Page 41 of Brighter Together

Suzie laughs. “He found it in the garden.”

“Max or Chris?” Rob asks.

“Max,” she laughs.

“Important clarification,” Phil says.

Chris ignores them. “Max decided it was his pet.”

Suzie lifts both hands. “And I said absolutely not.”

“And Chris said?” Emma asks.

Suzie turns towards her husband.

Chris looks sheepish. “I may have said we could keep it for a bit.”

“All you needed to say was no,” Suzie says.

“Max was upset,” he offers as justification.

“You always say that.”

“He was.”

Alex is already smiling. “What’s it called?”

Chris stares down at his pint.

Suzie covers her mouth to hide the laughter.

“Oh no,” Nick says. “What did he call it?”

Chris sighs. “Snail Bail.”

Silence.

Then Alex folds over laughing.

I nearly choke on my Prosecco.

“Snail Bail?” Phil manages.

Chris points across the table. “You laugh, but Max was very proud of that name.” That makes everyone else laugh even louder.

“So what happened? You were late because he was trying to get back into the barn?” Nick puts two fingers on the table and starts moving them forward painfully slowly.

Rob starts laughing so hard he has to grab the edge of the table.

One of his crutches slips against the wall and Olivia catches it before it hits the floor.

Suzie wipes tears from beneath her eyes. “No. We were late because I said a snail is not a proper pet, Max started crying and this one caved and then they had to get a tank ready for it.”

“He’s five,” Chris tries to argue.

“That’s not a defence,” she says mildly, but the look she gives him makes it abundantly clear that she adores him for loving their son so much.

“It is when he does the lip.”