All They Need - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,49
his mother said.
“True. Although logic would dictate that it’s impossible for two people to both always get what they want all the time,” his father said. “Someone has to miss out.”
“Agreed—unless they both want the same things.” His mother angled her cheek for Flynn’s kiss. “There you go, darling—the secret to thirty-odd years of happy marriage, in a nutshell. Find a woman who wants the same things as you.”
Flynn was very aware that beneath the banter and lightheartedness there was an edgy undercurrent. He pressed his molars together, wishing he could fast-forward through the next few hours and cut to the part where the hard decisions had been hammered out.
He crossed to the window and his thoughts drifted to Mel, as they were wont to do these days. He wondered if she was up and about yet, and what time her working bee was scheduled to start. Then he thought about the way she’d giggled like an idiot when he’d arranged her knees under the table at the burger place and smiled faintly.
“Would you like a coffee or a tea before we get started?” his mother asked from behind him.
Flynn turned to face his parents. “Tea, thanks.”
“How many waffles would you like?” she asked.
“I’m not hungry right now. Maybe later.” His gut was too tight to welcome food.
“Okay, then. Let’s get this show on the road,” his father said decisively, taking a seat at the head of the table. He’d set himself up with a notepad and pen, along with a sheet of printed notes. His reading glasses sat on the end of his nose and he surveyed Flynn and his wife over the top of them, every inch the former CEO of Randall Developments.
Painfully aware that his father’s dignity depended on the illusion that he was in control of at least some aspects of his life, Flynn took a seat to his father’s left, while his mother sat opposite.
“So, where do we start?” his father asked.
Flynn rolled his shoulders. Then he opened the folder in front of him. “I think we should take this step by step. What needs to be done now, medium term and long term.”
His father nodded. “Agreed. You okay with that, Pat?”
“It makes sense.”
“So what are our short-term issues?” His father sounded utterly professional, as though this were any other meeting, yet his hands trembled as he shuffled his papers.
A sudden, white-hot surge of anger hit Flynn.
His father was a good man. He deserved far better than the fate that awaited him. He deserved some peace and pleasure, the chance to enjoy everything he’d worked so hard to achieve.
Instead, he was going to fall apart, cell by cell, memory by memory, until he was completely unravelled, his sense of self destroyed.
The urge to smash something, primitive and fierce, gripped Flynn. His hands curled around the chair’s armrests, tightening until his knuckles ached.
For long seconds he simply hung on, riding the wave of his rage. Then the moment passed and he registered that his mother was speaking, talking about ways of making the house safer without his father feeling under lock and key.
He let his breath out slowly and reached for his pen and started taking notes.
CHAPTER NINE
“THIS IS WHY THEY DON’T have girls on building sites. Grooming breaks.”
Mel rolled her eyes at her brother as she finished pulling her hair into a ponytail. He was standing next to the pile of railway ties she’d had delivered the previous day, a bored look on his face. Behind him, several cubic meters of topsoil formed a mound in the center of her lawn.
“You’re jealous because you cut all your hair off,” Mel said as she tugged her leather work gloves on. Once, a long time ago, her brother had had shoulder-length rock-and-roll hair that had been his pride and joy
“Wouldn’t go back there for quids.” Harry ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. “No muss, no fuss this way. You should try it sometime.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s gonna happen. Not.” She already had man-shoulders and man-height. She wasn’t about to compound the issue with man-hair.
She bent her knees and got a grip on the end of the top tie.
“When you’re ready,” she said to her brother. “Take your time.”
Harry gave her a look before getting a grip on the other end. “One, two, three.”
They hoisted the beam, straightening their legs so they were both holding the length at waist height.
“Onto your shoulder,” Harry instructed. “Two, three.”
Mel felt the burn in her arms as she lifted the tie high