weeks,” Freddie said. “There were so very many of them.”
“And why was that, do you think?” Nick asked, fixing him with a stare. Next to him, Olly was chewing on his thumbnail. “Remind me.”
“We should be going,” Lacey said. “We’ve got to head back to Cambridge before the food coma sets in.”
Freddie made a move to get up. “No,” I said resolutely. “You are staying here.”
I started to follow Olly and Lacey across the room. “Go back in there, B,” Lacey said. “There’s your opening.”
“I know, but…” I stopped in the foyer. “I need to apologize. This is not how I wanted tonight to go.”
Olly adjusted his glasses. “Do you know how elephants pick their matriarch?” he asked. “Simplistically, it’s because she displays courage in crisis and can navigate the terrain and the social politics.” He smiled sympathetically. “If you’re half as tough as Lacey is, then you’ve got this, and they’re lucky to have you.”
“Olly,” Lacey said lovingly. “Only you would find an elephant analogy here.”
He grinned sweetly. “Beats an ‘elephant in the room’ pun.”
I watched the door click behind them, then took a bracing breath before walking back into the living room. Nick and Freddie were, like boxers on a break, in opposite corners staring at different objets d’art from Georgina’s collection. One of them was a nude that did absolutely nothing to make this less uncomfortable.
“I kept wanting to make you two talk out whatever this is, and then convincing myself that things were improving, or that it wasn’t the right time,” I said. “But I was deluding myself on both counts, so here we are. You two are sniping at each other constantly, and it’s got to stop. So. How do we stop it?”
Nick tapped on his forearm and stared out the window. Freddie fixated on an enamel box with a rooster on it.
“Really?” I said. “Neither of you has anything to contribute?”
“We’re being scolded, Knickers,” Freddie said, aiming for lightness.
“Yeah, and I resent having to do it,” I said. “But you’ve been acting like children. If you guys aren’t motivated enough to fix this yourselves, then eventually nobody is going to bother helping. Including me. And then it might be too late.”
“Fix what, exactly?” Nick said tersely. “We’re brothers. We get under each other’s skin all the time.”
“Yes, Knickers was very cranky about my smoking habit,” Freddie said. “And your sister. And a lot of other things.”
“Name one of them that wasn’t earned,” Nick shot back.
“See?” I snapped. “This is exactly what I’m talking about.”
“What do you want me to say, Bex?” Freddie asked, throwing up his hands. “You left, I stepped up, Father began to respect me, and Nick couldn’t stand not being the golden boy anymore. And now here we are. How’s that?”
Nick turned and glared at him. “If he respects you so much, then why am I getting the plum assignments again?” he countered.
“There! You proved my point,” Freddie said. “But that’s hardly the only way to show respect. When was the last time you saw Father for anything that wasn’t work related?”
“When was the last time either one of you cared about seeing him for anything, period?” I asked. “Am I the only person who remembers that neither of you even likes Richard?”
“No,” Nick agreed. “But I’m very much enjoying making him regret treating me like I was worthless when we came back from Scotland.”
Freddie crossed his arms. “Did you ever think perhaps you deserved that?”
“No,” said Nick very carefully. “As a matter of fact, I did not.”
“You checked out,” Freddie said. “And while you were gone, I did my duty, and yours as well, and I don’t deserve to be shoved back to the side just because you’ve decided to take an interest again.”
“We’re talking about what you deserve?” Nick gaped. “All summer you acted like we had betrayed you by leaving town. You and Richard chummed around and made me feel like shit. For trying to protect myself. For trying to protect my marriage.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like shit,” Freddie protested. “I felt like shit. Everything fell on me. What was I supposed to do? Have you any idea how hard it was even to get up some of those mornings, knowing what was coming? I was the sleazy brother who had to smile through the sneering crowds for weeks. You lived it for one day.”
“You think I only felt that for one day?”
“I think you took the easy way out, and I didn’t, and you’re