Page 75 of Between Us

Third drink made, Matt lifted Meatball down from his shoulder. The cat walked round the bar, straight to the door and batted it with a paw to be let out.

Roisin leaned over and opened it for him.

‘Yes, off you go, you ungrateful swine, to whoever’s fool enough to keep you the rest of the time,’ Lorraine said.

‘That was how she always said goodbye to me,’ Roisin said to Matt, who laughed as he set both their Manhattans down.

‘Same time tomorrow, Mr Ball!’ Matt called.

‘Oh, it’s that shitting fête and the annual humiliation next Sunday. A week tomorrow,’ Lorraine said to Roisin. ‘Please say you’ll be here for that, Rosie. Grace Peters has got Imogen visiting, so if my daughter’s not present, it’ll be another thing to lord over me.’

‘Shitting fête?’ Matt said.

‘My mother was convent-educated,’ Roisin said. ‘The annual village fête for a nominated charity. All three pubs decorate their gardens and serve Pimms, and there are gamesand so on. Mum hates it, as we tend to make less than everyone else.’

‘Oh, Ilovea challenge like this. We’ll smash it,’ Matt said. ‘What about a guess-Meatball’s-weight game? Little pair of scales?’

‘You’re not even joking, are you?’ Roisin said. ‘Oh, and Grace Peters: Grace is a very attractive divorcee about town, and Mum’s principal village frenemy. Has a lovely big cottage up on the high street.’

‘Came into her looks late, like Carol Vorderman,’ Lorraine said to an entertained Matt. ‘Goes on girls’ holidays constantly with her huge alimony payout and tags it GALIMONY,’ Lorraine said. ‘Rubbing my face in the fact that Kent left me potless.’

‘Narrator: Grace was not, in fact, thinking about Mum at all,’ Roisin said, and Matt grinned. ‘Imogen is her daughter, same age as me, qualified GP. I’m a teacher, so right now we’re even, unless one of us gets married and pulls ahead, in this game that only exists in my mother’s head.’

‘No, you’re not even. Imogen’s single and my son-in-law is famous, so Grace can chew on that,’ Lorraine said.

Roisin and Matt shared a look.

47

Matt stood at the back doors of The Mallory with a cup of coffee and said, ‘This garden is huge. It’s got tons of potential. Reckon your mum would consider changing the décor, a little? For the fête?’

Once again, she scanned for satire, finding none. Roisin would never have predicted that Matt would be excited by her mother’s pub in the sticks. It was like a rich kid loving the dictionary they got for Christmas.

She gazed out, standing shoulder to shoulder with Matt.

The lawn, surrounded by a neat privet perimeter hedge, was punctuated by half-a-dozen circular wooden picnic tables, still in decent nick. There was nothing wrong with it and nothing to get excited about. Matt was right: it had potential and a serious deficit of love.

‘I’d say no, then I remember if it’s you asking, she’d probably install one of those striped helter-skelters. I was coming to ask if you fancied doing last week’s walk again?’

‘Now? Yes, why not! That was good scenery.’ He lowered his voice. ‘How’d it go yesterday? DidHuntercome up?’

Roisin had already decided her decision in San Carlo lastnight would stay secret until she’d told Joe. Whatever else had happened between them, he didn’t deserve someone else finding out their relationship was definitively over before he did. Plus, as far as Matt knew, she’d never wavered.

‘Since your inquiries, I’ve discounted thatHunterstuff entirely. I feel pretty embarrassed, actually,’ Roisin said, checking her mother was definitely upstairs. ‘I’ve not watched the rest of yet, in case I go loopy again. Meredith and Gina tried to tell me I sounded insane. I wouldn’t listen. Now I’m cringing so hard I’m wearing my bum hole as a scrunchie, as Lorraine would say.’

‘For what it’s worth, I didn’t think it was insane,’ he said. ‘Not likely, but not insane either.’

Roisin said she appreciated that, while wondering if both he and Joe were engaged in a Battleships game of subtly undermining each other with her.

They got their jackets and headed out.

‘Joe doesn’t want to split up,’ Roisin said, as they got a safe distance from The Mallory. ‘He’s offering me life in Los Angeles and going to the Golden Globes. Or a house in West Didsbury if I walk away. LikeWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?’

‘L.A.? Are you going to go?’ Matt said.

‘No. What would I do out there? Listen to Joe’s Zooms? I’m just amazed he’s trying to save the relationship.’

‘Are you? Why?’

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