Page 70 of Be More Capybara

‘He’ll say hello, then make some excuse to go to his room and do whatever he does.’

Nigel looked pleased. ‘It’s a more attractive proposition than Mum’s stew.’

‘I should hope so,’ she said, getting into her car. ‘Hop in.’

52

NIGEL

Nigel looked at the huge menu on the wall of the Chinese takeaway. It was exactly the same as he remembered it when he was a teenager: dark blue print on a pinkish background, and laminated to withstand the grubby hands of Dashford’s residents. Only the prices were different. ‘How do you fancy your chicken today, Hel? Sweet and sour or in black bean sauce?’

‘Always sweet and sour. Remember you used to steal all the chicken pieces and leave me with the veg.’

‘I didn’t take them all.’

‘No, you’re right. I exaggerated. You only nabbed about 90% of them.’

He laughed. ‘I was doing you a favour. Veg is better for you. Anyway, I eat veg now. Years of living with Madison rubbing off on me, I suppose.’

‘She’d be very disapproving of the monosodium glutamate-laden stir fry we’re about to order, I’m sure.’

‘Publicly, yes. Though I used to find the occasional takeaway carton in the garbage.’

Helen raised an eyebrow. He sensed she wasn’t commenting on Madison’s secret junk food habit.

‘In the bin,’ he corrected himself.

‘That’s better,’ she said. ‘We’ll turn you back into an Englishman yet.’

Nigel paid for their order and sat next to Helen on the vinyl bench under the window, watching the large red and gold cat statue with its fixed smile, waving its paw at him across the counter. Was it trying to wish him good luck? He felt like he needed it, but why? It wasn’t spending time with Helen that was making him nervous. It must be the fact that she had sons now, and he was about to come face-to-face with one of them.

‘Are you alright with me meeting Harry?’ he asked.

Helen hesitated.

Stupid question, Nigel. You’re old friends. It’s not as if she’s going to introduce you to Harry as his future stepdad. How did stepfathers behave with adult children? Probably like Klaus. Very hands off. He realised Helen was replying.

‘He’s legally an adult. He knows we were friends years ago.’

‘I just thought he might find it uncomfortable.’

‘Not Harry. Callum maybe - he’s not forgiven Angus for the way he treated me.’

Nigel liked the sound of Callum. ‘Are you two close?’

‘I’m closer to him than Harry. Harry’s always busy with other people. Callum’s more … not shy, exactly. Thoughtful. That’s the best description.’

It might be a good thing that Callum wasn’t home. He was going to be a tougher nut to crack than Harry, by the sound of it.

The woman behind the counter appeared with a white bag full of plastic containers. ‘Crackers?’ she asked.

Nigel grinned at her. ‘Yes, I possibly am.’

She looked at him for a moment, then slid the bag of prawn crackers towards Helen, obviously deciding that he couldn’t be trusted with them. ‘Have a good evening.’

Helen smiled. ‘Thank you. We will, won’t we, Nige?’

He was glad she was confident about that because he certainly wasn’t.