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‘Yeah, we’ll – wait, how do you know that?’
‘Because I told him to,’ Kenny replies. ‘We had a heart-to-heart. I told him what I went through with Beth, when she left. The house was mine; I’d bought it before we got married, but I had to buy her out. I had to quite literally work overtime to do it. I told him not to be that guy, who put you through what I went through. He didn’t take much convincing, to be honest, he’s a crap boyfriend, but he’s not a total arsehole. Just a bit of one.’
Kenny smiles. I’m speechless.
‘Anyway, I told him I’d represent him, so you’re going to need to find your own conveyancer,’ he continues. ‘But it’s still my weird Christmas gift to you, in a way.’
Before I know what I’m doing, I’m throwing myself at Kenny, flinging my arms around him, squeezing him tightly.
‘Thank you,’ I tell him, my voice catching in my throat as tears prickle my eyes. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’
I think until this moment, just now, I had still been worried that Declan might not be being straight with me, or might not have been in a position to do what he said he would, but I feel like Kenny being on his side makes all the difference. It feels real. My house is going to be mine again.
How is it possible I’ve had Kenny so, so wrong all this time? I think he’s right. We see what we want to see, or, more accurately, don’t want to see, and what I didn’t want to see was a man doing to a woman what my dad did to my mum, and what Declan did to me. And what Rocco is doing to his wife too. But Kenny has shown me that they’re not all bad. Jess may have actually found herself a good one, for the first time.
‘Kenny, would you like to spend Christmas Day with us?’ I ask him.
He laughs.
‘I thought I already was?’
‘Yes, but I didn’t want you there before, now I do,’ I say with a smile.
‘I’d love to,’ he replies. ‘Fancy hanging out here for another fifteen minutes or so before we head back? Give things chance to calm down?’
‘That would be great,’ I reply. ‘Thanks for everything, you’re my knight in shining armour.’
‘Nah,’ he says with a casual bat of his hand. ‘I’m just the guy who is going to do the paperwork.’
I know it sounds kind of sad – more so because it’s my sister’s man – but Kenny has given me hope that there are still good guys out there, and maybe I can find one. Forget the ones in my house, eating my food, ruining my Christmas. There will be other guys, and plenty of time.
It’s just such a shame, though, because with Declan I knew things weren’t great, even when we were together, but I thought comfortable was as good as it got, and that expecting something closer to perfection just wasn’t realistic. But then I met Rocco and he seemed so right for me. I think that one’s going to take a bit longer to accept, but cheating repulses me to my core, and if that’s the kind of man he is, then he isn’t who I thought he was.
It’s so stupid, how I feel more upset over losing someone who I’ve known for days, versus Declan who I knew for years. Looking back, I think it was the hurt of being abandoned, the way it made me look at myself differently, wondering what was wrong with me – coupled with the logistics of breaking up with someone I owned a house with – that made it feel so spectacular. Somehow, with Rocco it hurts even more, because it really felt like we had the potential to have something truly great.
And now I have to go back home and face all of it, but at least I have Kenny on my side, and Jess, and Mum – even Dad. I might have lost Gail, briefly, but I’ve won her over before, I’ll do it again.
Okay, here we go, time to face the music. Wish me luck.
34
Back in my living room, the tension is unbearable. Dinner has been cleared from the table but, instead of Christmas pudding, the only thing on offer is an intervention. Well, that’s what Jess and I keep calling it but Gail, our resident therapist, keeps correcting us.
‘This isn’t an intervention, this is a circle of truth,’ Gail explains. ‘And this is a truth stick. This family needs to heal.’
‘That’s not a truth stick, it’s a wooden spoon,’ Declan says with a snort. ‘Do I need to be here?’
‘He probably doesn’t need to be here,’ I chime in.
‘He’s your boyfriend,’ Gail reasons. ‘It might be good for him to be here.’
‘Declan’s not my boyfriend.’
‘Declan’s not her boyfriend.’
Jess and I both speak at the same time. I love that she always has my back.
‘Your dad said he was your boyfriend?’ Gail replies.
