A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon [146]
“No,” said Katie, even more dryly than Ray. “Dad obviously chose our wedding day to break the happy news to her.”
“Christ,” said Jamie. “Why did they invite the guy?”
“That,” said Katie, “is one of several questions I’m planning to ask them later on. Assuming they haven’t killed each other.”
“Do you think we should…?” Jamie got out of his seat.
“No I don’t,” said Katie tartly. “They can sort this one out themselves.”
Ray walked over to check that his own parents had survived the ordeal and Tony appeared carrying an open bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses. He sat himself down in Jean’s empty chair and said, to Katie, “This is the first wedding I’ve ever been to. And I have to say, they are a lot more entertaining than I realized.”
Which struck Jamie as pretty risky given Katie’s state of mind. But he clearly knew the terrain, perhaps on account of having Becky as a sister, because Katie removed the champagne bottle from Tony’s hand, took an almighty swig and said, “You know the best bit?”
“What?” said Tony.
“You being here.”
“You are very kind,” said Tony. “Though I didn’t expect my entrance to be upstaged quite so dramatically.”
“God,” said Katie, “I am in serious need of a disco.”
“A woman after my own heart,” said Tony.
“And David…?” said Jamie.
“Headed off to his car,” said Tony. “I think he wanted to avoid a second encounter. Which was probably wise, in the circumstances.”
At which point, a man carrying a large speaker bearing the words “Top Sounds” appeared like a rather overweight angel in the doorway of the marquee.
But Jamie was more worried about his father than Katie, and less keen to let his parents sort it out between themselves, so he made his excuses to Tony and slipped into the house, stopping en route to reassure several friends and relatives that his father was OK, and earnestly hoping that he was.
He knocked on his parents’ bedroom door. The faint voices went quiet on the far side. He waited then knocked again.
“Who is it?” said his father.
“It’s me. Jamie. I just wanted to check that you were all right.” There was a brief pause. Obviously they weren’t all right. It was a stupid thing to say. “It’s just that people are concerned. Naturally.”
“I’m afraid I made a terrible mess of everything,” said his father.
It was hard to know how to respond to this through a door.
“Will you tell Katie and Ray that I’m desperately sorry for causing them such embarrassment?” said his father.
“I will,” said Jamie.
There was a brief silence.
“Is David OK?” said his father.
“Yeh,” said Jamie. “He’s gone.”
“Good,” said his father.
Jamie realized that he hadn’t heard his mother speak yet. And it seemed very unlikely that something awful had happened to her, but he wanted to be absolutely sure this time. “Mum?”
There was no reply.
“Mum…?”
“I’m fine,” said his mother. There was a note of irritation in her voice, which was strangely reassuring.
Jamie was about to say that if they needed anything…Then he wondered what “anything” could possibly be (wine? wedding cake?) and decided to end the conversation. “I’m going back downstairs now.”
There was no reply.
So he went back downstairs and out across the lawn, reassuring more people about his father’s health as he did so. The disco had begun and he slipped into the marquee and sat himself down beside Tony who was chatting about lath-and-plaster ceilings with Ed.
Ed slipped away and Jamie took a cigarette from the packet in front of Tony and lit it and Tony poured him a glass of dessert wine and the two of them watched Uncle Douglas dancing like a wounded ox, and the music was good because it filled all those little gaps during which people were tempted to wonder about the implications of what had happened earlier, though if you knew precisely what had happened earlier you did have to try not to listen to the lyrics too hard (“Groovy Kind of Love,” “Congratulations,” “Stand by Your Man”).
For the last two weeks he’d been desperate to talk to Tony. Now, sitting next to him was enough, touching, breathing the same air. Last