The Long Stretch

Chapter One: Ste

You're drowning in a sea of far too many people. You never did like being the centre of attention, and it's something that hasn't improved with your age.

And that's another thing. It's your birthday, and everyone closest to you knows you're not a fan of this day; so why have they thrown you a party?

You suspect it's down to the combined efforts of Sinead, Amy and Tony. Tony is probably only doing it in revenge for the retirement 'do' you planned for him the year before – the one that had somehow ended with a spontaneous karaoke session his twin daughters were never going to let him forget.

As for the other two, you have a feeling that Leah, Lucas and Katy had most likely put them up to it.

You look up, finally spotting the banner resting across the top of the doorway. It reads: Happy 60th Birthday Ste!

You're on the point on tracking down the mother of your now fully grown children to ask her if that was entirely necessary, when instead you're stopped by a brightly-dressed Cheryl Tenbury-Newent. You haven't seen her for a good couple of years, but she hasn't changed in the slightest.

"Hi, love!" she gushes loudly, leaning forward to give you a peck on the cheek and a squeezing hug.

"Hiya Cheryl," you reply with a small smile. "How have you been?"

It may have been a while, but that's due only to distance and leading separate family lives. There's no animosity there; and the little you'd felt towards her when she'd moved away from Chester had evaporated a long time ago. You're too old now to let the decision of one man taint a friendship you'd still be lost without.

Cheryl smiles back, but there's something more behind her eyes. She looks more than just happy to be catching up with an old friend. "Oh, I'm good thank ye! Nate's around here too somewhere. Polite old sod insists on greeting every bloody guest he passes! Happy birthday, by the way!"

"Thanks." You want to find out the gossip on what's got her looking so sprightly these days, but she rushes off before you can – leaving behind a promise to come back to you with Nate in tow.

Amy's arrival at your side stops you from dwelling any further. "Having fun?" she asks jovially.

You turn to look at her. This is a woman who has aged gracefully; far better than you have. Her hair is short but trendy for her age, somewhat reminiscent of a hair style from a different time. Her eyes shine with excitement as she surveys the packed room.

"Being sent to live in a nursing home might have been a better present," you reply, voice completely deadpan. Inside you're starting to soften, however.

"Well it wasn't my idea anyway!" she shoots back, then points at Leah. It seems this idea had unfolded just as you predicted.

"What's up over here?" Leah has noticed her parents' eyes on her, and she's over to you both in a flash. Your teenage granddaughter - her daughter Lilly - follows close behind her. Damn. You don't like to appear the grumpy old git in front of your grand-kids.

"Your father isn't a fan of surprise parties. Or parties in general – I think that was the gist of it, wasn't it Steven?"

You jolt inwardly at the use of your full name. Even now, it still has some sort of affect on you. But you won't moan about it. Amy has only ever called you that when she's being firm with you – there was only one person that never called you anything else.

"Oh Dad," Leah says now, giving you a look that makes her look so much like her mother that it makes you grin despite yourself. "Stop being so boring!"

You shake your head and roll your eyes, then address your response to Lilly. "Not sure what these two are talking about, are you Lils? I've never had a boring day in my life!"

Your granddaughter laughs with you, and Amy and Leah wander off shaking their own heads in mock exasperation.

After another hour, you hate to admit it but you're enjoying yourself. You've spent most of your time chatting with your family. Having grown up to be a chip off the old block, Lucas has done most of the food here, and for the past decade he's been helping you run the very same restaurant this party is being held in.

You manage to catch up with Tony and his wife Diane. You tell the older man you're already planning how you can embarrass him on his next birthday. Meanwhile both Sinead and Katy seem to be just as guilty as Leah in the art of party-planning.

You refuse to say as much, but you love them all for it. That is, based on the assumption that they'd done all this to make you happy and not to torture you.

And despite the initial reservations, you're having fun watching all the guests milling around, getting drunk and singing along to the music. Them, that is, not you.

It's not until the night's almost over that Cheryl finds you again. Nate strides on ahead of her and offers his hand for you to shake. You try not to laugh – after all, you're an old man now and this should probably be the norm for you. But inside you're still that scally who wouldn't know posh if it tapped you on the shoulder.

Even so, you do the polite thing and shake the man's hand. "Nice to see you again, mate."

"And you, Ste. Happy birthday."

Cheryl practically stumbles forward and pulls you into a tight embrace. Quite predictably one of the drunken singers of the evening, then, you muse.

"I've really missed ye, babe," she hiccups over your shoulder.

You chuckle at her. "I've missed you too, Chez."

Most of the guests are starting to head off now, but besides these two it's only the ones who are staying to help tidy up that you're bothered about saying goodbye to. So you stay put and carry on chatting for a bit.

"Brendan's missed ye, too."

It takes you a minute to process that sentence; that name that you've had to avoid thinking about for almost forty years. She can't have just said that to you, it makes no sense. Not anymore.

"What?"

Nate has realised the seriousness of his wife's offhand comment, and looking at Cheryl now you can see that she either wishes she could start the conversation again, or else just avoid it altogether.

"I'm sorry, love, I..."

"Cheryl, what's going on? You've spoken to him? He's...he's mentioned me?" The words sound so pained and yet so desperate from your lips. You had hoped that the decades had made you emotionally stronger, but now you know that this theory was a load of rubbish. When it comes to the man you're talking about now, you've only ever been weak for him.

She's shaking her head at you now, and you don't understand anything she's trying to get across. She'd already lost you at the mere mention of Brendan's name.

"Please, just tell me what you're on about!"

The woman looks impossibly happy and sad at the same time when she finally drops the bombshell.

"He's been released, Ste. Brendan's out of prison."