He was woken by the smell of eggs frying. He touched the corner of his eye, which was half shut, felt the tender skin, the cut along the brow. He eased out of bed, aching, pulled on a T-shirt and went to investigate.
He stopped in the doorway of the living room. Angela was hunched over the stove singing ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams under her breath. He hadn’t seen her up at this time in weeks.
‘Hey, Mum.’
She looked at him. For a moment it seemed as if she didn’t recognise him, then she smiled. ‘My beautiful boy, let me look at you.’
He took a couple of steps forward and she left the frying pan and met him, held on to his forearms like she was trying to stop him escaping. The pan hissed and spat behind her. Her eyes were glassy, either hungover or still drunk, or maybe already drunk again this morning. The smell of it on her breath.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ she said, pushing her hair out of her face. ‘You know that?’
Tyler pulled his arms away. It was weird being touched by her after so long without contact. Like she wasn’t entitled. But she was his mum, he had to keep reminding himself about that.
She looked disappointed that he’d pulled away but she tried to cover it, put on a smile. ‘Fried egg on toast OK for you?’
‘Sure.’
She turned back to the cooking. ‘Wake your sister or she’ll be late for school.’
Bean was sitting up in her bed playing with her slime, gloop stretched between her fingers.
‘Time to get up,’ Tyler said. ‘Mum’s cooking breakfast.’
‘Shut up.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘No joke.’
‘Why?’
Tyler shrugged. ‘Just get your stuff on.’
‘What happened to your eye?’ Bean said.
‘Nothing. Just bumped it last night.’
It was only when he was out the room and in the hall that he realised Angela hadn’t mentioned the eye. Maybe she hadn’t noticed.
He flinched at the sound of a key in the front door. He should get the locks changed but then Barry would be pissed off and take it as an insult. Anyway, changing the locks cost money and Barry could just kick the door in.
The door opened and it was Kelly. Tyler tried to think of the last time he’d seen her without Barry but he couldn’t remember. She was bleary-eyed and wore a thick sweatshirt and jeggings.
She closed the door behind her, looked at him and put a hand to his cheek. ‘What happened to you?’
‘Bumped into a cupboard in the kitchen.’
She tried to run a fingernail along the cut but he flinched. She gave him a look. ‘It’s best just to do what he says.’
‘You think?’
She sighed. ‘He’s got our best interests at heart.’
‘How can you say that after the other night?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Kelly said. ‘Nothing happened the other night.’
Tyler shook his head. ‘I can’t get it out of my mind.’
She lowered her voice. ‘Well try harder or you’re going to get us all killed.’
Talking to her was like talking to Barry’s sock puppet, she just agreed with everything he said.
Kelly looked through to the living room. ‘What are you making for breakfast?’
‘Nice one.’
‘Really.’ He waved towards the kitchenette.
Angela was putting a bottle of wine back in the cupboard when Tyler got to the doorway. He was disappointed but not surprised. And wine wasn’t that bad, considering.
Bean came in behind him and stared at her mum.
‘What are you doing?’ Kelly said.
Angela turned. ‘I didn’t realise it was such a big deal, cooking for my kids.’
‘You don’t normally,’ Kelly said.
Angela got plates out of the cupboard, threw toast and eggs on them. The toast was burnt and the eggs were rubbery on the bottom and raw on top. Angela moved with the rhythmic sway of a constant drunk, like she’d spent a long time at sea dealing with the shift of balance on deck.
Bean made a face at the plate in front of her, and Tyler gave her a look to at least try. He leaned in. ‘I’ll get you something else to eat on the way to school.’
‘I heard that,’ Angela said. ‘Fuck’s sake, I’m trying my best.’
Tyler gave Bean another look, turning the two of them into conspirators. ‘Sorry.’
Kelly watched all this with her eyes wide. ‘I’ll leave you guys to it.’ She headed towards the door then pretended to remember something. ‘Tyler, can you pop in and see Barry after school? He wants to talk about something.’
‘Sure,’ Tyler said.
Kelly left and Bean pushed a knife into the runny white on the top of her egg. ‘What does Barry want?’
‘How would I know?’ Tyler said. ‘Now eat up.’
Bean shook her head, trying to hide it from Angela.
‘Fuck this,’ Angela said. She opened the cupboard, took out the wine and went to her bedroom, slamming the door like a stroppy teenager.
Tyler put his knife and fork down.
‘Forget that,’ he said, looking at Bean’s plate. ‘Let’s go.’