The Dilemma(31)

Livia nods. ‘Yes, definitely.’ She looks resignedly at the champagne. ‘I don’t suppose he’ll feel like this if he’s got a migraine.’ She slides her bag from her shoulder and puts it on the table. ‘I’d better go and check on him.’

Her disappointment gives me the push I need. I move towards the bedroom door. I can do this, I can do it for Livia. One glass of champagne, that’s all.

I run down the stairs, through the kitchen and onto the terrace.

‘Dad!’ Josh says. ‘How’re you feeling?’

I find myself faltering because Max has joined Livia and Josh on the terrace. Liv comes towards me.

‘Josh says you’ve got a migraine,’ she says, giving me a hug.

‘Had,’ I correct. ‘It’s gone. I took some paracetamol.’

She searches my eyes. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. You smell wonderful.’

‘It’s the creams they used at the spa, they smelled so good I wanted to eat them.’

Josh pulls a face. ‘Gross.’

‘Hi, Adam.’

‘Hi there.’ I don’t look at Max, I look at the bottle in Livia’s hand. ‘What’s that?’ I ask.

‘Champagne. It’s from Kirin. I don’t suppose you feel like a glass?’

‘I’d love some,’ I lie.

‘Great! Josh, Max, would you like some too?’

‘No, thank you,’ Max says politely.

‘Are you sure? There’s plenty.’

I look at Livia, wondering why she’s suddenly going out of her way to be nice to Max.

‘Let’s have it on our own,’ I suggest.

Josh throws me a look. But then he gets it – or thinks he does because he raises his hands in a backing off gesture.

‘You’re right, we’ve got stuff to do. We need to take Murphy round to Max’s dad before 5 p.m.’

At the sound of his name, Murphy nudges Livia’s hand. ‘He could stay here, in one of the bedrooms,’ she says. ‘In Marnie’s room. She won’t mind.’

‘No!’ Josh and I say at exactly the same time. He laughs and shakes his head.

‘He’ll still be able to hear the noise, Mum, he’ll hate it.’ His brown eyes meet mine. ‘Drink the champagne with Mum, Dad, and don’t let her go up to the grass. It’s out of bounds. Come on, Max.’

‘See you later.’ Livia gives them a little wave, then turns to me. ‘Shall I fetch some glasses?’

‘No, sit here and don’t move.’ I take a chair and place it alongside the table so that she won’t be tempted to put her legs under it. I don’t think she’ll be able to feel the box, but I’m not taking any chances.

‘I’m being spoilt today,’ she says, sitting down with a smile.

It takes me a while to find champagne glasses. I find two at the back of the cupboard and carry them out to the terrace. I know Josh thought I wanted him gone so that I could explain about the present and so does Liv because as soon as I’ve poured the champagne, she asks how my trip into town went. At the same time as the nightmare of the crash comes back, I glance in her bag and see her phone wedged down the side, almost hidden by a clear plastic bag containing a wet swimsuit. A wave of alarm spreads through me. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might already have read about the crash. What if she decides to check her messages and starts talking about it?

‘It was fine,’ I say, replying to her question about my trip to town. ‘So,’ I reach for one of the glasses and hand it to her, ‘you OK with Max?’

‘Of course. Why?’

I look at her curiously but she refuses to meet my eyes, lifting her glass so that the crystal sparkles in the sunlight.

‘These were a wedding present,’ she says.

‘That explains why they were still in the box.’

‘Do you remember who gave them to us?’

‘Well, it certainly wasn’t your parents.’

‘No, it was their friends, Mary and David. I wonder if they ever told Mum and Dad that they gave us a wedding present and came to see me in hospital when Josh was born? We had wedding and birth presents from a lot of their friends, from nearly all of them, in fact.’

I raise my glass; if she prefers to pretend she didn’t have a problem with Max, there’s not a lot I can do. ‘Happy birthday, sweetheart.’

She smiles happily. ‘Thank you. I can’t believe I’m forty today, it’s crazy! I don’t feel any different to how I did at twenty.’ She laughs at this; we’ve both come a long way since then.

‘Tell me about the spa.’ I nod towards her bag. ‘I see you went swimming.’

‘Yes, Jess gave me a beautiful swimsuit for my birthday and there was a pool there. I’m guessing that you had a lot to do with organising it?’

‘I had to be in on the secret in case you changed your mind and went ahead and booked a spa yourself. If you had, I was meant to tell you that I thought it was too expensive and that you shouldn’t be wasting your money on it.’

‘Except that you’d never say anything like that, so I’d have guessed straightaway.’

I take a sip of champagne.

‘Aren’t you going to sit down?’ she asks.