Saturday 3rd July.
"So," The table had been sat in silence for a few minutes whilst everyone ate. I wasn't sure if it was a 'comfortable' silence or an 'awkward' one, either way I was happy, there were no questions being directed at me, although apparently it looked like things were going to change, as Julian had just turned to look at me as he spoke. "Dad tells me you're a doctor?" I finished my mouth full.
"Um...yeah,"
"GP or...?"
"I'm a pathologist, actually,"
"Really?" His eyes widened.
"It's really not as exciting as things like CSI make it out to be,"
"I bet it's a thousand times better than being an insurance broker," I had to agree with that, so I smiled slightly and nodded my head.
"Little Lizzy wins the prize for best job in this family, of course," Fiona joined in the conversation, that is if you could call the awkward passing of a few sentences between the two of us a conversation.
"Is that right?" I turned to look at the youngest person at the table.
"I'm a photographer," She took a sip of wine. "I did one celebrity, so they decided I have the best job in the world," She looked accusingly at her siblings.
"That's not true. I do believe my job was the best in the world," Fiona smiled.
"The operative word being was, as in, you longer have that job," Julian teased his elder sibling, it reminded me of two kids fighting. I wondered if all siblings never grew out of the teasing, or if it was just these two.
"Well, it's not my fault I got pregnant,"
"Well, sis, you know..."
"Don't even finish that sentence." It was the first time Barry had spoken up for a while, though I think he was having his own conversation with Mum. "I think we all known enough about biology to not have to hear that," Everyone nodded in agreement, apart from Julian, who just sat with a massive grin on his face, impressed with himself. "Harry, do you like golf?" The other three people under 50 all groaned.
"Daaaad," Lizzy sighed, putting her head in her hands for a moment. I looked around in confusion.
"Err...I can't say I've ever really played,"
"Really? You should come to the club with me one day," I raised my eyebrows at the elder man. "I've tried with all of my 3, but apparently love for a sport isn't hereditary,"
"Sure, I could do that," Mum tried to suppress a laugh, but failed. "What?" I looked at her, attempting to understand the humour in my answer.
"Sweetie, you managed to break poor Richard's arm that time he forced you to play squash," Everyone laughed. "Oh, don't use your sulky face, I just never thought you'd partake in sport willingly," She nudged Barry with her elbow. "If you do take him, stand well away before he picks up the club,"
"I'm not that bad!"
"You are rather clumsy with sport equipment, dear,"
"Well, we can start at the driving range then," Barry smiled encouragingly. "It's all enclosed, so you'd have to be pretty skilled to hurt someone there," It was then that I realised just how serious Mum was about the guy, more over, how serious he was about her. I was being invited to play golf. That's a bonding session between men, right? I'd seen it on films where the future son-in-law did a similar thing, so I presumed maybe it worked the same for a future stepson.
I then realised I had been thinking about the possibility of Mum remarrying, which I wasn't quite ready for, so I stopped myself from allowing my mind to delve any further.
"I'm pretty busy with work, but I'm sure I could do it some time,"
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," Julian warned, laughing as he did. At that moment 'Hanging on the Telephone' begun blasting out of my pocket, Nikki had set it as the ring tone for her calls a few weeks before. She'd thought it was very clever, the combination of the telephone reference and that it was sung by Blondie ('And I'm blonde!' she had pointed out rather obviously, keeping up with the stereotype)
I pulled my phone out. "I'll be right back," I smiled, stood up and left the room, pressing the little green button as I did. "Hi,"
