“Well I suggest you go and get them,” she insisted. “Bring them back here. You can all have something to eat and then be on your way….”
“Thank you,” said Dan, “but that won’t be necessary. But thank you.”
“Nonsense. I insist. Come inside and meet the rest of the family,” she took him by the hand and pulled him towards the house. He had no choice but to go with her. “Come along, girls…” Andrea turned back to Stephen who was left standing by the truck, “Run along and fetch their friends,” she said, “we’ll be waiting.”
“Mum, they really don’t…” his words fell on deaf ears as the front door slammed shut. He sighed and reattached the chain to the back of his truck to stop it from swinging around when he next drove away.
“Please, make yourself at home,” Andrea told Dan and the two girls as she led them through to the living room. She pointed them towards the sofa which lined the longest wall of the room. Small coffee tables with lamps were on either side of the settee.
“Thank you,” Charlotte said.
“Listen, this really isn’t necessary… It was good enough of your son to help us in the first place. We don’t want to put you to any further trouble,” Dan tried to tell Andrea but she wouldn’t hear it.
“It really is no trouble at all,” she continued, “it’s nice to get visitors. We so rarely get visitors out here. The boys rarely bring anyone home. Their father, Robert, and I actively encourage it too!”
“Is that their dad?” asked Hayley. She was looking at one of the many framed pictures which were nailed to the walls — nearly all of them family related. The picture she pointed to was of Andrea standing next to a tall man who towered over her. The two of them were standing in front of some trees, in a small clearing, with their arms around each other. Both of them looking at the camera with a solemn expression upon their faces as though it were forbidden to smile in any of the photographs.
Andrea was a fairly small lady, with her grey hair and faded blue eyes, but she looked much, much, smaller standing next to the man in the photograph. Hayley considered that it could have just been the angle the photo was taken at but it was most likely the man would be well over six foot tall. Unlike Andrea’s all grey hair the man’s hair was quite a bit darker, with the exception of his beard which looked as though it belonged on someone else with the amount of grey hairs growing throughout it. Even had it not been for the grey of his beard, the wrinkles on his face would have given away his age — for other than those two factors, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was another son.
“Yes, that’s Robert,” said Andrea. “That photograph was taken sometime last year,” she carried on despite none of the three youths really needing to know. “The picture on the right,” she went on, “is of my daughters — Tammy and Suzanne… Tammy is the one on the left; my youngest daughter.”
Hayley looked at the picture of the two girls. The same pose as the previous picture and even the same spot. Tammy was standing, taller than her sister despite being the youngest, with her arm around her sister. She had waist length blonde hair. Despite the picture not being a close-up shot it was clear to see her eyes were of the brightest blue — maybe catching the sun’s reflection to make them appear brighter in the photo than they were in real life?
“Pretty,” said Hayley, a sting of jealousy flowing through her. Normally she was the prettiest of the girls she hung around with. She wasn’t used to someone stealing the limelight from her.
“Very,” the mother agreed. “Suzanne’s pretty in her own right too,” Andrea continued. “Very clever girl.”
In the picture, Suzanne was clearly a pretty girl too, let down only by the fact she was standing next to Tammy who’d naturally attract the attention of people looking at the picture. Unlike Tammy, her hair was darker and her eyes, although appearing blue if you looked hard enough, clearly weren’t as bright as her sister’s.
“How many of you are there?” asked Charlotte.
“There’s six in the house,” she said. “The two boys, who you’ve already met, my two girls, Robert and myself. I’m sure they’ll be along any minute now. The sound of strangers in the house no doubt luring them from whatever they’re up to. Now, can I get you a drink whilst we wait for your friends to arrive? Lemonade?”
“Sure, that would be nice,” said Charlotte not wishing to appear rude.
“Three lemonades coming right up,” said Andrea. She turned back to the door just as Tammy and Suzanne made an appearance. “Ah, girls, come in… Meet our guests.”
“Who you talking to?” asked Tammy — her voice soft and delicate. Another sting of jealousy rushed through every fibre of Hayley as she realised Tammy really was the perfect girl. It didn’t help that they were close in age.
“Come in,” Andrea repeated herself, “don’t loiter in the doorway.”
The girls walked into the room and said hello. Hayley couldn’t fail to miss the look on Dan’s face when he spotted Tammy.
“Hi,” he offered his hand for a shake, “pleased to meet you. I’m Danny. Or Dan if you prefer.”
“Hi Dan if you prefer,” said Tammy. She wasn’t stupid. She knew the effect she had on men and already Hayley could see that she was the sort of girl to use it to her advantage.
“Hello,” said Charlotte.
“I’ll leave you all to get acquainted,” said Andrea. “Three lemonades coming right up.”
Andrea left the room.
“What brings you out here?” asked Suzanne. “We don’t normally get visitors.”
“So your mum tells us,” said Dan who had suddenly become sociable despite being so quiet earlier when it was just the girls and Andrea. “It’s a nice house you have, I’m surprised you don’t have more visitors,” he did a little laugh as though he had made a great joke. Never once did he remove his eyes from Tammy.
“We broke down,” said Hayley — clearly irritated that her boyfriend was attempting to flirt with these girls. “Your brothers found us.”
“Oh,” said Tammy in such a way it made it painfully obvious to everyone that she didn’t really care why they were there. She looked at Dan, “Did you want to look around the house?”
Before Dan could answer her, Andrea came back into the room with a tray of drinks. One for each of the guests and one for her and her daughters. Hayley let out a little sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted to do was go on a guided tour of the house with some bimbo.
“Here we go,” said Andrea. She set the tray down on another coffee table; this one was set in front of the settee where everyone was standing. “Please… Take a seat.”
Dan and Charlotte sat on the settee. Before Hayley could take her seat, Tammy took it, placing herself next to Dan much to Hayley’s annoyance — not that Dan noticed the fact she was clearly irritated. She turned around and sat on one of the other arm chairs whilst Suzanne sat on the last one, leaving her mother to stay standing.
“Hopefully your friends won’t be too long,” said Andrea. She walked over to the window, which overlooked the front garden, to keep an eye out.
“Are you staying for dinner?” asked Suzanne.
“I believe so — yes,” said Dan. Despite his best efforts to get out of the situation earlier, it didn’t seem to bother him as much now. Something else that Hayley noticed.
“Yummy,” sighed Tammy with a little laugh.
Hayley rolled her eyes.
CHAPTER SIX
Michael was sitting on the grass verge by the road — the opposite side to where the van had come to an untimely stand-still. He took a puff on his cigarette as he nodded acknowledgement to Joel who was approaching, having left Lara in the van.