‘The former, I hope.’
That made him laugh and clap me on the back. ‘You can always turn back from the edge, am I right?’
Unlike dark-haired Miranda, I could immediately tell that the strawberry-blond Lewis was Holly’s sibling. His eyes were the same shape and colour: that feline green that I found so appealing on her. They must have inherited their Celtic traits from their mum, who Holly had explained was originally from a small town near Inverness. That had been why the Grants had bought a house in the Highlands.
‘Big week,’ Lewis said to Holly, finding a stick and throwing it for Watson so the dog would leave him alone for a minute. ‘Big, big week.’
‘You haven’t met her yet, then? Or seen her?’
‘Nope. I was going to go and visit the old man and demandhe show me her photo, but I’ve been so busy, you know, and then he fucked off to Miami for Christmas.’
‘What have you been busy doing?’
‘Oh, you know. Wandering here and far.’
Holly rolled her eyes.
‘I’m very excited to meet our new stepmother, but I am equally excited to meet your new beau.’ He winked at me. ‘Did you already start celebrating at the pub?’ He scooted forward to sniff at Holly’s mouth. ‘Just seeing how much catching up I have to do,’ he said, catching my surprised expression.
He produced his car key and, with a flourish, pressed a button to make the Merc come to life, the boot opening to reveal its contents. ‘Behold!’
‘Holy shit.’ Holly put her hands on her hips. The back of the car was full of booze: crates of wine and boxes of beer, along with enough spirits to keep all of us pissed for a week.
‘Give us a hand, mate,’ he said to me. ‘I know Princess Holly doesn’t do manual tasks so I won’t bother asking her.She’s only a tiny wee thing.’
He had put on a Scottish accent. Was this an impression of their mum?
‘Lewis and Miranda were always trying to get me to wait on them when we were kids and got resentful when I wouldn’t be their little servant,’ Holly said, slapping Lewis with the back of her hand.
‘Yeah, Mum and Dad wouldn’t let us. They totally babied her, Pat. A tiny little thing made of porcelain.’
‘That’s bullshit.’
‘No, it’s not. Remember how Dad used to try to give me business lessons from when I was ten, and Miranda would be given lists of tasks to do. Meanwhile, you lounged aroundin your pink parlour telling everyone you were going to be a pop star.’
‘Pink parlour?’ I asked.
‘Everything she owned and wore was pink,’ Lewis said with a grin. ‘Her bedroom at home looked like Barbie’s palace. And she spent most of her tween years trying to dance and sing like Britney Spears.’
‘Don’t listen to him.’
‘No, you should listen to me, Pat. This is our family. Miranda the martyr. And Holly the helpless.’
‘That’s rich coming from you– Lewis the loser.’
She made the L sign with her thumb and forefinger and he guffawed. ‘Such immaturity.’
‘Immature? Me?’ Holly marched over and Lewis went to grab hold of her, making her dart away, giggling. It was the first time I’d seen Holly act in this childlike way; first time I’d seen her engage in sibling banter. It made me feel like a spare part– so I busied myself by carrying some of the alcohol into the kitchen.
It was still freezing in the house. Zack sat at the dining table scrolling through his phone, a crease of worry on his brow. Then Miranda appeared, moving stiffly, one hand on the small of her back.
‘Are you going to stop working at any point this week?’ Miranda asked her husband as she inspected one of the wine bottles I’d carried in, unscrewing it and pouring herself a glass. Then, ‘Oh, hello, Patrick. I didn’t notice you there.’
Lewis appeared as Miranda raised her glass to her lips. ‘Making a start already?’
‘I need it. My back is killing me. It’s the long car journey. Zack insisted on driving all the way from Birmingham instead of flying.’
‘The pain zone is in your back today,’ Zack muttered.
