Page 108 of If I Never Met You

‘No,’ Jamie said, frowning. ‘I thought we agreed we wouldn’t do that, while this was going on. Are you seeing anyone?’

Laurie shook her head, thinking, I should’ve thought that was obvious. Who’d date this gibbering wreck. She can’t get a date with her own dad.

‘I’d not say what I just did to her, if I was, would I?’ Jamie looked perplexed, even faintly annoyed, and Laurie couldn’t entirely read why.

‘Sweetheart!’

They both turned at the male voice behind them.

Worse than her dad not turning up, was her dad turning up now. So of course that’s what he’d done.

‘We did say half two, didn’t we? Hello there, Jamie, was it?’

Slovenly. That’s what her father was. It was an odd word nowadays, you only ever heard it when detective sergeants read from their notebooks in court to describe the defendant.

Not in appearance, quite the opposite: another immaculate checked shirt, a bauble of a watch and spotless Harrington jacket. Austin Watkinson was slovenly in his habits, in his attitude, his care for others. Slapdash. Blew one way and then the other.

‘No. We said half twelve.’

‘Oh.’

Her dad looked at Jamie, who was staring at him.

‘Shall we go in?’ he said.

‘We can’t. Our reservation was for half twelve, until half two. They’ve thrown me out after I sat waiting for you for the entire time,’ Laurie said.

‘Oh. Right. Whoops. Sorry, love. Let’s think about where else we can go, then. It’s on me!’

Her dad rummaged in his coat pocket, produced a carton of Marlboro Lights. He tapped one out of the packet and lit it behind a cupped hand. After he blew the smoke out sideways, he said, ‘Why are you both so glum and why are you looking at me like that?’ He addressed Jamie, then Laurie. ‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

‘Because you’re two hours late and short of one decent excuse?’ Jamie was perfectly direct and steady and Laurie was quite impressed at him deciding to stay put, and stay in character.

‘Oh dear!’ her dad clapped his shoulder in a faux matey manner. ‘Very chivalrous defence, young man. You have my approval.’

Jamie looked at Laurie in disbelief and Laurie almost winced at how cheap and glib her father was. When she was younger, she briefly thought the devil may care routine was impressive. It had aged badly.

‘Do you think after I’ve sat staring into a beer for two hours, without you having had the basic courtesy to use your phone, I want to go to lunch like nothing happened?’ Laurie said.

‘I’m sorry! I wasn’t sure what time we said and then Linuscalled me and we were on the blower for an age and when I got off I thought it made more sense to race here than …’

‘Translation, you didn’t give enough of a shit to check, or it didn’t suit you to be here at half twelve and you thought messing me around was a price worth paying for that convenience.’

‘Oh, it was hardly that considered, it’s an honest mistake. Do we have to do this in front of him? I feel like I’m going to be finishing this conversation being tape recorded in the nick. Whatisyour problem?’ He half laughed at Jamie. He didn’t like Laurie having support, she could tell, probably used to Dan smoothing over any gaps in realities in the past. And his manipulation had always worked better on her alone; he didn’t like a witness.

‘My problem is wondering what you did to deserve a daughter like this, when you treat her like this,’ Jamie said, simply.

‘Christ alive, I think you might be extrapolating hard based on one cock-up, don’t you? Hello, I’m Austin, we met a minute ago. Let’s start again, shall we?’

‘We met at the wedding reception,’ Jamie said.

‘Oh? Look, that was a busy room, I met a lot of people. Bet you liked the free bar though.’

Laurie took a deep breath. Somehow, she’d known this was coming, if maybe not this soon. She couldn’t face the Pete memory, and not know this would be the consequence. ‘I don’t want to go for lunch with you.’

‘Suit yourself. Let’s do this when you’ve calmed down. I’m in town for a couple of days next month, I think.’

‘I don’t want to do it ever. What’s the point of pretending, when this sort of selfish bullshit is the total of our relationship? Let’s let this go. I don’t know what you get out of it, I certainly don’t get anything but humiliation and disappointment.’

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