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‘You’re still here?’
‘I am, and officially invited by the birthday girl, no less,’ Caleb declares. ‘So that was Jasper, eh? What was all that about in your bedroom?’
‘What happened in her bedroom?’ Mommy asks with mischief.
Yeah. Caleb has Mommy hooked.
‘They were up there looking all lovey-dovey, like nothing had ever happened. I, of course, was the voice of reason and put a stop to it, because you, had a cake to cut. He’s a bit intense, isn’t he?’ Caleb takes a sip of his tea. He doesn’t wait for me to answer. ‘You Mason girls…I bet men have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to you.’
He winks at Mommy and she giggles. How can she be falling for this? He gets up and makes his way to the cooker. He looks handsomely dishevelled, with the top button of his shirt undone and his tie hanging out of his back pocket. I can sort of see how he could have success with women who don’t know him.
‘Right, birthday girl, how do you like your eggs?’ He unbuttons his cuffs and rolls up his sleeves.
‘Well-done.’
‘Ariella? Full English or grapefruit?’
Mommy looks at me with a knowing smile and raised eyebrows. I have no idea what that look means.
‘I’m going to have cereal.’
Caleb grabs the whole milk from the fridge and plonks it down in front of me.
‘Two well-done eggs coming up.’ He clumsily cracks Mommy’s eggs into the pan.
‘Were you here all night?’ I ask.
‘Nope. After Jasper got sozzled—’
‘Jasper got drunk?’
‘Oh yeah. Zachary and I had to carry him home. Top bloke, your brother. I like him. No bullshit. Anyway, Katherine said I could crash at hers, so I did. Before you start telling me off, nothing happened. She didn’t pass the tea test.’
‘What’s the tea test?’ Mommy and I ask at the same time.
‘If I go round and we’ve been drinking, I always offer a cup of tea to chat over first. She didn’t want tea, which in itself is a bad sign. By the time I finished my cup, she was asleep. So I put her in the first bedroom I came across and slept on the couch. Nice girl, though. Dropped me off about an hour ago.’ He shakes his head as he flips the eggs over.
‘What if she’d passed the tea test?’ I ask, even though I already know the answer.
‘You’d probably be losing your rag at me right now.’
‘Morning, all,’ says Daddy, coming into the room, and I get up to give him a hug. He walks round and gives my mom a long kiss on her forehead. ‘Caleb,’ he says curtly as he sits down.
‘Eggs, MrMason?’ Caleb offers.
‘No thanks, just coffee.’
‘I’ll do it, Daddy.’
I like making Daddy breakfast. I get up and put the kettle on, while Caleb gives my mother her breakfast plate.
‘Thank you, Caleb. Aren’t you having any?’
‘Of course, just grabbing mine.’ He puts a plate together for himself and sits next to her.
‘Caleb, you’re Liverpudlian, aren’t you?’ Daddy enquires.
‘Yes, sir!’ He smiles as he loads baked beans on his plate.
