Page 42 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay

Peggy arrived home, hoping Ted had gone out. But Bolt’s bark of welcome as she put her key in the door told her otherwise. Ted was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee, gazing at his phone. He looked up as she came in and gave her a sheepish smile. ‘Hi, Pegs.’

‘Hi,’ she said, warily.

‘Where have you been? I thought we could go out for breakfast for a change. Give Terry’s bacon sandwiches a whirl?’ Ted rarely, for obvious reasons, visited Clove Hitch or any of the other cafés in the village, but Peggy knew he was still competitive with them, liked to check them out occasionally.

She pulled a face. ‘That would have been lovely, but I’ve just had breakfast,’ she told him, enjoying the childish feeling of payback. ‘Paul gave me a croissant and coffee.’

‘Paul?’ Ted frowned. ‘Are they open this early?’

‘No. He was sitting on the bench outside and offered as I came up from the beach.’

‘Oh.’ Ted didn’t look as if he liked the sound of this much.

‘I’ll come and have another coffee with you,’ she suggested, her tone conciliatory. She sat down opposite him. ‘How was your evening?’ she asked with a wry frown.

He sighed. ‘Okay, okay. I behaved like a total jerk yesterday. I’m sorry.’

Her heart softened. ‘I hate you going off like that.’

‘I hated it too,’ he mumbled. ‘But Liam wound me up.’

Peggy stiffened. ‘Not all his fault, though, eh?’

Ted’s mouth tightened. Dropping his voice, he said, ‘Look, I know he’s your son, but this isn’t a great time for him to be here, is it?

What with the emails, all the Felix stuff.

Everything’s tense as it is…’ he said, checking her face, maybe to see if he’d gone too far.

She could tell he was feeling edgy and delicate this morning, after last night’s whisky.

‘Are you saying you want Liam to leave?’ she asked, a little frostily.

Ted hesitated. ‘I just think…’

‘What?’

‘Pegs, please. Don’t look at me like that.’

‘Sending him away won’t solve our problems, Ted.’

‘No, but I feel things are tricky enough, without–’

‘Without your ill-mannered son making our lives a misery,’ Liam, who had suddenly appeared in the doorway in his boxers and T-shirt, finished Ted’s sentence for him, sounding almost amused.

Ted’s head shot up and he met Liam’s eye, but he seemed annoyed rather than embarrassed, Peggy thought.

Liam sauntered over and sat down, laying his mobile on the table with deliberate care. No one said a word, Peggy because her throat was constricted with tension.

‘Don’t panic, Ted. I’m leaving. Off on Saturday,’ Liam announced casually.

‘The day after tomorrow?’ Peggy cried. ‘But you’ve only just got here.

Why?’ She felt her son was being snatched away before she’d had time to really focus on him– she’d been so tied up with other things.

But then she told herself firmly, It wasn’t a wasted visit, either.

Some important things had been aired between them.

And they’d had some lovely, proper hugs along the way.

‘Sorry, Mum. It’s a job.’

‘What sort of a job?’

Liam shrugged, ‘The usual, PR. A Swedish clothes company.’

Peggy narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn’t sure she believed him. ‘You’ve got an interview? When did you hear?’

‘Just now.’

‘Is the job in Sweden?’

‘No, don’t think so. Not sure.’ Liam got up and wandered towards the open door to the terrace, clearly uncomfortable with the questions.

Peggy glanced at Ted but he was looking off towards the garden, his face neutral. She was furious with him for making her son feel so unwelcome. Trying to keep her anger under control in front of Liam, she asked quietly, ‘Shall I make breakfast? I’ve got kippers.’

‘I’m fine, Mum, thanks,’ Liam said. ‘I’ll just have coffee.’ He crossed the room to the stove where the coffee-maker sat with the remains of Ted’s earlier brew.

She cocked her head at Ted, waiting for him to respond.

‘Umm.’ He seemed to come round from some sort of daze, finally meeting her eye. But there was no warmth in it. ‘If you’ve had breakfast with Paul,’ he made it sound like an accusation, ‘I’ll pick up something later.’

Peggy wanted to scream. Ted was usually such a reasonable man, such a can-do optimist: this new iteration of argumentative grump was baffling to her.

But gradually his face began to soften. Directing his gaze at her son, he said, ‘Apologies, Liam. You might have been a tad “ill-mannered”, as you put it, at times,’ he gave a wry grin, ‘but I’ve been less than hospitable to you.

’ He swallowed hard. ‘I like to think that’s not me.

We’ve been under a lot of strain recently.

I’ve been worried about your mother… and other things.

And probably grumpy.’ He gave Liam a shrug and an awkward smile.

It was an honest apology and Peggy held her breath as she watched Liam take in Ted’s words, praying he would be receptive to them, and equally considerate.

Liam put down the coffee pot and crossed his arms. ‘We didn’t get off to the best start, I guess.’ He gave Ted a cautious grin. ‘But I really appreciate your having me to stay, Ted. Thank you. You might have been a tad “grumpy”– as you put it– at times, but hey!’

Ted stared at him for a second, then roared with laughter, as did Liam. Peggy gradually let out her breath and smiled. Her son came over to where Ted sat and held out his hand. They shook firmly, with obvious purpose.

‘Listen, you know you can be here as long as you want,’ Ted said. ‘I was just having a moment earlier.’

Peggy wasn’t sure this would be entirely true if Liam were to declare he intended staying all summer, but she was pleased Ted had at least proffered an olive branch.

‘Thanks. But I need to get back to town, anyway,’ Liam assured him.

There was a momentary silence in the kitchen, everyone embarrassed by the interlude and not knowing how to move on from it.

‘Got stuff I need to see to,’ Liam said, grabbing his cup of lukewarm coffee and his mobile. Before either she or Ted could respond, he was striding off, back to the guest room, the door banging shut.

Peggy and Ted looked at each other across the table. ‘I don’t believe he has an interview with anyone, Swedish clothing or otherwise,’ she said, her voice low. ‘He hasn’t mentioned it before, and it just seems a bit too convenient.’

‘He made it up?’ His face fell. ‘Not because of what I said, surely.’

Peggy shrugged, her mouth tight. ‘Well, you made it pretty clear you don’t want him here.’

‘Yes, but I’ve apologized. It was just a reaction to all the shit going on,’ he muttered, head down. He reached for her hand. ‘Sorry, Pegs.’

Peggy let out a long, slow breath. But she sensed something had shifted.

She no longer felt the unquestioning trust she’d loved so much about their relationship.

Ted had become unpredictable, his temper close to the surface.

She seemed to irritate him. Liam definitely irritated him.

He was drinking more. Wanting now to tell him about Bunny, she held back, unwilling to introduce yet another escalation of her problem into the already fractured atmosphere.

She gazed at her partner. I love you , she whispered silently.

‘I’m going down to check on the road works,’ Ted said suddenly, scraping the chair back as he stood.

‘Now?’

‘I need to find out when they plan to finish.’

‘Oh. I thought we might…’

Ted clearly didn’t want to hear what she thought they might do.

He gave her a quick kiss and stuffed his mobile into the back pocket of his jeans.

‘Bye, then,’ he said, seeming flustered, as if he was terrified she was going to stop him leaving.

Bolt got to his feet when he saw Ted making for the front door.

‘Stay here, boy,’ Ted said, fending him off as he opened it.

Peggy watched him go, heart contracting. This sudden flight seemed like an excuse, as if he couldn’t bear to be with her for a moment longer. If she’d been alone, she might have burst into tears.