pen promptly announces there’s a shopping centre across the road and that she’d rather kill time there.
‘Just keep your phone handy,’ I call after her as she leaves.
Yan looks different today, unkempt. It’s not like him at all.
‘Why haven’t you shaved?’
He rubs his chin. ‘I’m on holiday.’
‘It doesn’t make the best first impression, does it? Have you ever seen Dad unshaven?’
‘Not relevant.’
He sucks aggressively on his frappé straw.
‘All right, no need to be so touchy.’ I take an equally aggressive suck. ‘Wait a second,’ I say, the penny hanging mid-air. ‘Did you not come home last night?’
‘Of course I did.’
