“Then sit on the ledge until they’re all gone. I’ll get rid of them. Somehow. Once I do, you can come back in and leave through the front door.”
“Sit on the ledge? Have you lost your mind? There isn’t enough ledge to sit on. Look.” He threw back the curtains to show her what he meant. “What the hell?” he bellowed. “What’s with all the people at my place? What are those trucks doing there? Somebody get those morons out of there, they’re scaring the donkeys!”
“Shh!” Abby held up her hands. “They’ll hear you.” She turned to the door. “It’s just the TV,” she called.
“You don’t have a TV in your room,” Jena called back.
“Radio?” Abby said.
Flynn pulled on his jeans. “Get dressed. I need to find out why there are trucks and strangers all over my place. That bloody weasel has been up to something. I’m going to wring his neck.”
“I knew there was more going on between those two than neighbourly good manners,” Victoria said.
“And what if there is?” Lawrence said. “They’re adults. It’s none of your business.”
“This is just what Mother feared. Look at this mess. It’s no environment for a child.?
??
Abby wanted to rip her hair out.
“The child is fine,” Flynn shouted. “The child is made of bloody Teflon. She wasn’t in the room. If you lot hadn’t broken into Abby’s house, she wouldn’t even have known I was here.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Matt shouted. “Take Katy downstairs, Jena. Lawrence, take Victoria. I’ll deal with this. Couldn’t keep it in his pants for one bloody week.”
“Are they kissing in there?” Katy asked. “Do they have to get married now? I can’t get a sister until Muma gets married. I told her it’s okay if she marries Flynn. I can’t think of anybody else for her to marry anyway.”
Flynn stared at the door. “What the hell? I’m a last resort?”
“Come on,” Jena said. “Let’s go make breakfast. Your aunty Victoria looks like she could use a cup of tea.” There was a pause. “Is it too early to add vodka?” There was silence. “Okay, no vodka. Let’s go, kid.”
There were protests as Jena led Katy downstairs.
“You too,” Lawrence said. “You achieve nothing by standing guard outside Abby’s bedroom door.”
“What am I going to tell Mother?” Victoria sounded genuinely distressed.
“We’ll talk about it downstairs,” Lawrence said softly.
“Matt,” Flynn called. “There’s no way I’m coming out if you’re waiting there to punch me.”
“Damn straight I’m waiting here to hit you. Somebody needs to knock some sense into you. I knew the intervention was a waste of time. I should have just taken you to the gym and pummelled you until you understood things had to change.”
“Oh yeah, I really want to come out of the room now.” Flynn hunted around for his shirt while Abby pulled on underwear.
“There.” She pointed to the shirt poking out from under the bed.
“Thanks, sugar.” He shrugged it on.
“What am I going to do? I don’t know how to fix this,” Abby muttered as she pulled a plain navy dress from her closet.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Flynn said gently.
“How?” she screeched.
Flynn scanned the area around her.
“Stop looking for weapons. I’m not going to turn homicidal.”