Page 100 of Fix Them Up
Liam looked at me and said, ‘Later.’
‘Brian, do you need a hand plating up?’
‘No, Sandra. I don’t need a hand. Two hours ago, peeling potatoes, however…’ Brian replied, walking over with the huge, puffy Yorkshire puddings.
‘Touchy, touchy,’ Sandra replied in a sing-song voice, making Lydia and Liam chuckle.
Everyone started picking up plates laden with roast potatoes, leeks and roast chicken that Brian had carved. It was all placed in the centre of the table. Liam and Lydia went to the cupboards to pick out wine glasses. Kevin had his hand on the oven door. Uncle Brian whacked him on the back of the head. ‘You’ll let the heat out, you twat.’
Everyone seemed to have their role, and I was standing next to the table, feeling like a lemon.
‘Kat – would you grab the knives and forks?’ Brian asked, and relief flooded me – something to do. Once everyone sat down, people began helping themselves to the food piled in the centre of the table.
‘Potatoes?’ Liam asked, leaning into me. I almost jumped a foot.
‘Oh. Yeah. Thanks.’
Liam spooned one huge potato onto my plate and then another.
‘Two is fine.’
‘Humour me,’ he said, spooning on one more.
‘Such a feeder,’ I muttered under my breath.
‘Don’t diss my love language, Red,’ he said with a smirk.
A love language. Liam managed the table as if he were conducting a symphony. He topped up Sandra’s wine glass before she realised it was empty and passed his dad extra greens, commenting on his high blood pressure. He predicted when Lydia would want more potatoes and diligently ladled them onto her plate, making her beam. Then, he laid his arm across the back of my chair. I wasn’t sure he was aware that he moved slightly closer each time he moved.
It was all so lovely.
Homely.
My nose stung.
I glanced at Liam, watching the relaxed look on his face. He really was happier sat at a table with his family than he was on a building site. His face was softer. He didn’t have that pinched look between his eyebrows.
‘What you looking at, Red?’
My lips twitched. ‘Just someone who looks entirely satisfied.’
‘Not entirely, Red.’
‘Can you two get a room?’ Lydia made a barfing sound.
‘Lydia,’ Sandra barked, then turned to us, hearts in her eyes. ‘They are so sweet.’
‘So come on then,’ Lydia said. ‘Spill. What’s going on? Are you staying, cuz?’
I was expecting Liam to tense, but he didn’t. He looked at me expectantly. He was letting me lead the narrative. Usually, I’d want the whole room to swallow me up, but I didn’t feel the usual sense of impending doom. Not when Liam had made my birthday perfect and impressed my impossible-to-impress best friend. Not when his arm was on the back of my hair, his eyes stuck on me when I moved around the room. Not when I was so fucking happy in a room with him and my loud, gregarious family, not feeling the slightest bit out of place.
My lips twitched. ‘We are –’
The doorbell rang.
Sandra and Brian looked at each other.
‘Were you expecting –’
