Ned emphatically.
Is that all they can think about? Food? My attempt at calmness instantly vanishes. I’m going to punch and kick as hard as I can.
“You’re all users!” I spit. “You’re only interested in how much expensive food you can eat. Porterhouse steak? At…” I grab the menu, to check the price. “At thirty quid? This is Mum’s business! Not a piggy bank!”
“And this is a business dinner!” says Jake.
“You treat the business like a joke!” I retort. “You don’t care about it! How many times have you been to the shop since Mum went away, Uncle Ned? Once?”
“After all I’ve done for you!” huffs Uncle Ned, looking livid. “After your father died—”
“Oh, that’s right, you negotiated our lease,” I cut in scathingly. “Did you really, Uncle Ned? Or did Bob have anything to do with it?”
“I have never been so offended in my life!” Uncle Ned’s voice is trembling with fury. He thumps down his drink and shoots a glare at me. “I don’t have to be here, you know. I’m giving up my time, simply out of the goodness of my heart, simply because your mother asked me to, because every organization needs a Man of the House—”
“Not us,” I cut him off. “Mum was mistaken. We don’t need a Man of the House.” And I stare at him silently, steel in my eyes.
Kapow.
“I’m going!” says Uncle Ned, his fleshy neck wobbling as he gets to his feet. “I won’t take this anymore. Never been so offended,” he mutters as he heads toward the exit. “Never been so insulted.”
“Oh my God,” says Nicole, as she watches him leave. “You’ve started something now, Fixie.”
“Good,” I say, unrepentant. “I wanted to start something.”
“Fixie, cut it out,” says Jake, sounding properly irate. “You’re embarrassing yourself and us.”
“I’m not. I just want a few answers. Why are you borrowing all that money, Jake? What’s it for? When will you pay it back? What exactly have you told Mum?”
“For God’s sake!” Jake almost shouts, as though I’ve scalded him. “Why are you so obsessed? The business will be ours one day. What’s the difference?”
“Mum might want to sell it! That’s her retirement fund! We have to keep it safe!” I swivel to Nicole. “Did you know Jake was taking so much money out of the business?”
“No,” says Nicole with a shrug. “I mean, like, that’s really…”
“As I say, it’s a business-to-business loan,” says Jake tightly, and takes another swig of his drink. “It’s perfectly standard.”
“But why can’t you go to the bank?” I persist. “Why do you need to keep raiding Farrs? I mean, once I get, but three times?”
For a moment Jake looks as though he wants to hit me, almost. But he reins it in and even manages a taut smile, though his eyes are incandescent with fury.
“You really don’t understand anything, do you?” he says. “Poor naïve little Fixie. Have a drink. Calm down.”
“No, thanks.” I meet his gaze evenly. “I’m not drinking overpriced cocktails on Mum’s expense. And I’m not ‘Little Fixie.’ If you won’t talk about it properly, I’ll leave. But I haven’t finished,” I add, looking from face to face. “This isn’t over.”
Bam. Kapow. Crunch.
As I stride out of the restaurant, adrenaline is rushing through me, and I’m breathing hard. I don’t quite know what to think. Did I achieve anything just now, except offend Uncle Ned and make a fool of myself? Was that a success or a fail?
I stand on the pavement for a while, the icy wind in my face, trying to sort out my jumbled thoughts and make a plan for what to do next. Go back to Seb’s is the obvious one. Have some food. Relax. I’ve said my piece; what more can I do right now?
But for some reason I don’t move. And gradually I become aware that my fingers are drumming in the way they do. My feet have started pacing: forward-across-back, forward-across-back.
Something’s bugging me. What’s bugging me?
It’s Jake, I suddenly realize. His strained face. That vein throbbing at his temple. His raw anger. The way he batted me away, again and again.
I’m used to Jake being impatient and sarcastic. But I’m not used to him looking like a cornered tiger. He looked evasive. He looked on the edge. Amid the flashes of anger, I realize, I saw flashes of fear.
A bad feeling is coming over me. I think for a few moments, then pull out my phone and dial a number.
“Oh, hi,” I say when it’s