Page 9 of Between Us

Then, Brian’s eyes alighted on Roisin nearby. ‘ANOTHER TWAT!’

‘Twat, twat, twat,’ he narrated, jabbing fingers in turn at a startled Meredith, Gina and Matt, who had rushed in to see what the commotion was about.

A Saturday part-timer called Lia had also wandered into view and Brian’s gimlet gaze fell upon her next.

‘You’re alright,’ he conceded, to everyone’s surprise.

Then Brian reeled theatrically at the sight of Joe, who was entering stage left with a stack of hardbacks about Edmund Hillary.

Brian drew breath, extended a trembling forefinger and said, ‘… A CUNT!’

Roisin had wondered why Dev didn’t invite more people to Benbarrow Hall – they certainly had the space – and now she knew it was to define who belonged. He was a benevolent patriarch, bringing the wayward sons and daughters together, not letting them forget about the importance of family ties.

‘You know, I’m on the fence about the moustache,’ Roisin said, looking at Matt appraisingly, after half a flute of Moët. ‘It’s strangely compelling. You look like the RAF rotter in one tattered photo found hidden in a bureau drawer during a house clearance, who turns out in a family scandal to be the real grandfather.’

‘Yes! RAF Rotter Sex Grandpa was the look I was going for! Thanks, Rosh,’ Matt said.

Joe rolled his eyes.

‘Seeing Ruby again, then?’ Gina asked, and everyone’s shoulders tensed.

‘Therein lies an incredible story. “Ruby” basically catfished me! But it wasa reverse catfish.’

‘What’s a reverse catfish?’

‘A catfish is when someone’s hiding behind a differentidentity to their actual one, right? And their actual one tends to be a nasty shock? Inthiscase …’

‘You know what, let’s save this for later?’ Joe said, interrupting Matt. ‘Got the feel of something we need a sweet, floral dessert wine for.’

Matt shrugged and said sure, and the subject changed. Roisin felt a pang at the mannerlessness of it, while understanding Joe was white-knighting Gina. She made a mental note to apologise to Matt and address it with Joe. Joe and Matt had always had a slight friction between them, but Roisin worried it had lately bloomed into a full-blown antipathy on Joe’s side. Matt was blissfully unaware, as Matt’s life generally was a lot of bliss and unawareness.

A month ago, she’d ticked Joe off for sniping and provoked a rant.

‘What irks me about Matt McKenzie is that if he was a woman, you’d hate him. Whereas I merely find him annoying and occasionally …’ Joe paused to choose his word with the consideration of a word-choosing gourmet, ‘…dispiriting.But if he was female? MyGod. You’d judge him so hard and have got rid years ago. So don’t judge me.’

‘Why?! Because he dates lots of people? Dev gets on with him!’

‘Dev won a reality show because he gets on with anyone.Dates lots of peopleis a decorous way of putting it, like he’s Michael Caine in the Sixties. Don’t forget I know more than you, thanks to lads’ talk.’

Roisin shrugged, a concession that this much was true.

‘He trades relentlessly on his looks and his whole concocted …’ Joe waved his hands. ‘… light-hearted Casanova persona.But he plays with women like they’re catnip toys. He bats them around, until that addictive scent of thenewis gone. I can’t imagine it’s very nice for them and it’s horrible for Gina.’

‘Matt can’t help how Gina feels. Or how he doesn’t feel.’

‘Mmmm, maybe not. I think he can’t be with her because it’d have to mean something, and he can’t risk that. My guess is he’ll ruin both their lives by only realising they should be together when it’s far too late. Which is very Matt.’

‘If he’s so awful, why would he be any good for Gina?’

‘He wouldn’t. But Gina, I am sorry to say, is never going to be truly happy with anyone else. Sometimes that just happens to a person. They can’t move on.’

Roisin thought this was a trifle dramatic. Typical writer.

‘Mark my words,’ Joe said. ‘He’ll realise she’s his forever love when he turns up on her doorstep, crying over the three kids he’s lost access to – now with added drink problem, a mortgage lost to the Crypto crash and a head full of Rogaine. And she’ll blow up her good-enough marriage to take him in.’

Roisin had a secret suspicion about what really wound Joe up about Matt, which she wasn’t foolhardy enough to tell Joe.

Joe’s self-image, if not much of his career, was based on his skill at a barbed observation and sparkling one-liner.Whisper it, Matt could do those, too. He just didn’t make a deal of it.He casually chucked away for free what Joe cherished as his currency.

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