Not just another Summer - 42. Brotherly support & a full attic

There were just the three of us at breakfast. Freddie just did a naked dash to grab supplies.

“I’ve been thinking about Jacob staying upstairs.”

I looked at Vince. “A problem?”

“No, I just wanted to talk through things so that we are prepared.”

“Fair enough.”

Peter was at the stove dishing up some sort of hash. “Things for the kitchen.”

Vince smiled. “And bedding.”

That did pull me up short. “There are beds up there aren’t there?”

“Basic furniture, though God knows who was ever going to stay. Peter suggested a trip to IKEA.”

I smiled. “You happy to do that?”

Vince wrinkled his nose. “Not happy, but it’s OK. We’ll get some basics for the room.”

“Don’t go mad.”

He glared at me. “What do you mean?”

“Just that it might be better to spend money when Jacob can comment on what’s being bought.”

“Fair enough. What are we charging him?”

“He’s your trainee, what do you think?”

“Precisely, that’s the problem.”

Peter snorted. “No question, market rate. I can ask at the office; we have lists of things like that. And we can see what he is paying already.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. Best thing would be to pay it into the household account.”

“Help pay the heating bills.”

“Yes. And what about the access from the attic to the main floors?”

Vince stared. “What do you mean?”

Peter smirked. “He means, love, can Jacob wander down here willy nilly or will the door to the attic be locked?”

“Does it lock?”

“I remember Dad fiddling around with it.”

Vince sighed. “So, the key’s probably in those piles in the utility room.”

“Labelled.”

“What do you think? Dad was nothing if not orderly.”

Peter wrinkled his nose. “I’d say door locked, maybe have a new lock fitted. That way you don’t worry about Jacob entertaining friends or gentleman callers.” He raised an eyebrow at this last phrase.

Vince gave a theatrical sigh. “I do not want to go there.”

There was a surprising amount to talk about even though the idea of Jacob staying upstairs had seemed a simple one. We agreed that we would have to chat to Jacob when he arrived so we could agree things rather than just laying down rules. Peter started to tidy up the breakfast things, but Vince followed me out into the hall.

“I’ve been thinking, Gray, about all your different irons in the fire.”

I stared at him. “As in?”

He enumerated on his fingers, all my work projects

“Is there a problem?”

“No, the opposite. I’d like to help. Or at least provide support. My instinct is just to sit back.”

“And let me get on with it.”

“But it has been pointed out to me that in a normal family, I would be more involved.” He looked at me anxiously.

“Well, given Dad’s attitude, I have tended to be self-sufficient, too. I think, realistically, at the moment it is a great help simply having someone to talk things through with.”

“Good. And if there’s anything else. By the way, how did the recording sessions go?”

“Matt and Jacob were most complimentary. But as usual, I hated the sound of my own voice.”

Vince smirked. “I think everyone does. I know I did, when they recorded us at college.”

“You, but…”

“My voice is different to yours, but that doesn’t mean I like it. Everyone is dissatisfied.”

“Fair enough. Why were they recording you at college?”

“So that we could hear what we were like when we made a speech.” Vince gave a shrug. “What will you do with the recordings you made?”

“Send a proposal to everyone on the lists that Arnold’s friend and Jacob’s mate Maxi have provided.”

“If you want me to read it through, just send it over. And I was thinking, you ought to include a list of other places you could talk about. Assume they don’t have any imagination.”

“Thanks. And that’s what Jacob said when we talked about making the demos. There is one thing?”

“What?”

“Nothing to do with the recordings. But I need to invite Matt and his Mum over for a meal.”

“Matt and his Mum? Here!”

“Yes.”

“Blimey. How come?”

“I sort of opened my big mouth when I was at his house. And she’s curious.”

“About the house?”

“And us. She met Dad when she was doing some waitressing, don’t forget.”

Vince gave a dry laugh. “Figures, I suppose. So, are we talking coffee, tea, lunch or dinner?”

“What do you think? Would you want to be around?”

“Which would you prefer? It strikes me that daytime would be more casual, but evening might be easier to organise because of Matt being so tied up with college, work and the Reserve.”

“And you?”

He gave a rueful smile. “If she’s curious about us, then I’d better be there. And Peter?”

“Of course.”

“Oh joy.”

“I’ll check with Matt.”

---

Now, this was a different side to Vince. I wondered who had been on at him. Peter probably or conceivably his friend Dawn, I suppose. It wasn’t unwelcome and I was going to have to live with it, wasn’t I? After all, I had really involved myself in his life.

If we were going to live like this, with a lodger upstairs, we were going to be involved, like it or not. It would take some getting used to. But part of me welcomed having someone like Vince to bounce ideas off.

The rest of the day, I kept busy. I went for a walk late afternoon to clear my head and snuggled up with a take-away in the evening. I’d had enough sociability for one week. Well, not quite. I exchanged a few daft messages with Matt who seemed to be having the time of his life trekking through damp boggy messes.

---

The Grange had a freakishly large amount of furniture in it. Vince had appeared early on Sunday; I was up but hadn’t made my first coffee. I didn’t bother dressing, if he bothered me that early he could live with it. He just grinned.

He and Peter were going to IKEA later and planned to trawl around upstairs first, to check what was in the house. So, an hour later, fortified by coffee and breakfast, we went exploring. A couple of the spare rooms on the first floor had too much furniture. They would be useable, at a pinch, but there were extra tables and chairs, including items Bas had banished from the annexe. But upstairs in the attic, two of the larger rooms were chock full, furniture crammed in every which way.

“Fucking hell, Vince, did your family never throw anything away?” Peter laughed.

Vince gave a bewildered shrug. “Seems not. I don’t remember all this stuff.”

“But when did you last come up here? I know I rarely did, if ever.”

Peter smiled. “Didn’t either of you ever explore?”

“Not really.”

“If you came up here and Dad heard you, he’d ask what you were looking for.”

“Dead right, it was easier not to bother.”

Peter shook his head. “Funny family. So, what was up here that he didn’t want you to find?” Vince and I turned to stare at him, but Peter just shrugged. “Stands to reason. If he’d forbidden you, then you’d be curious, but by appearing to be helpful.”

“We kept away. I wonder…”

Vince shook his head. “Well we won’t work it out now. We need some bits and pieces for Jacob’s rooms.”

It was tempting to explore, and both Vince and I had a few ‘do you remember’ moments. But Peter kept his eye on the time and when they left for IKEA, there was a decent selection of furniture in the two rooms that we thought would suit Jacob best. It was Peter who kept us organised, he even remembered to measure the bed for the sheets. A new mattress could wait until Jacob had agreed on a room.

By the time Matt arrived, I was just coming out the shower and greeted him wearing just a towel, still damp around the edges.

“Did you just get up. Sorry.”

“Not at all. I’ve been up a couple of hours, but Vince had us roaming about the attics, to sort out furniture for Jacob’s new rooms.”

“Did you find any, then?”

I chuckled. “Two large rooms full of virtually everything that Mum and Dad threw out but clearly could not bear to dispose of.”

“Wasn’t the house cleared when your dad died?”

“Not completely, it seems.”

“What do you plan to do with the stuff, then?”

“Peter suggested giving it to charity to use or sell. But we need to work out what is there, first.”

“There’s that much?”

I smiled and dropped the towel. “Look. Do I get dressed or are you going to join me?”

“You mean?” Matt looked so alarmed it was almost funny. I leaned up and kissed him, his hands found my naked bum.

I smiled at him. “Now you’re getting the idea.”

---

“I didn’t expect… I thought your brother…”

Matt and I were having a post-coital coffee. “Is out. Besides, they don’t come in here without knocking.”

It was a nice interlude, he had to get to the Reserve, and I said I would walk down later. I ought to have worked but instead I went back up to the attic and had a root around.

I recognised bits and pieces, but not much. It was like a sort of second-hand furniture emporium. WTF!

Why had it been kept? Did Dad so not want to throw any of Grandad and Grandma’s things out. Did Grandad insist it was kept? Did someone think they would have a use for this rubbish? However, before getting rid of it, it struck me that we ought to get someone to look at it all. But how? Fetch the pieces down bit by bit, and put them where?

I did get to work, eventually, but was restless so got on the bike and went for an explore. Nowhere in particular. Which meant that I ended up getting a bit lost and arrived at the Reserve rather breathless and knackered.

I was sitting on the boardwalk trying to get myself together when Matt appeared. He peered down at me. “Are you OK?”

I smiled. “I think you’ll find you’ve already tried that as a pick-up line.”

He flushed but then returned my smile. “Oh yeah. You’ve been out on the bike, then?”

“I’ve been a while a wandering, Amongst the fields so green.”

“What’s that song?”

“A wassail song, an old Christmas carol, though I adjusted the words.”

He shook his head and smiled. “How you remember all the stuff?”

I shrugged. “Head’s crammed with rubbish.”

Which brought me back to the attics full of rubbish, and we mulled over that as we ate our cake, courtesy of Matt via Treasures. He was a bit quiet, however.

“Something the matter?”

“Not really, I just wanted to ask you?”

“What?”

“Next Friday. We never talked about doing anything.”

“True. Do you want to do something or are you busy?”

“Mum’s going out.”

“Oh Friday?” I grinned. “Are we going too/.”

“Daft thing. She’s got a charity whist night. She’ll be late back as they always go to her friend Vicky’s after.”

“So?”

“Well, you could come over and we’d be the only ones in the house.”

I smiled. “Some nookie in your bedroom.”

“I’d sort dinner and perhaps we could go to the Old White Horse again.”

“What’s on, anything good?”

“I’ve not checked; I figured we could just risk it.”

“Fair enough.”

“Thing is, I enjoyed being at your place but…”

“It’s all a bit much, with the family and that.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’d like to stay again.”

“But not yet. I get that, it’s all right.” I stroked his hand discreetly. “If you have any gaps in your schedule next week, message me and we can meet up.”

“I have early shift on Friday.”

“Here?”

“Yeah. We could do breakfast then.”

“I’d like that, we’ve not done it for ages. But is that allowed, do they let you?”

He laughed. “They’re nice, so yes. And we’ll be working round here.”

“What time?”

“Half eight.”

“Civilised!” I grinned. “You bringing sandwiches?”

“Of course.”

“Great. I’ll bring coffee.”

Much daring, he gave me a kiss as he left.

So, we were slowing down. I was relieved, in a way. I had wondered whether the total Philpott immersion had been a good idea. Easy to be wise after the event. And it wasn’t so much two steps forward and one step back as snatching moments where possible.

When I got back to The Grange, Vince and Peter had returned and there was a pile of boxes in the hall. Freddie was staring curiously at them, and Peter seemed to be sorting them into some form of order.

“What have you been buying?” Freddie bent over and read out the Swedish name on one of the boxes. “What are they?”

Peter straightened up. “Things for Jacob’s room. Bits and pieces he’ll need.”

“Isn’t there, like, tons of stuff up there?”

Peter smiled. “He’ll need sheets, towels, plates, that sort of thing, a kettle and a microwave.”

“Oh yeah.” Freddie gave a grin.

Vince appeared from the back, having just put the car away.

I turned to him. “Success, then?”

Vince’s snort was almost a rumble. “Well, we didn’t kill each other.”

“Came bloody close, though.” Peter growled.

“But we got everything.”

“Are we putting it upstairs?”

“Seemed sensible to wait till Hortensia has cleaned up there.”

“So, spare bedroom then?”

“Not so far to carry.”

It took a couple of journeys, there were lots of annoying smaller packages.

---

“Why do you think Dad kept all that furniture upstairs?” I turned to Vince, who was ensconced on my sofa.

Peter had left, Freddie was cooking (!) and had evidently shooed Vince out of the kitchen so he had come to rest in my place. I had dug out the Lidl gin and cocktail nuts.

“Christ knows. Do you reckon that’s all of Grandad’s things?”

“It looked like it. Perhaps Dad daren’t get rid of it till Grandad died and then he just couldn’t be arsed.”

“Too fucking difficult.” Vince glared. “You realise that we have to get it all down.”

“And put it somewhere so the valuer can look at it.”

“Valuer?”

“For goodness’ sake, Vince. We can’t just get rid of everything sight unseen.”

“Oh, come on. There’s hardly likely to be a Mona Lisa hiding up there. You’re not still thinking of how Dad kept us from being nosey?”

“No. I just thought it sensible. Find out what everything is.”

He nodded. “OK. We need to find someone and…”

“Hope for a fine day and put it all on the lawn or the drive?”

Vince rolled his eyes. “Get movers, hire a hall.”

“Valuers might have a warehouse.”

“Dawn sold some of her grandmother’s furniture. I’ll ask her who she used.” He got up to go.

“You ever think about going to the gym?”

“A gym, me?” Vince chuckled. “I’ve never been in one in my life. Why?”

“Well, a sedentary job, a middle-aged man…” I smiled.

“Excuse me, I’m not yet 40.”

“Time to start hitting the running machines.”

Vince sighed. “Look, what’s brought this on?”

I paused, and Vince stared intently at me. “It started with a discussion of Matt’s body.” I held up my hands. “He started it. His Mum says he needs to eat more, and I commented that that was the way to end up with a fat belly and stick legs.”

Vince snorted. “Gray! You didn’t say that.”

“Well, not quite, but that’s what happens. I said he needs to do it in a controlled way.”

“Bulking up at the gym.” Vince nodded.

“So… I agreed to go with him.”

Vince guffawed. “You. At the gym? Since when did you exercise?”

“Apart from cycling and walking. And I’ve realised that I’m not as fit as I was. So, a bit of running and that wouldn’t hurt.”

“Whilst Matt did the serious stuff.”

“With a decent trainer. It sounds expensive, and, well, I felt a bit nervous about it.”

“Want me to come and hold your hand?”

“I don’t think you need to go that far, Vince. But, you know, safety in numbers. Also, I wondered whether places did group memberships.”

Vince laughed. “Family memberships for non-traditional families. I don’t think so.”

“That’s what I thought. It’s OK. Matt says that guys and gals from the college go, so he’s going to ask them.”

Vince seemed to pull himself up short and nodded to himself. “Look. That wasn’t fair.”

“What?”

“What I just said. I’ve never been near a gym either, so it would be a case of the blind leading the blind.”

“You’d consider it?” I stared at him, surprised.

“More than consider it. I’ll check with Peter, but yes. I can’t see a reason why the four of us couldn’t find time to join. Ask around, and I’ll do so as well. There can’t be many places.”

“There’s the Council one.”

“Probably for those that know what they’re doing. If we’re to get the benefit, then we need a bit of support and coaching. I’ll see.”

“Won’t it be pricey?”

Vince shrugged. “Let’s not jump to conclusions, and let’s not jump into anything too quickly, either.”

“More research needed?”

“Dead right. But I am serious, we will do it. And I’ll get Peter’s ideas too. Look, I need to go, Freddie should have dinner ready soon.”

“So… Freddie cooking?”

“He was moaning the other day. And made the mistake of saying that Bella’s meals were great, and that he missed them. I said that he could always solve things by doing the cooking himself.”

“And he has.”

“Amazingly.” Vince smiled. “I’ll let you know how successful it was.”