Frisky Business (25 page)

‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s fine.’

‘I mean if you’re supposed to be my girlfriend, it would seem weird if we didn’t. But I can be a gentleman. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself. And you can break up with me right after the wedding if you like.’

‘I’m not in any hurry to break up with you,’ she said, smiling at him as they went to join everyone else in the kitchen.

‘This all looks fantastic!’ she said, as Kit pulled out a chair for her to sit down.

‘It looks great, Mom,’ Ethan said as they started passing bowls of soggy vegetables and lumpy mashed potato, and everyone else joined in, murmuring their appreciation. There was corn bread with chilli, bowls of stuffing and cranberry sauce, a green bean casserole and a couple of colourful salads. Whatever about the quality of her food, Laura couldn’t be faulted on quantity.

‘That turkey was a bugger to carve,’ Colm said as he handed around plates of something resembling sawdust.

‘Oh dear,’ Laura fretted. ‘Is it a little dry?’

‘No, it’s grand,’ Colm said. ‘It’s that carving knife – wouldn’t cut butter. We’ll have to throw it out and get a new one for Christmas.’

‘What’s this?’ Tank asked, poking his fork suspiciously at a dish of something orange with charred black stripes.

‘They’re glazed sweet potatoes,’ Laura told him. ‘My mom always made them just like that on Thanksgiving – except she didn’t burn them.’

‘They’re not burned, they’re
caramelised,’
Colm said. ‘I’ve seen Jamie Oliver doing that.’

‘Cremated, more like,’ Tank said under his breath, nevertheless helping himself to a generous serving.

‘This
cauliflower cheese is gorgeous,’ Romy said when she

had tasted it, trying not to sound too surprised. Laura had obviously improved over the years, at least in some things. The mashed potatoes were still pretty awful, and the turkey was hard to swallow without choking, but at least there was something edible.

‘Oh, Ethan made that,’ Laura said, smiling at him. ‘I don’t know how he gets the sauce so smooth. I’m afraid I can’t say the same for the gravy,’ she said ruefully.

‘Nonsense!’ Colm huffed. ‘We like a sauce with a bit of body, don’t we?’ he asked the table at large, and everyone nodded their agreement.

He should be happy with the gravy, then, Romy thought, as globules of it plopped onto her plate as she poured. It certainly had plenty of ‘body’.

‘Happy Thanksgiving everyone!’ Laura said when they had loaded their plates, and they all clinked glasses. Then everyone started talking at once.

‘So tell us about your boy, Romy …’

‘You won’t have had a feed like this in a long time, Ethan. What do they eat in the jungle anyway?’

‘Mom, I need you to come to the dress fitting with me next

week.’

‘Lumpy mashed potatoes are all the rage nowadays.
Crushed
potatoes, they call them. All the top chefs are doing them.’

As the sounds of chatter and laughter flowed around the table, Romy observed Laura at the head of it all and thought she looked ready to burst with happiness, her rosy cheeks warmed by the glow of candles, her joy palpable as she looked around at her family.

Later, when coffee had been served with a pecan pie so dry and hard that all conversation ceased as nothing could be

heard
over the crunching, Laura clinked her glass and everyone fell silent in what was clearly a Thanksgiving tradition.

‘We have a lot to be thankful for this year,’ she began. ‘I’m so grateful to have the whole family together, and especially to have my two boys home. So I’m damned if I was going to miss the opportunity to have Thanksgiving with all of you. Ethan,’ she said, looking at him, ‘we’re so proud of you, honey, but you do scare the bejaysus out of us sometimes.’ Everyone laughed, while Ethan ducked his head, smiling shyly. ‘It’s good to have you home safe, sweetheart. And Tank,’ she said, turning to him with a warm smile. ‘You’ve made our Hannah so happy and we’re all looking forward to you becoming a part of our family shortly. We couldn’t have been blessed with a better son-in-law.’ Romy was amazed to see Tank surreptitiously wipe away a tear. ‘And we’ve forgiven you for that time you broke her wrist,’ Laura added drily, causing more laughter to erupt. ‘Romy,’ she continued, ‘it’s wonderful that you and Kit have found each other again, and I hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of you. You were always the nicest of his girlfriends,’ she added with a cheeky grin at Kit.

‘I won’t argue with that,’ Kit said, smiling at Romy.

‘Neither will I, ’ Ethan mumbled.

‘Or me,’ Hannah chimed in.

‘See,’ Kit said to Romy, ‘it’s unanimous. All my family loves you.’

‘As for me, I’m eternally grateful for this man,’ Laura continued, touching Colm’s hand, ‘who loves me too much to see my flaws. And I’m delighted to hear that crushed potatoes are the latest thing, because I’m damned if I can make whipped ones.’

They all raised their glasses in a toast as Laura’s little speech came to an end.

Looking around the table as the chatter resumed, Romy marvelled
at how much things had changed for her since she’d met Kit again. It had only been a little over a week, and already her life was opening up in all sorts of unexpected ways. She didn’t really believe in fate, but she couldn’t help wondering if they were meant to be together. Could it be that she’d found ‘the one’ all those years ago and they’d just lost each other for a while? As she watched Kit, she tried to assess her feelings for him, doing her best to take Luke out of the equation. She had loved him so much once – he was the only person she had ever been properly in love with. But that was a long time ago, and though they still had a connection, she felt in ways he was a stranger to her now. It was easy to fall back into loving him as a friend, but could she be
in love
with him again? Right now, she just knew that this felt good. Being with Kit and his family tonight she had a powerful sense of belonging. And try as she might, she couldn’t take Luke out of the equation, because he was part of it. He was part of her and Kit, and he could be part of this family – and she wanted that for him. Maybe she couldn’t love Kit again the way she once had. But she knew that she would like to try.

By the time they were ready to leave, Romy felt cocooned in the soft cosy blanket that the warmth and conviviality of the evening had woven around her. While Kit called a taxi, she excused herself to go to the loo. She had just reached the top of the stairs when she heard Ethan and Hannah whispering on the landing.

‘I thought now that he’s home things would be different,’ Hannah hissed. ‘I thought he’d finally be forced to man up and get real.’

‘I know,’
Ethan whispered.

‘I didn’t think he’d go straight out and get himself another Lauren substitute.’

‘Do you think she knows?’

Romy froze, the warm glow she had been bathed in moments before turning to ice. Suddenly, she just wanted to go home. She was about to turn around and go back downstairs, but it was too late – Hannah had seen her, and Ethan turned around to see what his sister was looking at. If Romy had been in any doubt that they’d been talking about her, their blushes and shifty looks erased it.

‘Oh, hi,’ she said awkwardly, stumbling on the top step. ‘I was just …’ she pointed towards the loo.

They both nodded at her before going back downstairs, leaving Romy dumbfounded on the landing, her heart pounding. Why were they so hostile to the idea of her and Kit being together? She couldn’t understand it. Their friendliness earlier had seemed sincere. But they thought she was like Lauren – and they had made their feelings about Lauren abundantly clear.

On the way home in the taxi, she broached the subject tentatively with Kit. ‘Am I like Lauren?’

He frowned, appearing surprised by the question. ‘No. Not at all.’

‘I don’t mean looks-wise.’

‘You’re not like her in any way.’

Romy thought about what she had overheard. Maybe it wasn’t that they thought she was like Lauren personally, but that they suspected she had the same sort of relationship with Kit. Perhaps they knew that Kit was involved in BDSM and disapproved of his lifestyle. If they thought she was taking Lauren’s place as his submissive, that could explain their concern.

‘Ethan
and Hannah don’t seem thrilled about the idea of us getting back together.’

‘That’s crazy. They all love you!’

‘But that’s just it. I don’t think it’s
me
they have a problem with. It’s
us.’
She waved her hand between them.

‘They just don’t get us,’ he said, putting an arm around her and pulling her into his side. ‘No one ever did, remember? So sod ’em. It’ll be you and me against the world, just like it used to be.’

She smiled, but she still felt uneasy, her sense of wellbeing evaporating. They weren’t teenagers anymore. She didn’t know if she liked the idea of them against the world. Tonight it had felt like the world was on their side, and it had been a good feeling.

‘So
how’s Kit working out?’ Lesley asked Romy, as they settled in for another Saturday spinsters’ night in.

‘Great!’ Romy said, handing her a glass of wine. ‘Cheers!’ They clinked glasses and Romy sat on the couch beside Lesley. ‘Though he hasn’t been around that much. He seems to have a pretty active social life already. He goes out a lot at night and doesn’t come back until all hours – if at all.’ Romy was disappointed that Kit wasn’t around more. When he moved in, she’d imagined they would be like flatmates – sharing a bottle of wine in the evenings, having cosy chats and listening to music, getting together for coffee or supper – only with the added advantage of not actually having to share
a flat. But it had been over a week now and she had seen very little of him.

‘Lucky him,’ Lesley said sulkily.

‘You
can’t complain. You have a great social life. Though this is your second spinsters’ Saturday night in a row. You’d want to watch yourself or you’ll end up like me.’

‘Well, I’ve decided to give the dating website a rest for a while. I had the most depressing date ever last night.’

‘Oh God! That must have been bad. Worse than the guy who wanted you to wee on him?’

‘Yep.’

‘Worse than the one who dragged you all over Galway until he found a pub with a three euro lunch and then moaned about the standard of the food?’

‘Worse than that. Worse than the guy who made me his wingman while he stalked his ex all night.’

‘I still think he sounded right up your alley,’ Romy said.

‘Yeah,’ Lesley grinned. ‘I must admit that was kind of fun. And if he’d let me take the lead, she’d never have rumbled us and that whole thing with the cops could have been avoided. But would he listen?’

‘Well, last night’s guy must have been a real nightmare to top that lot. What was wrong with him?’

‘Nothing. That’s the depressing part.’

‘Huh?’

‘He was very nice.’

‘But …’ Romy prompted.

‘He’s solvent, has a good job and a lovely apartment in Sandymount. He’s nice looking – not gorgeous, but attractive, you know – and he dresses well. Good shoes.’

‘Good shoes are important,’ Romy said, nodding.

‘He was good company, easy to talk to, has a good sense of humour. A proper sense of humour, not one of those I’m-a-looper-and-all-my-friends-think-I’m-crazy idiots
who’ll laugh at any old shite, where you get a pain in your face pretending to find them as hilarious as they think they are.’

‘He sounds great!’

‘Yeah, he was really nice. We had a lovely time,’ Lesley said, sounding really pissed off about it.

‘So, what happened? Did he have his dead mother stuffed and sitting up in an armchair when you went back to his place?’

‘Nope, there was nothing. He’s just a nice, decent bloke.’

‘What’s your problem, then? He sounds ideal.’

‘That’s just it. There I was, out with this really nice, normal guy for once, having a perfectly nice time. But there was just … nothing.’

‘No spark?’

‘No. None. And it just made me think, what are the chances, you know? How likely am I to come across the love of my life on some dating website? It took me long enough just to find someone
normal.
It’s so random and against the odds, and it was just … depressing.’