The Back Road

5

Day Two: Saturday

Leo was downstairs in the kitchen making the children some breakfast when a bleary eyed Max made an appearance. His short, dark brown hair was even spikier than normal, and black stubble covered the lower half of his face.

‘Morning Leo. Lovely to see you - I think.’

Leo raised her eyebrows and waited to see if he would dig himself in further.

‘I mean it’s lovely that you’re here, I’m just frightened of opening my eyes properly because it hurts too much.’ Max’s cheeky grin made a fleeting appearance. ‘Ellie said you’d arrived so thanks for sorting out the kids’ breakfasts.’

‘I didn’t know if you would be sufficiently compos mentis last night to take in the fact that I was here,’ Leo said. ‘I was prepared to be greeted with shock and horror.’

‘Never.’ Max picked up a tea towel and threw it at Leo. It missed by a mile, which was way off his usual accuracy. ‘You should know better than that. I’m delighted that you’re here, and it will be one less thing for your big sister to worry about. And I hope it’s not just a flying visit. You know you can stay as long as you like. Ellie said she’d woken you and asked you to feed the monsters, for which I will be eternally grateful. She was out for the count when I got home last night, thank God! Good job she didn’t see the state I was in.’

Max walked over to his children who were happily eating their breakfast cereal and muttering away to themselves in a language that nobody else understood, just as they had done since they were tiny. He dropped a kiss onto each of their heads and pinched a piece of toast from the pile in the centre of the table, much to the disgust of Ruby who had apparently wanted that exact slice.

Leo was glad that Max had his back to her, and by the time he turned round she was sure that she had her surprise under control. What the hell had Ellie been up to in the middle of the night then? She had convinced herself that her sister had gone to pick up Max from his end of term party. But she was wrong.

‘I presume you didn’t drive home under the influence? Now you’re in the money you can afford a taxi, I suppose.’

She couldn’t help probing a bit further, but Max gave her a self-deprecating smile.

‘Old habits die hard, kiddo,’ he responded, between mouthfuls of toast. ‘We drew straws last week to decide who was driving, and fortunately - or unfortunately as it feels now - it wasn’t me. I’m going to have to get my act together for tonight’s dinner, though. Ellie’s going to be panicking; she thought she had all day to prepare and now she won’t be home until about three.’

‘What’s the problem? She told me she had to go out, but I was too groggy to ask about it.’

‘A crisis at work, apparently. She only does a few shifts a week now, but there was some emergency last night, and the hospital was short of qualified nurses to deal with the situation. Usual summer problems with everybody on holiday, I expect.’

‘I can look after the twins if that helps,’ Leo offered. ‘Just don’t ask me to cook.’

Max grunted.

‘If either of us interfered with the cooking we’d be in deep trouble. I understand that Little Miss Organised has ordered everything, so I need to go to the greengrocer, the fishmonger and the butcher. And I gather you scoffed half the cheese last night, so I need to get some more of that too. We’ve already got the booze, unless you drank that as well. Everything has to be right for the swanky party. I’ll be about an hour. Can you cope?’

Leo frowned at his tone, but he didn’t notice.

‘It’ll be a pleasure,’ she said. ‘I’ll probably take the twins for a walk, if that’s okay with you. If I’d thought about it in time I would have swapped cars with Ellie so that I would have had the car seats.’

Max raised his eyebrows.

‘You think she’d have allowed you to drive her new car, do you? Dream on.’

He ripped off a piece of kitchen roll to wipe his buttery hands.

‘I’ve got to ask, Leo. How are you coping being here? Joking apart, it can’t have been easy for you but I’m so glad that you came. Ellie was worried that us moving here would create an insurmountable barrier.’

Leo avoided Max’s eyes. She had known this man since she was fourteen years old and he felt like a brother. But she had grown so used to hiding her every emotion that even he wasn’t allowed to pierce her carefully constructed defences.

‘It’s just a house, Max. Bricks and mortar.’

Max laughed, and then held his head because it obviously hurt.

‘You don’t fool me, kiddo. Brave words, though. And speaking of being brave…’

Leo groaned, because she knew what was coming.

‘… have you been brave enough yet to find yourself a man - as in ‘relationship’ as opposed to one night stand - or are you still judging every man on earth by one rotten example? We’re not all bad, you know. In fact some of us are pretty impressive beasts,’ Max said, pointing with both hands at himself and beaming at Leo.

She shook her head in mock despair. Why did every man consider that a woman was failing in life if she didn’t have a husband?

‘I’m happy as I am, thanks. You ask me this every time I see you, and I always give you the same answer. And before you start trying to get your vicarious thrills from asking for details of my sporadic sex-life, just butt out.’

Leo cast a worried glance towards the children, who thankfully were still busy chattering between themselves and hopefully wouldn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

This was usually a cue for Max to give her his ‘happy marriage’ lecture, but fortunately this time he declined to comment, and Leo took the opportunity to change the subject.

‘Speaking of my rotten example of a man, what are we going to do about Ellie and this obsession she has with our father? It’s part of the reason I came, to tell you the truth. I tried to talk to her about it last night, but I didn’t get very far. He’s not going to suddenly appear out of thin air, Max. Why can’t she see him for what he was?’

Max looked serious for a moment.

‘Whenever I’ve asked her about him, she hardly seems to know anything. He seems like some sort of ghost figure that drifted in and out of your lives, giving as little of himself as possible.’

‘That’s pretty accurate,’ Leo answered, nodding her head. ‘He used to come and go apparently on a whim. Ellie’s mother appeared to hate him, but he was impervious to it all. Answerable to nobody. But when he was here, Ellie tried so hard to please him. She would run up and hug him as he walked through the door. He’d ruffle her hair and say something like ‘Goodness, you’ve grown’ or ‘You’re looking very pretty today’. That was it. He handed out compliments as a reward for devotion, and let’s face it, Ellie was thirsty for some love and affection. Of her parents he was undoubtedly the lesser of two evils - but he was largely indifferent. It’s not surprising I’ve no time for men, is it?’

Max had tried many times to convince Leo that her father was the exception, rather than the rule, but this time he merely gave her a look which she interpreted as ‘you’re hopeless’ and walked over to the coffee machine, lifting a cup in Leo’s direction.

‘Want one? This fancy machine makes the best - and most expensive - cup of coffee in the world. Every home should have one, don’t you think?’

He pressed a button. Leo heard the beans grinding and the room filled with the delicious smell of fresh coffee as a dark brown flow slowly filled the small espresso cup.

‘Does it do cappuccino too?’ Leo asked.

‘It does, but that requires a small amount of human intervention. Grab me a bottle of milk will you, and I will reveal more of the mysteries of this marvellous and essential piece of kitchen equipment.’

Leo had never considered Max to be strong on sarcasm, but maybe it was the hangover talking. Or maybe she had been wrong about the house. Maybe its malignancy couldn’t be obliterated by a few coats of paint.