"I'm glad you liked the flowers…Really, it was no trouble at all…Yes, I had a lovely morning." Lucy smiled, holding her phone against her ear as the kids ran circles around her in the kitchen, shouting and smacking each other with stuffed animals.

Lee had temporarily ducked inside to grab some towels from the washroom. He held them up demonstratively to Lucy as he passed through the kitchen on his way back to the garage.

Lucy motioned for him to stop. "Hang on, he's right here." She held the phone out in his direction, mouthing the word "Mum."

"Happy Mother's Day, Wendy." He leaned forward to speak into the outstretched mobile. "Don't let Lucy claim all the credit for the flowers. They may have been her idea, but I was the one that picked them out."

Lucy arched a brow coolly.

"Well, they're very lovely, Lee. Thank you," Wendy's tinny voice chirped from the speaker.

After straining to hear her over the noisy din of the children playing, he nodded. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman."

Lucy glared at him and his smile disappeared. "Erm, while you're hot," He winced, his cheeks growing red at the Freudian slip as Lucy's look darkened. "Not, I mean, not my mother, I wanted to make your day a bit special, too." Flustered, he looked down at his screaming children and pointed at the back door. "Go play in the garden, now!"

As the kids exited out the door, Lucy returned the phone to her ear, her now mocking gaze still trained on her husband. "Lee's washing the car for my Mother's Day gift this morning. Don't I feel special?"

"And the rest!" He retorted, giving her a wounded look. She turned away from him, listening to her mother's muted reply. Lee shrugged angrily and started back towards the garage. At that moment, the doorbell rang. Lucy placed a hand over the speaker and looked over her shoulder. "Can you get that, Lee?"

Blowing a long sigh, he shook his head and continued his march through the living room. He yanked open the door with a terse, "what?"

Frank stood there in a floral print dress. A ratty blonde wig sat askance on his balding crown. He grinned and held his arms wide. "Happy Mother's Day, son!"

Lee abruptly slammed the door in his face. He turned around to see Lucy enter from the kitchen, placing her phone back in her pocket. "Who was that?"

"No one." He tried to move past her, but she crossed her arms and blocked his path.

"What do you mean, no one? It sounded like Frank."

"It's the same thing, isn't it?" He tried to duck around her, but she coldly shoved him back with a hand on his chest.

"Well, don't leave him standing out there. Can you let him in, please?"

Lee huffed defeatedly and pulled the door back open. He refused to turn his head in Frank's direction as his dad stepped into the house.

"Frank!" Lucy half-laughed in bemusement. "What's with the dress?"

"I figured since Lee didn't have his mum to spend the day with, he could use me and not feel so left out." He glanced up at his son. "But if he doesn't want me here, I'll go."

"Of course, I don't want you here," Lee retorted, his eyes narrowing angrily. "You weren't even a real father to me, much less a mother! What ever gave you a terrible idea like that, anyway? Hasn't she suffered enough without you literally dragging her up?"

Frank put his hands up defensively. "I didn't mean to upset you, Lee! I just thought you could use a mother today."

"Well, I don't need one," he muttered gruffly before shoving his way past his father and wife, heading towards the alcove behind the stairs.

Lucy turned towards his retreating back. "Where are you going?"

Lee glanced over his shoulder and held up the towels still in his hand. "Out to wash the car. It's your one measly present today, remember?"

Lucy bit her lip as the garage door slammed behind him. Surely, he knew she'd just been playing with him earlier, getting back at him for flirting with her mother. It wasn't like Lee to not take a joke. She tried to press her worried look into a smile as she closed the front door and motioned for Frank to sit down. "I'm sorry about Lee. I don't know what's gotten into him today."

"It's probably my fault." Frank plopped down on the couch and pulled off his wig. "Lee's always been very tetchy about his mum. Here I thought he'd finally be ready to have a sense of humour about it. I guess not." He looked down at his hands sadly.

Lucy sat down next to him and made herself comfortable. "Tell me about Lee's mum. He hardly ever mentions her. I don't think he's even said one word about her to the kids."

"Well, I don't know if there's much to say." Frank cast his mind back. "She was exactly my type: a tall, willowy blonde with big blue eyes and legs that would make a stripper jealous. It's a shame she never stripped…" He trailed off as he slipped into a fairly frequent fantasy of his. It was only when he caught sight of Lucy's furrowed look in the corner of his eye that he snapped out of his reverie. "Anyway, I knew she was for me the day we met. I'd gotten into a bit of trouble and made an appointment with the local bank to get a loan. She was a stenographer for this banker bloke. I didn't get the loan, but I charmed her into a date. It was all go from there." He smiled to himself. "We were very happy together. Then Lee came along." He coughed self-consciously. "As you know, he wasn't planned. But she loved him from the moment he was born. I didn't want our life to change, but she wanted to settle down and raise the boy proper." He gave a small shrug. "You know me, Lucy. I can't be tied down. I tried it for her sake, but I wasn't suited for this nuclear family lark and I guess I was harder on Lee than I should have been. I blamed him for upending my entire life and turning it sour. So I took him to places I shouldn't have, and I played the odd prank every chance I could…"

"Lee called it psychological torture, but continue," Lucy said.

"The point is, I never really changed. But his mum did. And I guess it was unfair of me to finally force her to choose between me and Lee. And she picked Lee. As I knew she would. It gave me an excuse to leave." He looked down and sighed. "I heard about them from time to time. I knew she'd had to go back to work. She picked up secretarial jobs whenever she could and worked the till at the greengrocer's part-time to support herself and Lee. I don't think she ever had less than two jobs. And there were boyfriends. A lot of 'em. She was always a very attractive woman, and I can't blame her for wanting a stable relationship. But I don't think Lee ever liked any of them. He was very protective of her, and she wasn't treated right by any of the blokes she went out with. I'd hear about the breakups secondhand, sitting in the pub. That's how I heard a lot of what was going on with my own family. They never talked to me." Frank shook his head. "Then she got sick and sent Lee off to live with her sister. It was around that time that Lee had started acting out. He never caused any real trouble, mind. Just shoplifting and skiving and the like. He didn't run with a bad crowd, but his mates weren't a good influence all the same. I know his mum didn't like it, but she wasn't fit to do much about it. After he moved in with his aunt, Lee finally dropped out of school and saved up his money working in the factory to leave town. I was already doing the same at that point, kicking around from place to place. I never saw his mum again, but I know Lee went back and was with her at the end." He gazed steadily at the wall. "She's buried up there in Southport, in a little cemetery on a hill overlooking the sea. She always loved the sea, she did." He turned to Lucy and smiled sadly. "I've visited her grave on occasion, but never with Lee. I don't think he's set foot in that place since the day he put her in the ground."

"Lee's not a very sentimental person." Lucy fervently blinked back some gathering tears and returned Frank's smile. "He and his mother must have been very close."

"She was certainly the most affectionate person in his life. She used to take him out for 99s and walks along the pier. On her days off, they'd go to the seaside and play in the sand. Other times she'd take him to the park and let him play while she'd pick flowers to take home. Bluebells were her favourite. I teased him so much about being mollycoddled that he was the one that finally put an end to all that. I think it hurt her that he didn't want to spend time with his mum anymore." He shook his head at Lucy's admonishing look. "I know, I know. But she still went to every single one of his sports days and football matches, which is more than I ever done. She was the one that would buy him Rovers tickets for his birthday. She and him would go together while I went off on the piss. I always blamed Lee for her being unhappy, but I think she blamed herself. She tried to do her best for him, and that included letting him go. I heard from her sister's husband later that it broke her heart, him never finishing school. I always figured him for a no-count like me. But she thought the world of him." Frank looked around at the house before finally gesturing to Lucy. "And she was right."

"Oh, Frank," Lucy put a hand over his. "Thank you for opening up to me. I had no idea." She swallowed and stood up. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"I'll have a double shot of whiskey if you've got it." He grinned. "Only joking, love. Water's fine with me."

"Right." Lucy pointed to the staircase. "I've just got to nip upstairs for a second, then I'll be right back with your water."

Frank nodded and waved her off.