Shane is only a year older than me. He’s the coolest of my brothers, I can totally relax with him and say and do anything I want. He is also the most classically handsome Eden brother and the playboy of the family. He’s got girls everywhere. When we go out together I get a ton of venomous and jealous looks from women. I almost pity the woman he will end up with. It must be hell to be with such a player.
Shane catches my eye and taps the handle of his knife so it hits the table surface and expertly flicks a pea in my direction. I open my mouth and in it goes.
‘Stop it, both of you.’ My mother looks at Shane sternly. ‘Layla is not a child.’
Both of us erupt into irrepressible laughter.
My mother turns to me. ‘By the time I was your age I was married with four children.’
‘Shane started it,’ I say.
‘This is not proper behavior for a lady. Do you want people to think I raised a hooligan?’ my mother asks.
I cast my eyes down.
‘Let her be, Ma,’ Dominic, ever the gallant, comes to my rescue. ‘When she was away you were always moaning that it was like the life and soul of this family went away. All our meals were proper and dull. Now she’s back and you won’t let her have a bit of fun. She doesn’t behave like this when we are out. This is our family meal. Let her have her fun.’
I look at Dominic with astonishment. My mum said that.
To my surprise Jake cuts in. ‘It’s true that we spoil Layla rotten, but she hasn’t turned out so bad. She knows right from wrong. She’s never ever mean to anyone. She’s generous to a fault. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s not stubborn or selfish or bossy or bitchy. Quite frankly, she makes me proud of her.’
‘And she knows how to catch flying peas in her mouth,’ Shane adds with a grin.
Everybody laughs. Even my mother smiles.
I gaze around the table at all their faces, even the latest addition, Lily, and my heart brims over with love. At that moment I think I am the most blessed person in the entire world
‘How’s the job search coming along, Bear?’ Jake asks.
‘I’ve got an interview on Wednesday. Fingers crossed,’ I say and stuff a chunk of roasted potato into my mouth so that he can’t ask where it is. Jake is such a control freak, he actually paid the people living in the flat next to me in Milan to keep an eye on me and make sure I was all right! God knows what he will do if I tell him where my interview is.
‘Mmmm … delicious, Ma,’ I say around my food.
My mother makes the best roasted potatoes ever. Her secret is twofold. She strains the potatoes and gives them a good hard shake in a closed lid pot after they have been cooked to break up their edges. Then she drops them on a baking tray of very hot goose fat. Hot enough to make the potatoes sizzle. The result: crispy on the outside, billowy on the inside.
After lunch Jake and Lily offer me a lift back to London, a suggestion I quickly accept.
FOURTEEN
Layla
The journey is pleasant. The conversation is light and easy and it is only when Jake and Lily start talking about attending a wedding of a family friend that I kind of put my foot in it.
‘Do you want to go, Bear?’ my brother asks.
‘Will BJ be there?’ I reply.
Jake meets my eyes in the rearview mirror. He is frowning. ‘Why do you want to know?’
I shrug. ‘Just curious.’
‘Stay away from BJ, Layla,’ he warns in a steely voice.
I am immediately curious. ‘Why? I thought the feud is over and we are best friends with the Pilkingtons now.’
‘We’re not best friends. We’re friends,’ he corrects.
‘Ma said he saved your life.’
‘Yes, he did and I’ll be forever grateful for that, but I don’t want him anywhere near my sister. He’s a junkyard dog. He’ll fuck anything in a skirt.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Lily says. ‘I think BJ can be tamed. He is a bit of a beast, but a very seductive beast,’ she says and flashes a wink in my direction.
The car suddenly stops.
‘Out of the car, you,’ Jake tells Lily. His voice is deadly quiet.
She raises her eyebrows at him, then flicks her eyes in my direction, as if asking, You want to do this with you sister here?
‘I’m waiting,’ he says.
‘Are you serious?’ she asks incredulously.
I look from one to the other curiously.
Jake doesn’t reply. Instead he gets out of the car. As I watch totally bemused, he comes around to her side, opens Lily’s door, and takes her hand to pull her out and lead her around the back of the car. For a few moments I don’t turn around to look but then, oh fuck it, I have to know. I glance back, and my mouth drops open.