Page 88 of The Rebound
“You know,” she says. “NutriBullet smoothies, micro-balanced salads. Did you ever see him eat butter?”
“Haveyoueaten the butter over there?” I ask. “I had to pay through the nose for a stick of Kerrygold.”
“Did he ever cook for fun?”
I pause, a lie on the tip of my tongue, but not a single memory springs to mind. Tyler spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but Louise is right. It was always because he was measuring out grains and proteins.
“He could have fun other times,” I say. “We used to have a lot of fun.” Parties, vacations… we did a lot at the beginning, like any relationship.
Louise opens her mouth to respond but a frustrated shout from the living room interrupts her and she turns to wash the vegetables instead. For a few minutes we’re quiet, working side by side. I add the potatoes to the pot.
“This is a good knife,” I announce, just for something to say. “Hefty and sharp.”
“Are you making small talk or are you threatening me?”
“It’s like a proper grown-up knife,” I insist, examining the handle.
“Because I’m a proper grown-up. Except not really because it’s Susan’s. She let me borrow it months ago.”
“So, you stole it.”
“In a neighborly way, yes. But she still has Dad’s old crutches, so really we’re even.”
“Why did she take his crutches?”
“For Pat,” Louise says absently. “After the accident.”
I slice neatly through the final potato, frowning at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Pat’s thing.”
“Stop being vague.”
“I’m not.” She glances over in surprise. “Didn’t Mam tell you? He was in a car accident.”
“No.”
“Calm down. It was years ago. He was driving back from a match and one of those boy racers came out of nowhere. Smashed right into him.”
“And no one thought to mention this to me?”
“He’s fine now.”
“I meant when it happened.”
“We were a bit more concerned about him when it happened,” she says pointedly, and we glare at each other. This time, she’s the first one to back down. “I thought you knew,” she says, and turns back to the vegetables. “You’ve seen him. He’s grand now but he was in hospital for a few weeks and when he left Susan couldn’t look after him by herself. Luke had to come back from Dublin to help.”
“Luke was in Dublin?”
“He worked there for a few years after he finished his degree. But then the accident happened and he decided to come home. It was really good of him. I don’t think they would have managed without him. Anyway, you can ask Pat about it if you like. He doesn’t mind. He’s got a bit of a limp some days but he’s fine. A few pints down and he’ll tell you the whole very dramatized story.”
I turn up the heat on the stove, mulling over this new piece of information. “Luke never told me he lived in Dublin.”
“Best friends now, are you?”
“I just didn’t know he’d left, that’s all. He always seemed like someone who would stay here forever.”
“Boring, you mean?”
