Page 68 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

They both rushed into the living room, where they found Katy standing in a vest top and pyjama bottoms, clutching a candlestick which until that moment had been on the coffee table.

‘There’s a strange man in here!’ she shouted, when she saw Ryan and Ethan rush into the room.

Ryan followed her pointed finger and breathed a sigh of relief at the pale, skinny man who was looking equally startled as he sat up on the sofa.

‘What’s all the rumpus?’ he asked, with a yawn. ‘Can’t a man get a decent lie-in around here?’

Ryan looked at Katy. ‘It’s okay,’ he told her, with a groan. ‘This is Del, our cousin.’

Dodgy Del was their dad’s infamous nephew. He was the local coach driver and an all-round nice guy, always trying to be helpful around the local villages as well as trying to earn him an extra bit of money here and there. It was just that his dubious ideas to help the village and himself had earned him the nickname Dodgy Del a long time ago.

Katy looked from Dodgy Del back to Ryan. ‘Oh! He’s family? I see,’ she said, puffing out a large sigh despite still breathless. ‘Sorry. I just came in for my phone charger and he gave me a fright.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ said Ryan. ‘Del, what the hell are you doing here?’

‘That’s on me,’ said Ethan, slumping onto the opposite sofa. ‘He arrived after you both had left last night and we had one too many extra beers together. So I invited him to sleep here.’

‘I think I’ll just go and get dressed,’ murmured Katy, quickly turning around to head back towards the main bedroom.

‘Not on our account,’ said Ethan, with a grin.

But Katy had already disappeared out of sight.

‘So what’s for breakfast?’ asked Dodgy Del with his usual cheeky smile. ‘And by the way, who’s the gorgeous flatmate?’

‘Toast and tea, if you’re lucky,’ replied Ryan. ‘And Katy’s completely off limits, do you hear?’

‘He’s a bit touchy, ain’t he?’ said Del, looking across at Ethan.

‘Yeah and with good reason.’ Ethan followed his brother back towards their bedrooms, shouting as he went, ‘Put the kettle on, Del!’

As Ryan reached his bedroom door, Ethan said, ‘Hold on a moment.’

Ryan spun around to look at his brother. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.

‘I’ve asked Katy to help me pack up Mum’s clothes,’ said Ethan.

Ryan leant against the doorframe with a sigh. ‘Okay,’ he said, nodding.

‘Okay?’ Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Is that it? No complaints or disapproving looks?’

Ryan thought back to his dad chatting with Maggie the previous evening and how much happier he had looked, before shaking his head. ‘Nope. I think it’s time for all of us to accept that the marriage is finally over.’

Ethan looked shocked. ‘Right. Well, yeah. I suppose it is.’

‘Time for us all to move on,’ said Ryan, hesitating before speaking again. ‘And look, if we’re being honest about everything, then I need to tell you that I lost my job.’

‘I know.’

Ryan was stunned. ‘How do you know?’

Ethan gave a shrug. ‘A six-week sabbatical from an extremely popular restaurant didn’t sound entirely plausible to me. I’m cleverer than I look, as I’ve always told you. So I did a bit of checking on the internet and…’ His voice trailed off.

‘Right.’ Ryan felt embarrassed that not only had his brother known the truth for so long but that he also knew of his catastrophic downfall.

‘For what it’s worth,’ drawled Ethan. ‘That guy who accused you is a well-known creep and if I were to ever see him, I’d shove his mobile phone where the sun doesn’t shine!’

‘I’d pay good money to see that.’ Ryan had to know one more thing. ‘Does anyone else know?’ he asked, thinking of both his dad and Katy.