The Way We Were_ A Novel - Marcia Willett [45]
Val tried to relax her shoulders; she was getting another headache. She turned away from the window and went to find her painkillers.
Before Zack and Caroline left, when Chris had gone back to the office and Caroline disappeared to the loo, Liv had a few moments alone with her brother.
‘We're going for a walk along the coastal path before we go home,’ said Zack. ‘Thanks for lunch. You've done a great job here, Liv. Val seems a bit uptight, I thought. Stressed out. It's going well, isn't it?’
‘It's going great; she's worrying quite unnecessarily, but that's our Val. By the way, have you heard from Andy lately?’
Zack shook his head. ‘You're the one for keeping in touch. Why?’
Liv frowned. ‘He's being evasive. Not answering emails, and when he does it's very brief. To use one of Dad's naval expressions, I think he's “trapping”.’
‘Well, why not? He's not seriously involved with anyone at the moment, is he?’
‘No, but you know Andy. Usually, if there's a new woman in his life he just so wants to tell you how gorgeous and fantastic she is and how he's been selected from a cast of thousands. He likes to talk about the parties and the clubbing and all that. He's being very cagey.’
Zack shook his head; he'd always been slightly shocked by the way Liv and Andy exchanged the details of their private lives. ‘Perhaps he's growing up at last. Just because you're twins doesn't mean he has to tell you everything.’
‘True.’ Liv grinned at him. ‘I'm still curious.’
‘You're still hopeless.’ But he smiled.
Caroline appeared and asked if he'd told Liv about the party. ‘It's a house-warming general jolly, Friday next week,’ she said. ‘I hope you can come, and stay the night, of course. Would Chris and Val enjoy it? The trouble is, we couldn't put them up too and it's a bit of a hike back afterwards or they could stay somewhere in the town. I thought I'd check with you first before I ask them. Things seem a tad fraught.’
Liv debated. ‘I think it's better to leave it,’ she said at last. ‘I'm not sure Val's in party mood and then it might cause more arguments. I'd love it.’
She went out with them to the car, kissed them both, watched them drive away and then went over to the house, banged on the door and went into the hall.
‘Hi,’ she shouted. ‘It's me. Anyone around?’ She was always careful never to walk into any of the rooms without an acknowledging shout in return.
‘Kitchen.’ Val's call was brief.
Liv crossed the hall and put her head round the door. ‘Just seeing if there's anything special to be done,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Have you been to the cash-and-carry?’
Val, sitting at the table with a pad and pencil in front of her, shook her head. Her face was drawn, jaw set. Liv noted all the familiar signs and sighed inwardly.
‘Another headache?’ she asked sympathetically. ‘Poor you. Why didn't you come and have some lunch?’ When Val didn't answer, Liv sat down opposite and looked into the tight, set face. ‘Val,’ she said gently. ‘Val, you've got to stop this. You're letting yourself get into a downward spiral of anger and depression and you don't have to go there; you can choose not to. Everything is ticking along, the bookings are flowing in. Why do you want to be deliberately pessimistic? Chris and I both know that things might go wrong; we know we're not out of the wood, and we shouldn't count our chickens and all that stuff. We're not stupid. But neither of us thinks that