“I’m pleased for you, baby brother.”
“Cheers, old gal. What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want something?”
“The last ten thousand times you’ve called me. Spit it out, I’m busy.”
“No, you’re not. You’re mooning over the fading lupins. I can see you.”
Sid spun around, searching for Anna among the bright colours of the cottage garden displays, but came up blank. “Where the hell are you?”
“Never you mind.”
“I do mind if you’re spying on me like a weirdo.”
“I’m not spying on you. I just happened to see you at the right moment to contradict your claim to be busy.”
“See me fromwhere?”
“Does it matter? I’m on my way home now. I called to invite you for dinner tonight, and you don’t even have to cook.”
“You’regoing to cook?”
“I’m not incapable.”
Sid made a noncommittal noise and pondered the contents of his freezer, but it had been a while since his last batch cook, and he was running low. “I don’t even know if my car will start. I haven’t driven it for ages.”
“It starts. I tried it when I was here the other day.”
“Why?”
“In case you needed it.”
Sid snorted. “You think I was capable of driving anywhere? I couldn’t feel my fucking legs.”
“Yes, but—actually, never mind. I haven’t got time to talk in circles with you. Do you want dinner or not?”
“I suppose I could be persuaded.” Sid leant against a nearby wall and swept his surroundings again, still searching for Dante, and this time hit the jackpot as Dante’s strong frame came into view. “Can I ask a favour, though?”
“Anything, baby brother. You know that.”
Sid smiled, because he really did.
* * *
“You want me to what?”
Sid stepped closer to Dante, narrowing the distance between them until only the scaffold-board table Dante was working at stood between them. “Come to Anna’s for dinner with me.”
“Why?”
Of course he’d ask why. He always did whenever Sid suggested something completely fucking normal.
Normal for you.
The internal chastisement rang in Sid’s ears as he considered his answer to Dante’s question. He went with the truth. “Because you haven’t been further than the little Tesco since you got here, and I don’t fancy the bus to Anna’s place by myself.”
“You want me to go on the bus with you?”