Engagement Rate (The Callaghan Green Series Book 1) Read online

  "But we don't tell Mummy those things, do we, poppet?" Tommy said, making it clear who was still boss in their house. "I'd offer to take Emmy from you, Jacks, but I'm sure you still owe us babysitting duties after you promised to help out all those years ago, before this lot caused me any grey hairs."

  I had. I had also been drunk and at their wedding where I had been best man. Unfortunately, Tommy remembered everything even after the best part of a bottle of tequila.

  "Mama's got popcorn!" Emmy wriggled and I put her down, instantly forgotten. Jemma and James ran over too, still covered in mud.

  "Anytime you want a sitter," I said to Tommy, catching the eye of the bartender. "Although the clean-up job after probably wouldn't be worth it."

  Vanessa and I sat down with them, the children eventually heading back outside to where there was a children's play area, visible from the window. We caught up; I found out who from the village was getting married, divorced or allegedly having an affair because Tommy was the biggest gossip for miles. He and Addy asked Vanessa questions about Derbyshire and the caverns there, the difference between Bakewell Pudding and Bakewell Tart and why on earth she was with me and an hour later we both had a sleepy child on our knees, having shared a Ploughman's lunch and the mud from the twins' shoes. We helped them back in the car, a mess of an SUV with bits of food all over the back and in between the booster seats. Tommy and Addy tossed toys and a couple of coloring books – all of which were ignored – into the back and said their goodbyes.

  "You sure you don't want to take them for the night?" Tommy said, smelling his hand and looking disgusted. I didn't ask.

  "Don't wish that on them," Addy said, linking her arm through Tommy's. "They're going home to have tons of uninterrupted sex and sleep, then more sex and even a bacon butty in the morning without someone wanting to share it. In fact, they'll probably eat it in bed!" She rested her head on her husband's arm and groans.

  "It was that which got us into trouble in the first place," Tommy said.

  "What? The bacon butties?" Addy said, looking up at him.

  "That probably had something to do with it. I was thinking more about the uninterrupted sex. There's no chance of number four ever making an appearance," Tommy said, glaring into the car. "Best contraceptive ever: three kids aged between four and five."

  Vanessa was laughing next to me, her eyes shining. She glanced into the car, her eyes landing on Emmy. I found my hand landing on the small of her back without thinking about it.

  "What do you miss most?" I asked, poking at them as I could guess what their answers would be.

  "The sex," Tommy said. "You daren't start anything now as it's like a bloody curse. The moment anything's pointing north the door opens and a yelling child storms in. At least when they were babies and couldn't walk you could maintain some dignity!"

  "The sleep," Addy said, sounding grumpy. "To be honest, the sex was never much to write home about anyway. And the last time we did it we got Emmy."

  Tommy glared at her. "We've done it since Emmy."

  "Have we?" Addy said, raising her brows. "We might have. I was probably asleep. I hope you were careful."

  Vanessa started laughing, a proper full on belly laugh with tears starting to spill. I shook my head having heard this routine on many occasions since we were fourteen and they got together on Halloween, both claiming they had no idea who was wearing the masks. They'd been torturing each other since they had been about eight so it had always seemed inevitable they'd produce humans that would torture them even more.

  Tommy pulled Addy into him and kissed the side of her head. "I'll make you pay for that," he said. "In fact, given the fact they're all asleep and locked in the car, I could make you pay right now."

  Addy giggled like a teenager. "I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to do that. Let's get them home quickly. We could make another..."

  They both started to laugh.

  "And on that note, we're leaving," I said. "We'll leave you to your circus. Dad and Marie are having everyone over in a couple of weekends. You should come over and bring the kids. You can probably talk Marie into babysitting at some point."

  Tommy nodded. "Max mentioned something about it earlier."

  I frowned. "What do you mean, earlier? When did you see Max?"

  Tommy looked puzzled. "He was in the pub just before you got here. He'd stopped off in the village to pick up some milk. Don't tell me you didn't know your own brother was here for the weekend?"

  I looked to the skies and prayed for the patience to not murder him. "No, it was meant to be just me and Van this weekend."

  Tommy shrugged. "I'll let you deal with it. Call me if you need help disposing of his body."

  We did the usual manly back-slapping thing and I gave Addy a kiss, as did Tommy with Vanessa, trying to lower his hand on purpose. Addy threatened him with divorce and we left them grumbling into the car as Emmy woke up and started to sing some princess song that sounded vaguely familiar.

  "So – Max?" Vanessa said. "You weren't expecting him?"

  My feet crunched over stones on the path, the background noise of the countryside maintaining a feeling of peace. "No. He knew I was coming here, so either he's trying a major cockblocking prank or something's up. I forgot my phone as well."

  We meandered back to the house, her hair blowing around her face in the soft breeze. Something felt right about having her there, how she'd been with Tommy and Addy and their kids, the locals in the pub who'd come over to speak to us. She had no airs and graces; she was genuinely pleasant and interested, unlike some of the women I'd dated.

  Max's car was pulled up next to mine and we found him in the kitchen, playing with the new coffee machine that you needed a college degree to work. He looked up at us as soon as we entered, no shit-eating grin on his face.

  "I'm sorry for crashing your weekend. I won't be around much," he looked at Vanessa rather than me.

  "What's happened?" I knew my elder brother best of all. It had been him who had told me Mum had died, him who had pushed our single beds together so us and Claire could stay together during the nights when one of us would always wake up crying. Callum was still an infant, but we were all old enough to know mum wasn't coming back.

  "Amelie's dads had a stroke," Max said, not padding the words. "She had a call this morning so I've brought her to the hospital. I'll pick her up when she calls me and stay around for the weekend. I've said she can stay here – she won't want to stay at her old house."

  "What's the prognosis?" I asked. Amelie hadn't spoken to her father for years. She was one of the toughest people I knew but this was still going to raise a lot of shit.

  "Grim. He's not regained consciousness and had a second stroke not long ago. I've let Dad and Marie know. I think they're flying back earlier," Max said. "I seem to have mastered the coffee machine, would you two like to sample a Max-the-barista special?" He tried to lighten the mood.

  "Sure," Vanessa said, sitting down on one of the bar stools. "How's Amelie holding up?"

  He shrugged. "She's not saying much. I think she's gone on autopilot. I'm going to make her something to eat here this evening and talk it through with her as if she bottles it up for very long, she'll explode." He began pressing various buttons on the machine, frowning at it. "There's no way in this world that Dad's ever going to be able to work this."

  "Another reason to get Marie to wait on him," I said. "Is there anything I can do for Amelie?"

  "I'll let you know. At the moment I think it's just a case of making sure she remembers life carries on and that she's never done anything wrong," Max said, passing over a mug of coffee to Vanessa. "I'll use the annex tonight. Then we're out of your way."

  That felt wrong. I'd known Amelie all my life and she was to all intents and purposes another sister. "Look, I've booked us dinner at the Hand and Flower. Use the main house for Amelie and we'll bring a couple of decent bottles of red back – the one they produce themselves."

  "I've still got a
few bottles of the Canadian stuff to get through," Max said. He liked his wine and I didn't think what Dad and Marie had sent back had suited his palette. "Although I might gift them to a couple of clients."

  "Might be a good idea. They've picked the winery now anyway, so they'll only be interested in The Icery stuff or whatever it's called," Max said. He looked to Vanessa. "Are you sure? It'll be better if it's not just me with Amy tonight. You know how she never listens to me." He gulped down the last of his coffee.

  "It's fine," Vanessa said. "It wouldn't feel right being in the same house and not sharing at least a drink. I didn't know she'd used Amy as a short."

  "She doesn't," I said. "It's only ever been Max who's called her that and he did it to annoy her. He's never grown out of pulling her pigtails and she's never stopped kicking his shins, although that's all metaphorical now."

  Max smiled, although it didn't meet his eyes. "I'll leave you to your afternoon. I'm going to hit the weights for a bit. Do you want a lift to the Hand and Flower? I could drop you off on the way to the hospital and then you just need to get a taxi back."

  "I was going to drive," I said.

  "Why? You scared of getting whiskey dick?"

  Vanessa laughed at him, her eyes flicking between us to assess our reactions. If she hadn't had been there we'd have ended up with pads on and boxing in the gym. However, I had to pretend to have a bit of self-control. "It's only you who suffers from that," I said. "And if you're playing chauffeur I may as well raid Dad's cellar."

  Max laughed, happier now. "Bring a couple of bottles of the decent stuff up and fridge it. Yours won't need to be that cold if you're heading to the hot tub and don't worry, I won't go in the garden and perv on Vanessa." He looked knowingly at us both and started to walk towards the annex.

  "Max," Vanessa said, pulling him back. "What do you think of the new décor in your room?"

  He turned back around and looked at us both. "It's very tasteful."

  I tried not to look too smug.

  Max's expression changed. "You disgust me. You really do."

  We started laughing, listening to more insults being shouted at us while he disappeared from sight.

  ***

  "You enjoyed your day, sugar?" Amelie said as Vanessa and I entered the sitting room after our cab had dropped us off. I'd spent most of the afternoon inside Vanessa, so it had been pretty damn spectacular; champagne and the hot tub – especially as I hadn't mentioned bringing anything to swim in – had passed the afternoon. Somehow, we'd managed to get dressed and behaved fairly well in the restaurant, although my hand had found its way up her thigh, leading my fingers to her wet heat. I'd taken her almost to the brink of coming at the table, before deciding that her having an orgasm wasn't fair when I couldn't. She'd become flustered and glared at me, threatening to go to the bathroom and finish it off herself. I'd ignored her, pouring more wine and licking my fingers.

  "It's been really good," Vanessa said. "The meal was great. How are you?"

  Max gestured to the wine that was open. I nodded for him to pour and he gave me look that said he needed to talk at some point.

  "I'm - I guess the word is 'okay'," Amelie said, slightly slurred. It seemed that Max thought letting her get drunk was a good solution. "It's difficult to know what to feel when someone you haven't spoken to properly for fifteen years is dying."

  "Has he regained consciousness?" Vanessa said, sitting next to Amelie with the wine Max passed to her.

  "Briefly," Amelie said. "Just before I left he opened his eyes and seemed to look at me, but I don't know if he knew it was me. My brother phoned to say he'd had another stroke and it was doubtful he'd last the night." She shrugged.

  Max looked at her. "Don't torture yourself, Amy. We said before, there's nothing you would've done differently. There's no point in feeling guilty."

  "I know," she said and I noticed she was drinking water. "Tell me about your evening." She looked at Vanessa. Max glanced at me and nodded towards the door into the garden. I followed him, my fingers brushing Vanessa's hair as I walked passed her.

  "What's the matter?" I said once we were outside. The evening was still and cool. No sign of a breeze. Above us, the black sky was pinpricked with stars and I decided to bring Vanessa out here later, when Max was somewhere else.

  "A couple of things. Amy for one," he paused. "I'm going to take a day off on Monday and stay here with her. Her brother's being a dick with her, which I can kind of understand as he doesn't know half of what happened and why she broke contact for so long, but she needs someone on her side."

  "Whatever she needs," I said.

  "Claire's case has become more complicated. Katie Worthington has disclosed some additional information: there may be police charges against her ex and it's looking increasingly messy. There's a joint business involved and something that Claire says smells fishy. She's spent most of the day with Katie, who is a mess, by the way," Max said, his hands in his pockets and I could tell he was unnerved.

  "Does Killian know?"

  Max nodded. "I've asked him to put detail on Katie too."

  "What else?"

  "Heather in HR called me this morning. One of Kirsty's references doesn't check out. The company who supplied it were called at the time of interview as per policy, but Heather emailed the HR manager there yesterday, just before she left. She had an email last night to say Kirsty had never worked there. I've asked Killian to run a couple of checks on her as something isn't sitting right – not necessarily in a worrying way – but I want to bottom it out," Max said, sipping on the glass of wine.

  "Kirsty left me a voicemail this afternoon asking to meet tomorrow to go through the email she's sent me. I haven't read it yet, or responded. I'll do it tomorrow evening," I said. I'd expected to hear from Kirsty sooner rather than later and I agreed with Max that there was something off about her. It happened sometimes in firms, the recruitment process allows someone to slip through who shouldn't be there. If she had falsified her references then we had grounds for dismissal, but in the meantime, we had to look at damage limitations as she would have information about clients that was sensitive.

  Max nodded. "Let me deal with Kirsty. Take yourself out of the equation."

  "Why? You have enough to do with your caseload and now Amelie."

  He strummed his fingers on his thigh, a sure sign he was debating how he worded his next sentence.

  "Heather heard through the grapevine that Kirsty has a thing for you, a big thing, in that why she applied to the firm in the first place," he said, then cracked a smile. "Office gossip."

  "That was fast."

  "It's an office. You'd think they didn't have anything better to do than gossip," Max shrugged and headed back inside.

  Vanessa and Amelie were curled on the sofa, feet up and discussing something that sounded too girly for either of us to pay much attention. "Beer?" I said to Max.

  He pulled his face and nodded, heading over to the breakfast bar. "Yep. I don't want to join in that conversation." He shuddered, picked up the bottle of wine and put in on the coffee table in front of Vanessa. "Poker?"

  I looked over at Van, her eyes were sparkling, her hand touching Amelie's arm and Amelie was smiling, nodding emphatically. "Just a couple of games."

  We played until midnight and the wine had been replaced with tea and water and Max ordered Amelie to bed, meaning they argued until we couldn't hear them anymore.

  "That was a good night," Vanessa said, her dress pushed up to just below her ass, feet curled under her and hair mussed. She looked relaxed and comfortable and I assessed the chances of Max coming back into the living room.

  "It was." I'd taken a couple of hundred off my brother as well, which was always something that would bring me pleasure for the next few weeks. "You got along with Amelie."

  Vanessa smiled. "She's a lovely person. I think she'll be okay about her dad. It's the boyfriend she's less sure about."

  "I didn't know she was seeing anyone," I said,
trying to remember if Amelie had brought anyone with her recently when we'd all met up for drinks.

  "I think he's married. But there's someone else she's interested in – she wouldn't tell me who – but that she doesn't think it would work. She didn't say anymore but we're going out for drinks next week," Vanessa said, stretching out her legs and gesturing to the seat next to her for me to sit down.

  I put my arm around her and pulled her into me, relishing the scent of her perfume and the soft feel of her against me. "I'm jealous," I said, feeling an idiot for confessing.

  "What are you jealous of?" she said, looking at me, then giving me a quick kiss.

  "You're spending an evening with Amelie instead of me," I said. "I know it's ridiculous and I'm not trying to guilt you; but I might end up crashing your night, later on, you know, to make sure you get home okay. With the home being back to mine."

  She laughed quietly. "I'll let you do that, if you're not busy yourself. I think you're out with clients that night. Wednesday?"

  I recalled my diary. "Yeah, but I could see you after. It's a meal somewhere so we could meet for drinks. Are you as busy this week?"

  "There's a show opening at one of the galleries I contract for on Tuesday and the meal at Simone's on Thursday. I thought you might like to come to that?" Her head rested on my chest and I closed my eyes, just liking the feel of her there.

  "I think that's fine." I paused, knowing the conversation I needed to have.

  "What is it?" she said, sitting up. "What did Max pull you outside for?"

  "Amelie. He's taking Monday off to stay here with her. And Kirsty. Heather in HR has given him the heads up that we're office gossip," I said, watching her face for her reaction.

  She was unreadable. "It was going to come out at some point. It might not be professional, but I'm not an employee and it's Seph who's dealing with my case."

  "Technically Seph," I said, needing to make sure she knew who was really running it.

  She rolled her eyes. "But I'll let you be my hero," she smiled. "What about Kirsty?"

  "Max thinks she applied for the job because of me. I haven't noticed anything so it's probably just office gossip."