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Mort stepped over the threshold and enfolded her in a hug. She instinctively compared it to the ‘hug’ she’d received recently from his mother. Mort’s hug could have crushed bones if he’d applied even a little pressure.
Mort slipped off his boots and put them next to Bruce’s size eleven slippers, dwarfing them.
‘Coffee?’ asked Shay.
‘Please, if you’ve got time. I don’t want to disturb you.’ He had such impeccable manners, she thought. So, oddly, did his father. Morton never failed to excuse himself after he’d farted in a public place.
‘Always got time for you,’ Shay said and meant it. Mort was her godson and she had a great fondness for him. So did Sunny, for that matter, and Courtney but in her case, where it was obvious she thought of Mort as a second brother, he revered her like a goddess on a pedestal.
‘I’m working just around the corner and so I thought I’d pop in and say hello.’
‘It’s lovely to see you, Mort. You sit down and I’ll put the kettle on.’ It had not long been boiled so took no time at all.
‘We’re doing a loft conversion. Really enjoying it as well. Nice people, cups of tea every half-hour and you don’t get that on many jobs. And biscuits. Oh, that wasn’t a hint by the way. I don’t want any so I’ll save you offering.’
‘Milk, sugar?’ Shay smiled but inside she was bracing herself for the niceties to be out of the way and for the questions to come.
‘Strong and black, no sugar, please. I told Courtney I was calling. She said to tell you that she’ll see you soon.’
‘Oh, you’re still in touch with each other, then?’
‘Yeah, we go to boxing classes together.’
Shay nearly dropped the mugs she’d just picked up and was carrying to the table. ‘She’s boxing?’Great, she thought. Not just any old chaotic Courtney then, but a Courtney trained to kill.
‘I dragged her along to Tommy Tanner’s gym with me – you know, the current welterweight champ. I thought the discipline would be good for her. She’s a natural.’ He grinned and Shay thought what a handsome lad he’d turned out to be, a proper gentle giant, too. ‘I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of her, that’s for sure,’ he went on.
‘Would anyone?’ asked Shay, picturing her daughter in boxing gloves, standing victorious over a flattened body in the ring.
‘I didn’t tell her why I was coming, though.’ Mort rubbed the fresh stubble on his chin, a gesture that smacked of nerves.
‘Oh?’ Shay handed him a mug and it looked half the size sitting in his great paw.
‘Auntie Shay’ – a long, loaded sigh – ‘do you know about Mum and Dad splitting up?’
Of course that’s why he was here. She nodded. ‘I met your mum this week for lunch. I haven’t seen her for months and well… it was a shock, I have to admit.’
‘Did she say where she’s living? Will you tell me?’ Mort looked agitated, desperation in his voice.
‘Mort, I honestly don’t know. She didn’t say.’
‘She’s left Dad and filed for divorce. She just walked out and left him; he’s in a right state. I’ve had to move back inwith him for a bit because I was that worried about him. He thinks she’s got someone else, that’s what’s tearing him up.’ Mort’s eyes were shiny and he blinked rapidly to settle rising tears.
‘That’s not the impression I got at all. And she would definitely have told me if that was the case,’ said Shay. At least she could put that rumour to bed.
‘But… do you have that much work done to yourselfforyourself? Is that normal?’ Mort asked.
Ah, that’s what had made him think like that.
‘Of course you do, love, sometimes; it’s not necessarily for another person. Women at our age might start going through the menopause early and it can do strange things to your hormones, make you want to change all manner of stuff before it’s too late.’
‘She won’t pick up her phone if I ring and I’ve been worried sick that she’s not well, you know, in the head. Sorry.’ Rogue tears escaped, he dashed them away with his large cigar-fingers. When he made the summer house for Courtney, those big fingers had been capable of such delicate touches, the fretwork windowsill, the perfect dovetail joints, the tiny carved falcon above the door.
‘She looked perfectly well when I saw her, Mort. I didn’t get any vibes from her at all that she wasn’t sure of what she was doing, which may or may not be what you want to hear.’
‘I suppose that’s something,’ said Mort with a heavy breath out. ‘I got a text from her last night, one line, “I’m okay, stop worrying and give me some space”. I’m really having to bite my tongue, Auntie Shay, because if sheiswell, then I’ll be so angry at her for what she’s doing to Dad. I mean she’s always treated him like muck, but this is taking it to another level. It’s cruel.’
Mort had always been closer to his dad than his mum, but then Morton put more of the time and effort in than Les. Shay didn’t like to think this of her friend: that she was disappointed in Little Mort because he would rather put bricks together than pursue a more intellectual path. Tanya had once said that she’d told Les off for measuring Mort unfavourably against Sunny. Tan thought it was because having a brickie for a son didn’t give Les half the opportunity to show off that a son at uni would have.
