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“Mum, this is Max,”Ali says to her mother as we stand awkwardly in the kitchen of this 60’s-semi. She’s a big woman and I mean large in every sense of the bloody word. Nearly as tall as me even without heels, and her sharp Welsh accent is louder than any I’ve ever heard.How did I not know Ali was Welsh?There’s not a lot of my beautiful angel that she’s got from her mother. Apart from her take-no-shit sharpness. That’s certainly there.
“Ah, yes. We’ve not met but I’ve heard enough to be able to form a well-rounded opinion.” She doesn’t take the hand I extended to her to shake. She barely took the flowers I bought either. They are still just lying on the laminate of the kitchen worktop. She’s not trying to hide any distain she already has towards me.
“Alison, why are you bringing this washed-up mistake into my home?”
“Mum, that is damn rude,” Ali retorts with a strained snap. I’m used to producers and execs blowing smoke up my arse, but I’ve sure heard my fair share of criticism over the years too. Maybe not this close to home though.
“Is he or is he not the stupid boy who crashed his car in California, forcing you to leave the best job you ever had?”
Christ. She does not mix her words. Straight to the point. I kind of like it in a fucked-up kind of way.
“Yes, I am. And I’m so sorry, Mrs Cannock. I’ll never be able to apologise to Ali enough for the hell I put her through,” I interject quickly. Knowing from the look I’m getting she wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire right now and I’m not going to be able to win her round with my normal rock star charms.
“Ali, is it?” she raises her eyebrow.
“Yes, Ma’am.” I nod.
“Don’t try and charm me, Baines. I know your type. My husband was a wannabe rock star. Alison’s father. We found him dead in a pool of his own vomit. He loved heroin and cocaine more than he ever loved us. So don’t think I don’t know your type, rock star.”
I look at Ali, she’s never spoken about her dad before, my heart breaks as I see a clink in her armour, her shoulders sag.
“I’m so sorry, Ali,” I say quickly. Ignoring the fact that her mum is in the room I put my arm around her and pull her close to me, so I can breathe her in, so I can cover her body with mine in some vain attempt to keep her safe. I let myself kiss her hair.
“It’s fine, Max, it was a long time ago.” She sniffs into my shoulder before pushing me away and looking to her mother. “Shall I make us a drink?”
All business again.
“Do we need a coffee for you to tell me you’ve decided to start seeing this vagrant after months of putting him out of your head? Or do we need something stronger. You’ve not married him have you, Alison?”
“Mother, seriously.” Ali looks embarrassed. She shouldn’t be, it’s not her fault her mother is such a highly-strung battle axe. I’m sure this is her odd way of caring for Ali. It’s not the way my mum bought me and Cassy up that’s for sure. My heartbeat halts for a moment. My mum would have been thrilled I was making her a grandma, literally ecstatic. Her and Cassy would be shopping non-stop and she’d be thrilled it was with Ali too and not some nameless groupie that she always warned me about. I miss her so goddamn much.
Ali slams three plain white mugs down on to the laminate worktop and I feel I may have missed some serious glaring from the two Cannock’s whilst I drifted off. She grabs some tea bags off the side and fills the kettle. I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s Finch who drinks tea, not me. But if this appeases her then I’ll drink as much English sodding Breakfast as she needs me to.
“So?” her mother demands again. “What a passing visit to the countryside is it? An ex-manager and the man who let the world see his demise at something so stupid at his band mate fondling his sister who just happened to be on the tour too. What else was the girl there to do apart from attract unwanted or apparent wanted attention?”
“Mother, that is damn rude. Again. What you read in the papers is not always the truth.” Alison turns her head to look at me, a look of sorrow etched over her face. My heart beats hard in my chest at how torn the look on her face makes me.
“No, Ali. She’s right. I was fucking stupid to react the way I did. But as for my band mate and my sister I was very small minded, it’s sad that you’ve read what you like in the papers and come to that stupid conclusion which is probably a similar one to what I had at the time. But Kyle Finch happens to be the best man I’ve ever met. He also happens to worship the ground my baby sister walks on, and I know that man more than I know myself, I know he will love her for a very, very long time. She’s safe and she’s loved by a bloody good man and as her brother, there is hardly anything else I want for her in this world.” I smile, yes, I want Ali’s mum to respect me, but I won’t have her spreading any sort of filth around my sister or Finch.
“So now you’re okay with it?” she asks. Does she care or does she just want the gossip straight from the horse’s mouth? Either way I’ll tell her.
“Of course, I am.” I nod. Because I am okay with it now. I am.
“Right, and you’re happy for your sister to be his full-time groupie?”
“Mother! That’s Max’s sister. And two very close friends of mine,” she pleads with her mother. “Max, I’m so sorry.”
“Ali, it’s fine,” I reassure her again. I’ve spoken to harder people in this industry than a small kitchen conversation with Mrs Cannock. The tea Ali’s making seems to have gone by the by. Something tells me by her stance with her hand on her hip and the scowl across her beautiful full lips we probably won’t be staying here much longer anyway. “My sister’s name is Cassy, Mrs Cannock, and she’s by no means a groupie, she’s Kyle Finch’s girlfriend. She’s also a trainee nurse and I am perhaps the proudest big brother in the world watching her do what she does.”
She nods, tries not to tut. I’m not sure if she’s always this hostile. Ali did warn me she might be, but I thought there could be a little nicety. I’ve certainly been nicer than I could have been listening to someone talk about Cassy that way.
“He pay for that, does he? The guitarist?”
Again, I’m not sure if she’s interested in my family at all or if she just cares about the context. I still shake my head.
“No, much to his upset Kyle doesn’t provide for my sister’s education even though he’s more than capable of affording to. So can I, but she chose to use the money she received from our mother’s life insurance policy to pay for it. She was forty-one when she was killed by a drunk driver you see. I’m not sure if you’ve read about that too? I know I cocked up, Mrs Cannock, and I’ve spent the time since your daughter and I reconnected trying to pay penance for that absolute fuck up that happened in Los Angeles. That resulted in Ali leaving our management and my career taking a complete nosedive, but when I think about my mum and what a kind, wonderful person she was all I think is that life is far too damn short to hate, to not grab things by both hands and make them work. To make others happy as well as yourself.”
“And that’s what you want to do? Make my daughter happy as well as yourself?”
