“Okay,” Oakley replied slowly. “Well we have non-alcoholic stuff too. Come with me and we’ll find you something.” They walked off, leaving me alone, chatting as they made their way into the conservatory that now looked like a brewery. How fucking much alcohol did they buy?
“How come Holly’s here?” Abby asked, doing Everleigh’s ninja thing and just appearing in front of me.
I frowned.
“Because her brother’s here. I said she could come rather than hanging out at her parents’ house alone. Plus I thought she would get on well with Oakley, and I was right.”
Jesus it wasn’t liked I’d asked her on a date.
“Right,” she replied. “Are you going to introduce me too?”
Shrugging, I nodded my head and walked into the conservatory after them. Abby’s mood swings were beginning to piss me off. In the car over she was okay, minus the headband thing; when we arrived she was a loving wife, but now she was acting pissy.
“Holly,” I said, “this is my wife, Abby. Abby this is Brad’s sister.”
Abby stepped forward. “Nice to meet you, Holly.”
“You too.” They shook hands, and Holly took the cocktail from Oakley’s hand, thanking her.
“Drinking today?” I asked.
She shook her head. “It’s a non-alcoholic cocktail.”
“You don’t drink?” Abby asked as she poured herself a glass of red wine.
“Not much.”
“How do you survive uni without alcohol?”
Holly laughed. “I have no idea. Did you go too?”
“Yeah, to study teaching and English Literature and Language. Now I work at the high school. What about you? What do you want to be after uni?”
“A pharmacist in a hospital,” she replied.
“Wow, that’s great,” Abby replied. I was glad they had something in common because if they hadn’t Abby probably wouldn’t have tried that hard to get along with her. She could be kind of selfish like that. She wouldn’t necessarily ignore Holly, but she wouldn’t have bothered to make her feel at ease.
Holly smiled shyly and, I realised the men were outside, cooking the meat on the barbecue with a cooler of beer beside them and I was inside chatting to the women who were drinking girly drinks. I shook my head and backed away. “I’ll be outside.”
I walked to the man area and grabbed a beer.
“Tell me there’s Jack Daniels in that?” I said to Cole.
“Just coke,” he replied, and I raised my eyebrow.
“Well since my wife is now on her third cocktail I’m guessing I’ve been nominated the designated responsible parent for today.”
“She’s getting drunk?” I frowned. She never got drunk, drunk. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, Jasper.”
I didn’t like it. Oakley didn’t drink until she got drunk, just tipsy. The last time she was drunk was when that bastard sperm donor we were supposed to call Dad sent her a letter from prison. It was almost two years ago. She got in such a state that Mum and Miles took Everleigh for the night so she could calm herself down. I hated seeing her like that. I’d wanted to kill him more than ever.
“Seriously, Jasper, she’s fine. It’s Miles’ birthday, and she wants a few drinks. She’s twenty-four, old enough to have a few cocktails.”
My shoulders relaxed. If Cole wasn’t worried, I wasn’t going to be. He knew her better than I did now, and he was a real worrier when it came to my sister. If he was cool and not concerned, then everything was fine.
He smiled sadly, understanding exactly why I freaked out. Oakley had dealt with a lot, but as strong as she was it would always be there. Therapy couldn’t take away the memories of what those bastards did to her when she was just a few years older than Everleigh.
“So everything okay between you and Abby now?” he asked, flipping over the burgers.
I shrugged. “I guess. Women drive you crazy, right?”
He laughed and shook his head. I could tell that was just for my benefit. Oakley didn’t drive him as insane as Abby drove me, but he didn’t want to disagree and leave me feeling bad. I wanted to pull my damn hair out. What the hell was going on with my wife? I knew I was going to have to do the mature thing that Oakley suggested and talk to her, but in my experience, ninety per cent of the time talking to a woman left you no less confused than before. I think they enjoyed it. They loved messing with our heads; it was like a damn hobby.
“You up for going out tomorrow?” Cole asked.
Was he trying to keep my busy?
“Can’t. Doing something with Abby. Soon though?”
He nodded. “Sure.”
“Jasper, refill the cooler, please?” Miles said, handing me a bucket of water and balancing Everleigh in his other arm. Miles was her hero; she worshipped him. He had more right to be her grandad than that bastard rotting in prison did. She didn’t even know about him, and we had to keep it that way for as long as we could – forever, if that were possible.
I took the cooler from him and curtseyed, earning me an eye roll.