Jack’s hands are still splayed, but his words – thank fuck – have stopped.
Lisa passes Bree back to Emma and straightens her super-expensive body warmer, smooths down her sharp mid-length haircut. As always, she stands poised with her feet in a ten-to-two position, unable to shake off the dancer within.
‘Jim, I’ve been suggesting it for years,’ she says. ‘And now I’m not suggesting it. I’m enforcing it.’
‘Enforcing?’ I ask. ‘What is this? An episode of Law & Order?’
Sienna and Mason repeat my words to one another in a bad attempt at the Queen’s English, saying ‘lore and ooordare’ over and over. Emma pushes their heads down and they hide out of sight beneath the bed. Which is sort of where I feel like I should be, along with my dignity. It’s supposed to be me taking my ma to Florida. That was the deal, the promise I made to her. The happiness she exuded when I’d twisted her arm into going – it was me who’d been there to witness that, me! Not them. But I can’t take her anymore, can I? Should I be relieved that they’ve come, riding in on their metaphorical horses to save the day, bailing out their hopeless little brother?
Lisa rolls her eyes at me. ‘Trust you not to understand.’
‘Understand what? Try me, sis.’
‘You’ve never told Jim about this?’ Lisa says, looking at my ma.
‘There’s nothing to tell,’ my ma says. She closes her eyes, pretending to want some sleep.
Jack’s hands start up again. ‘Allow me to—’
‘Jack, not now,’ Emma says. ‘Jim, we’ve been trying to get our bloody mother to come to stay with us for years. She can stay for six months on a tourist visa and if she likes it, Paul can arrange for her to live with us permanently, can’t you, Paul?’
Paul replies, apologetically. ‘Indeed I can.’ If he was wearing a tie, this would be the point where he loosens it. I imagine he does that often. The capable guy who never gets the praise, just the penance. Not that I’ve got much sympathy for him at this moment in time. I’d promised my ma a couple of weeks by a pool. This lot are promising a lifetime.
‘Hold on,’ I say, waving my baton. I’m interrupted by Emma.
‘Jim, Florida is awesome for old people – sorry, I mean people like Mum. The sunshine, the lifestyle, and she’d be around her grandkids all the time. It’d feed her soul, don’t you think? And Paul can make sure she gets the best health care. Isn’t that right, Paul?’
‘Indeed it is.’
I step back and hand the magazine baton to Jack, who takes it and swings it like a baseball bat. Standard.
‘So, let’s get this straight,’ I say. ‘First of all, you two bugger off to America and don’t come back for eight bloody years. And second of all, you whizz back to steal me ma and take her with you, against her will? Don’t you think that’s a bit greedy?’
Paul clears his throat. ‘I’d say it was generous, over greedy.’
‘Thanks, Paul, mate. But is anyone gonna tell me why it’s taken eight years to check we’re okay? Which we are, by the way. Aren’t we, Mam? We’re O. Kay.’
‘We’re okay, love.’
‘Really?’ Lisa huffs. ‘Sure you are.’
‘You know what, Lis,’ I say, pointing my finger with menace. ‘You’re actually doing me fucking head in.’
‘Language!’ Jack sings.
‘Soz.’
Emma grabs my fleece sleeve, tugging it and resting her head on my shoulder. The dancer in her is also still apparent: her movements so graceful, it’s as if she’s about to haul me into a waltz.
‘Little bro, you know why I never came back. We talked about this so many times – I feel like it’s all I ever talk to Mum about when we call. But she’s always said she understood; that you both understood. Tell me you do, please.’
I do.
Of course I do.
‘Can you all keep your bloody voices down?’ my ma stage whispers. ‘Them in the beds next door are gonna be having a field day with all this going on.’
Emma had been pregnant with Sienna at my dad’s funeral. She’d been expecting twins, but one died in the womb and the remainder of her pregnancy was complicated. The doctors assured her this had nothing to do with flying, nothing whatsoever, and it would have happened anyway. Then Mason came along soon after Sienna and with two small children, she never found the confidence to fly again. Hypnosis started to help,