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“Of course,” I murmur back. “He apologized for his behavior so far and reminded me to accept it. He actually invoked your name.” I grin up at Tim and he snickers, winking down at me.
“He can be a bit of a pain like that.” Tim laughs, turning back to something Beaumont is saying about us all hitting the pub in town at some stage.
“You’ll probably want to do that before Friday,” I pipe up, blinking as four sets of eyes swivel to me.
“What’s happening on Friday?” Maxwell asks, tilting his head to the side. What does he mean, what’s happening on Friday? I blink at them in surprise.
“Uh, all your parents arrive,” I remind them. Seriously, how did they all forget that? The silence stretches as they continue to stare blankly at me. It’s David who finally speaks.
“Like, all six of them?” He squints disbelieving at me. I have to fight the urge to hug myself under all the scrutiny. Yeah, all six of them. Who wouldn’t be coming to afamily Christmas?
“Yes? Why are you all acting like you didn’t know?”
Beaumont snorts, rolling his eyes. “Because we didn’t. You’re sure that they’reallcoming.”
“One hundred percent. I booked their flights myself.”
“Shit,” Maxwell mumbles, while David taps his chin thoughtfully and Tim sighs. Taking my hand, Tim slows our steps until we fall slightly behind the others, like David and I were initially.
“You’re not kidding, they’reallcoming?” Tim clarifies. Why do they keep asking that? I look up at him, raising my eyebrows.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Tim,” I tell him as he drops my hand to scrub his face. “Why are you all acting weird about this?”
“Dad and Harold had a falling out several years ago.”
Harold. That’s Maxwell and Beaumont’s father. I do recall Bill talking about two of his log-headed brothers being idiots. But they were all together back in Chicago earlier this year. The boys weren’t there because Bill can be private like that. But all his brothers were there. Tim is still talking, so I focus on him.
“They don’t do family vacations together. Certainly notChristmas.”
Yeah, but that was last year. This isthisyear. Of course they’re coming after…. Holy shit. They actually don’t know. None of themknow. How fucking messed up is that? We have been here for three weeks. He has had numerous one-on-ones with them all and he hasn’ttoldthem? No. He can’t be that stubborn, or stupid. Not the Bill I know.
Tim is frowning down at me, his gorgeous face creased in confusion and suddenly, I want him to know. It’s so damn wrong he doesn’t know. He deserves to know.
“Bill,” I call out, drawing everyone to a halt as they turn to look at me. Even Tim glances down at me in surprise. “Bill, it’s time.”
Now everyone is glancing between Bill and me like it’s a tennis match. It would be quite comical if it wasn’t so serious.
“I think that’s my decision to make,” Bill replies, sounding unhappy, though his eyes flicker between Tim and me.
“You tell them, or I will.”
Well, now we definitely have everyone’s attention.
“You would tell them without my permission?” Bill cocks a brow and I fight the urge to shiver. “That would be a fire-able offence.”
I shrug, knowing that I’m in the moral right at this moment. If I’m fired, so be it. At least Tim would know.
“Then you could consider me telling them to be my resignation.”
A look spasms across Bill’s face. It’s not a look I can place, but I think maybehurt? He sighs, resigned.
“Let’s head back.”
Timothy
Bill leads us back along the wilderness walk to the Manor and no one speaks. Walking in step with me, Angie is hugging her middle and excuse me, but what thefuckis going on?
Uncle Bill strides ahead. I have no idea what passed between him and Angie, but he looked like she hurt him with her threat to resign. He said he looked at her like a daughter. Is it because it would hurt him for her to leave, or is he seeing her forcing him to admit something to us as a betrayal?
