there now, son,’ his father said quietly, reaching out to help him steady his hand.
‘Dad, I’m fine.’ Lou pulled away from him, splashing wine over his father’s shirt sleeves.
‘Ah, Aloysius,’ his mother said, and Lou rolled his eyes.
‘It’s fine, love, I’m fine,’ his father said, trying to make light of it.
‘That’s your good shirt,’ she continued, reaching for her napkin, dunking it in her water glass and dabbing at her husband’s white sleeves.
‘Mum,’ Lou looked around the table, laughing, ‘I haven’t killed the man, I just splashed wine.’
His mother threw him a look of scorn and looked away again, continuing to help her husband.
‘Maybe this will help.’ Lou reached for the salt and began shaking it over his father’s arms.
‘Lou!’ Quentin raised his voice. ‘Stop it!’
Lou stopped, then looked at Alexandra with a childish sheepish grin.
‘Ah, Quentin,’ Lou nodded at his brother, ‘I didn’t notice you there. How’s the boat? Got any new sails? Any new equipment? Won any competitions lately?’
Quentin cleared his throat, and tried to calm himself. ‘We’re actually in the final in two wee—’
‘Alexandra!’ Lou exploded, mid Quentin’s sentence. ‘How can I not have kissed the lovely Alexandra?’ He stood up and, bumping against the backs of everybody’s chairs, he made his way over to her. ‘How is the beautiful Alexandra tonight? Looking ravishing, as always.’ He reached down and hugged her tight, kissing her neck.
‘Hi Lou,’ she smiled. ‘Good night?’
‘Oh, you know, busy, busy, lots of paperwork to get through.’ He threw his head back and laughed again, loud like a machine gun. ‘Ah dear. Oh, what’s the problem in here? You all look like somebody’s died. You could do with rockets shoved up your arses, come on.’ He shouted a little too aggressively and clapped his hands in front of their faces. ‘Boring.’ He turned to look at his sister Marcia. ‘Marcia,’ he said, followed by a sigh. ‘Marcia,’ he repeated. ‘Hi,’ he simply said, before making his way back to his chair, smiling childishly to himself.
Gabe hovered awkwardly by the dining-room door in the long heavy silence that followed.
‘Who have you brought with you, Lou?’ his brother Quentin interrupted, holding out his hand and moving towards Gabe. ‘Sorry, we weren’t introduced. I’m his brother, Quentin, and this is my wife, Alexandra.’
Lou wolf-whistled, then laughed.
‘Hello, I’m Gabe.’ Gabe shook Quentin’s hand and entered the dining room. He made his way around the table, shaking hands with all the family.
‘Lou,’ Ruth said quietly, ‘perhaps you should have some water or coffee, I’m about to make some coffee.’
Lou sighed loudly. ‘Am I an embarrassment, Ruth, am I?’ he snapped. ‘You told me to come home. I’m home!’
There was a silence around the table as people awkwardly tried to avoid each other’s gazes. Lou’s father looked at him angrily, the colour rising in his face, his lips trembling slightly as though the words were rushing out of them yet weren’t making any sound.
Gabe continued to make his way around the table.
‘Hello, Ruth, I’m very pleased to finally meet you.’
She would barely look him in the eye as she limply took his hand.
‘Hi,’ she said quietly. ‘Please excuse me while I just take all this away.’ She stood up from the table and began carrying the leftover cheese plates and coffee cups into the kitchen.
‘I’ll help you,’ Gabe offered.
‘No, no, please, sit down.’ She rushed into the kitchen with a load in her arms.
Gabe disobeyed and followed her anyway. She was leaning against the counter where she had placed the crockery, her back to him. Her head was down, her shoulders hunched, all life and soul of the woman gone at that very moment. He made a noise placing the plates beside the sink so that she knew he was there.
She jumped now, alert to his presence, composed herself, life and soul returning from their time-out, and she turned around to face him.
‘Gabe,’ she smiled tightly, ‘I told you not to bother.’
‘I wanted to help,’ he said softly. ‘I’m sorry about Lou. I wasn’t out with him tonight.’
‘No?’ She folded her arms and looked embarrassed for not knowing.
‘No. I work with him at the office. I was there late when he got back from the … well, from his coffee meeting.’
‘When he got back to the office? Why would he …’ She looked at him with confusion and then, ever so slowly, a shadow fell across her face as realisation dawned. ‘Oh, I see. He was trying to drive home.’
It wasn’t a question, more a thought aloud, and so Gabe didn’t respond, but she softened towards him.
‘Right. Well, thank you for bringing him home safely, Gabe. I’m sorry I was rude to you but I’m just, you know …’ The emotion entered her voice and she stopped talking and instead busied herself scraping food from the plates into the bin.
‘I know. You don’t have to explain.’
From the dining room they heard Lou let out a ‘Whoa’ and then there was the sound of a glass smashing, and his laughter again.
She stopped scraping the plates and closed her eyes, sighing.
‘Lou’s a good man, you know,’ Gabe said softly.
‘Thank you, Gabe. Believe it or not, that is exactly what I need to hear right now, but I was rather hoping it wouldn’t come from one of his work buddies. I’d like for his mother to be able to say it,’ she looked up at him, eyes glassy, ‘or his father, or it would be nice to hear it from his daughter. But no, at work, Lou is the man.’ She scraped the plates angrily.
‘I’m not a work buddy, believe me. Lou can’t stand me.’
She looked at him curiously.
‘He got me a job yesterday. I used to sit outside his building every morning, and yesterday, totally out of the blue, he stopped and gave me a coffee and offered me a job.’
‘He mentioned something like that last night.’ Ruth searched her brain. ‘Lou really did that?’
‘You sound surprised.’
‘No, I’m not. Well, I am. I mean … what job did he give you?’
‘A job in the mailroom.’
‘How
