Page 104 of Home Grown Talent

“Look, I’m not saying I’m going to quit,” he said as calmly as he could manage. “But I can’t…I can’t turn my back on Owen, okay? I can’t do that to someone I love.”

“But you can turn your back on me and the girls? On your family? Don’t you love us anymore?”

“Frieda, come on. Of course I love you!”

Tears stood in her eyes now, and she dabbed at them with the back of her hand. “You’ve always been here for us, Angel, and I don’t want you to think for a minute that I’m not grateful, because I am, and I honestly don’t know how we’d manage without you. I only react like this because I’m afraid that if you don’t—”

“For God’s sake, Mum!” a new voice interrupted. “Stop! Just fucking stop this right now!”

Startled, Mason turned to find Min standing in the kitchen doorway. She still wore her school uniform, a pair of huge headphones around her neck, and she was glowering at them both.

Frieda’s expression hardened. “This isn’t a conversation for your ears, Harmony.”

“Why not? Mason’s my brother.”

“Min—” Mason warned.

But she cut him off. “No, Mase. Someone has to tell her, and I know it won’t be you because you’re too bloody soft.”

Mason blinked at her. “I’m too soft?”

Min rolled her eyes. “Mase, you let Mum walk all over you.”

Frieda bristled. “Harmony, go to your room.”

“No. I won’t,” she said, hands on hips. “Why do you always do this, Mum? You lay this whole guilt trip on him, and it’s not fair! Mase doesn’t want to be a bloody model anymore. He just told you he’s tired of all that, so why are you trying to force him to keep doing it?”

Frieda looked stricken. “I’m not. You don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Yes I do!” Min had hit her stride, and there was no holding her back. “And I don’t see why Mase should have to keep bailing us out just because Dad can’t be arsed to pay what he owes on time, and you won’t stand up to him.”

Tears glittered in Frieda’s eyes, her voice going frail and wobbly—she was bringing out the big guns. “I don’t think you’re being fair...”

“I’m not being fair? Can’t you see you’re ruining Mason’s life with your ‘woe is me’ act? Mel says it’s emotional blackmail, and you know what? She’s right.”

Stunned, Mason’s gaze shuttled between his sister and his mum. He noted the colour rising on his mother’s face with concern. “Min,” he said carefully, “come on. Let’s not—”

She jabbed her finger at him. “Don’t let her get away with it. You know it’s true!”

He did know it. But he hadn’t thought for a second that his sisters had even noticed. And now he couldn’t think what to say in the face of Min’s vehemence.

Into the sudden, ringing silence, Frieda said brokenly, “It’s not true. It’s not like that. Is it, Angel?”

Of course not.

The reassuring words were on the tip of his tongue, an easy instinctive lie to calm the troubled waters. To keep Frieda from breaking down, to keep them all safe from the chaos her meltdowns caused. But Min was standing strong, blazing with fiery indignation, and telling that lie again would have been a betrayal of her. He couldn’t do it.

And he didn’t want to.

Instead, shakily, he took Frieda’s hand in both of his, squeezed, and made himself say the truth. “If I’m honest, I do feel trapped by the responsibility sometimes. Like I’m stuck on this one road with no exit.”

Frieda’s free hand flew to her mouth, her eyes filling. “Angel,” she croaked, “I never meant to make you feel like that. I thought you wanted to help us…”

“I do.” His stomach pinched guiltily. “Of course I do.”

“It’s just that with Kurt gone, it’s so hard for me to—”

“Oh my God, Mum,” Min said, with more exasperation than Mason would ever dare show. “You’re doing it again.” Striding into the room, she put her hands on Frieda’s shoulders, a gesture both quelling and reassuring. “You’re all right, Mum. You’ve got me and Mel too, haven’t you? We’ll all make sure you’re okay. Nothing terrible’s going to happen if you let Mason live his life the way he wants to. Just chill.”