Having a Ball

By

Uncial Press       Aloha, Oregon
2012

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events described herein are products
of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any
resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

ISBN 13: 978-1-60174-1566-1

Having a Ball
Copyright © 2013 by J C Mantotta

Cover art and design
Copyright © 2013 by Umber Creative Ltd

All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in
whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or
hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal
copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is
punishable by up to five (5) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Published by Uncial Press,
an imprint of GCT, Inc.

Visit us at http://www.uncialpress.com

My thanks, as always to my family and to Jen for the support and nagging to keep writing.
Also, to Jude at Uncial for her brilliant editorial input and to Kara, Kevin and Luke at Umber
Creative for the fabulous cover. I'd also like to thank the UK Romantic Novelists' Association just
for being an amazingly supportive bunch of people.

Stevie had to knock twice before she heard footsteps approaching. Marsh
opened the door, wearing an apron.

"Stevie!" He stepped aside to let her through. "You're early."

"I thought I'd come straight here from work. Is that okay?" It felt like ages
since she'd last seen him. He seemed older. Peering at him she decided there was a
smattering of grey appearing in his thick brown hair. It made him look a bit more
like their father.

She thrust the bottle of wine at him. "I got you this."

"Thanks." He took the bottle and gave her a curious look. "How are you?
Are you all right?"

She nodded, no longer sure how to greet her brother. They had once
known everything about each other, but since he'd got married things
were...different. At first it had been okay. They had spoken regularly and Stevie
visited often, even helping with the redecorating. But lately, Marsh seemed more
and more distant. When she did manage to speak to him, he seemed
distracted.

"Don't I get a hug?"

Stevie threw her arms around him and squeezed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marsh hugged her back. "You look a little
sad."

She wanted to howl "I miss you. I miss the flat. I miss being able to call
you whenever I want. I miss you being all mine." But instead, she said, "I hate my
crappy job. That's all."

"No luck with any of the applications then." He released her and ushered
her towards the kitchen. "Come through and tell us about it. I've got to check on the
oven."

The kitchen was part of the new extension and was lovely and airy. The
summer sun poured in through skylights, giving everything a warm glow. Pans
simmered on the Rayburn. At the far end, Jane was arranging a salad. She looked up
when Stevie and Marsh entered. "Hi Stevie."

Jane's appearance made Stevie do a quick double take. Even though she'd
always been a little skinny, Jane had always been beautiful and healthy. Now she
looked wan and tired. There were bluish shadows under her eyes and her
cheekbones were more prominent. She was wearing a loose cotton shirt, which,
Stevie was sure, hid more signs of lost weight.

"Oh my God. Are you okay?" The words were out before Stevie had time
to censor them.

Jane cast a quick glance at Marsh. "I'm fine," she said. "I've just been a
little...poorly of late."

Stevie glanced at Marsh, who was busying himself at the oven. She knew
him well enough to know when he was avoiding eye contact. Something was going
on. If Jane was ill, that would explain why Marsh was so preoccupied, but then, why
hadn't he mentioned it? She turned back to Jane. "Is it something serious?" she
asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down, just in case it was.

Jane looked surprised. "No, nothing bad." She laughed. "Why? Do I really
look that awful?"

There was nothing forced about Jane's laugh, which made Stevie relax a
little. "Oh no, you look fine. Just tired. And pale."

Jane nodded. "That sounds about right. I'm a little anaemic." She tapped
the side of the salad bowl. "I think this is done. I'll just take it to the dining
room."

Once Jane had left, Stevie turned her attention to Marsh. "What's going
on?" she whispered. "Is Jane okay? She hasn't got cancer or anything, has she?"

Marsh's eyes darted to the doorway where Jane had disappeared. "Don't
worry. She'll be fine in a few weeks." He looked as though he wanted to say more,
but Jane returned.

"Stevie, why don't you tell us what's going on with you?" she said. "Do
you want a cup of tea? Or wine?"

"Wine please."

"I'll get it," said Marsh. "You sit down."

"Thank you my love." Jane slipped into a chair. She turned her attention
to Stevie. "So, how's the job hunting?"

Stevie sighed. "Lousy. It's horrible. There's no one hiring in the events
management sector. They're not even offering work experience."

"I can imagine," said Jane. "Most places are cutting back on entertaining
at the moment, I guess. Our firm isn't having their usual summer client party thing
this year, are they?" she said to Marsh.

"Nope," he replied, apparently too busy with what he was doing to
elaborate.

"Have you spoken to Louise?" asked Jane. "She might need an assistant.
You've worked for her before, haven't you?"

Stevie propped her elbows on the table and put her chin in her hands.
"Yeah. I've asked. She can't afford one."

Marsh put a glass of wine in front of Stevie.

Stevie took a sip and felt the liquid warm her mouth. "I'm so fed up, I'd do
it for free, to be honest, just to get out of the shitty job I'm in."

Marsh handed a hot drink to Jane and dropped into a chair next to her. "Is
that a good idea? How are you doing for money?" He leaned forward, his forehead
furrowed.

Stevie laughed. This was familiar territory. Until last year, Marsh had
managed her trust fund. Just her rotten luck that the year that she'd finally turned
twenty-one and got control of her inheritance, the stock market should collapse,
leaving her with much less money than she'd been expecting.

"I'm making enough in my shitty job to buy food and pay the council tax,"
she said. "But only just."

Marsh frowned. "Perhaps you should think about alternative career. You
know, something that pays a little better. You could--"

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Marsh, we've been through this. I'm going to
spend a year trying to get into the event management thing and then I'll have a
rethink. You agreed that would be no worse than taking a gap year like all my
friends did."

"But--"

"Besides," Jane cut in. "It's nice to give your dreams a chance. You never
know where it might take you." She smiled. "Life is so much more pleasant if you're
doing something you love."

Marsh smiled at his wife. He picked up her hand and laid a kiss on the
back of it. There was such intimacy in the gesture that Stevie had to look away.

"I suppose you're right," said Marsh. He turned to his sister. "But only a
year, right? You don't want to be drifting for ages and suddenly find you're
thirty."

"Oh Marsh, stop being such a fuddy duddy!" said Stevie. "I'm not totally
stupid."

"I never said you were," said Marsh, falling into the pattern of their
regular argument. "But you do-"

He was interrupted by someone rapping on the door. "Oh no." He jumped
to his feet. "That'll be Louise and Jim. Dinner's nowhere near ready."

Jane started to stand, but Stevie beat her to it. "I'll get it," she said. She
sped for the door, leaving Jane to calm Marsh down.

* * * *

Dinner was fun. When Marsh had first become Stevie's guardian he had
been just twenty-one and at university. For a short time, Stevie had moved into his
student house, which he'd shared with some friends, including Jim and Louise.
Louise had been particularly kind to Stevie and the two of them remained firm
friends, even after Marsh used the money his parents left him to buy a flat where he
and Stevie could live.

Louise had left working for a successful event organising company to set
up on her own, just before the credit crunch hit. Inevitably, the conversation turned
to work.

"It's so unbelievably boring," said Stevie. "I'm folding paper all day. I can
feel my brain dying by degrees." She took a big sip of wine. "To make things worse,
there's this horrible spotty man who's worked there since he was sixteen who
keeps asking me out. When he finally got the message that I wasn't playing hard to
get and really wasn't interested, he told everyone that I asked him out and he
turned me down."

Louise looked uncomfortable. "I wish I could help you," she said. "I really
do. But I really can't afford an assistant right now. All I can offer is a good
reference."

"Mind you," said Jim. "You're good enough that you've had to turn people
down." Tall, ginger haired and jovial, Jim was a patent agent in the same firm as
Marsh and Jane.

Stevie raised her eyebrows.

"It was a charity job in Oxford," she explained, giving her husband an
annoyed glance. "It was too far away and not enough money."

Stevie nodded. No sense in working for nothing "I'll keep looking until my
year is up and then I'll take whatever boring job I can get." She fixed her eyes on
Louise. "I've got a good chance of making it work, Lou, haven't I?"

Louise nodded. Stevie had done summer work for her in the past. "It's a
very competitive environment at the moment. It's hard to get your first few events
to get a name for yourself."

There was a pause. Marsh frowned. Jane said, "Shall we have
dessert?"

"I'll get it." Marsh laid a hand on his wife's arm. "You sit down."

"Why don't you get another bottle of wine?" Jane nodded towards Jim's
empty glass. She herself had been drinking fruit juice all evening. They disappeared
into the kitchen together. Everyone else watched them leave.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Stevie leaned towards Louise. "Do
you think something's wrong with Jane? She looks awful."

"She does," said Louise. "And, she was drinking fruit juice all
evening..."

"It's not cancer. I asked Marsh."

Louise stared at her. "Cancer?"

"It's not that. Marsh said..." Stevie stopped. Louise was grinning at her.
"What?"

"There might be another explanation," said Louise. "She's looking ill, she's
not drinking..." she nodded expectantly at Stevie, prompting her to make a
connection.

Before Stevie could answer, Jane and Marsh returned. Jane carrying a
bottle of champagne and Marsh a large dish of crumble.

"We were just commenting," said Louise, giving Stevie a meaningful
glance. "That Jane's looking a bit pale. Is everything okay?"

Marsh put the crumble down and went over to stand next to his wife.
"Actually," he said. "We've got something to tell you."

Jane grinned. "We're having a baby."

Louise and Jim were on their feet at once, hugging and kissing the
expectant parents. For a moment, Stevie was unable to move. Marsh was going to
be a father. It had been hard enough when he'd found a wife. She already felt the
space between them growing as he became more and more a husband, and less and
less her brother. How much worse would it be with a child? Looking up, she saw
Marsh watching her. She forced a smile and stood up. "Congratulations," she gave
him a hug. She sought for something more to say, but couldn't think of anything. So
she gave Jane a gentle hug and a kiss instead and returned to her seat.

"How far along are you?" said Louise, mother of three and expert on
pregnancy.

"Twelve weeks," said Jane. "We had our twelve week scan
yesterday."

Twelve weeks. The words clanged into Stevie's heart. Three months.
Marsh had known about this huge change in their lives for three whole months and
not told her. There was once a time when she would have been the first to know
about anything that went on in his life, just as he would of hers. Three whole
months. No wonder he'd sounded like he was avoiding her.

Stevie gulped down a mouthful of wine. She knew she would lose her
brother to other people eventually. But she hadn't been prepared for it to happen
so quickly or for the separation to feel so complete.

Eventually, they got round to eating the crumble, but Stevie didn't really
taste it. Inside her, long buried feelings were clawing their way to the surface. She
couldn't bring herself to look at Marsh. She focused on her wine glass instead,
drinking far more than she should.