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here.”
“Do I need to inform you every time I want to use my
own house?” she asks, one brow raised.
“No,” Jack says with a scowl. “It just would have been
helpful to know.”
“Are you staying the night?” she asks.
“Well, we were thinking about it, but we can easily go
back to Melbourne.”
“Don’t be silly,” she says with a dismissive wave. “At
least stay for dinner. I’m making chicken clay pot and you can help me make sure your father doesn’t eat it all.”
Jack looks reluctant, but my mouth is already watering, so I take the decision out of his hands. “Sounds great!”
“Wonderful,” Linh says with a bright grin. “Can you help me take this shopping inside.”
Dinner is delicious, and the meal passes mostly without incident. Until Linh starts gushing about Jack’s sister...
“Alastor did you know Jack’s sister Hannah has just finished her PhD?” Linh asks, beaming with obvious pride for her daughter. “We’re so proud to have a child with so much drive and dedication to her work.”
Next to me, Jack visibly flinches, as though Linh has actually reached out and slapped him. I’m not sure she intended for her words to come across as such a backhander, but the result is the same.
“That’s really great,” I say with a smile, not really sure how else I’m supposed to react to that. Trying to add a little levity, I joke, “Jack showed a lot of drive and dedication today when he was trying to teach me how to surf. It was kind of wasted on me, though. I’m a hopeless case.”
“You were surfing today?” Linh asks sharply. “I thought you told Bà you’d visit?”
A guilty flush hits Jack’s cheeks and I know I’ve put my foot in it. “I’ll go tomorrow,” he says. “She won’t mind.”
Linh narrows her eyes. “Of course she won’t, she lets you get away with anything. But that’s beside the point. You made a commitment and you should stick to it.”
Across the table, Harry lets out a soft chuckle. “Darl, if Jack stuck to his commitments he’d be married to Xavier right now.”
I offer a wry smile. “I think we can all agree that worked out for the best.”
“Perhaps,” Linh allows. “But Jack, what is the point of even making commitments if you can’t follow through? How will anyone ever take you seriously?”
I shift in my seat, feeling decidedly uncomfortable and not liking the way Jack seems to be sinking further and further into himself, his head ducked, eyes downcast. Linh’s not saying anything I haven’t thought before, and her tone isn’t even overly harsh or critical, but I know now how much his parents’ disappointment eats away at Jack and I don’t like seeing it.
“I can go with you,” I blurt out.
Jack glances up at me, clearly confused. “Huh?”
“To visit your grandmother tomorrow.”
“I don’t need you to babysit me, Alastor,” Jack growls,
glaring at me. “I can go on my own.”
“Jack!” Linh chides.
Fucking hell, I’ve gone and made things worse again.
