The following Sunday, Glory waited until her mother had left the house before setting up camp in the front room. The TV was showing reruns of Come Dine With Me and Glory’s thumb was stuck in an endless scroll over her various feeds, when her phone began ringing. She couldn’t help feel her stomach leap with excitement when she saw Julian’s name. She cleared her throat a few times before answering, trying to sound as casual as possible, but Julian bypassed the pleasantries.
“Are you still working that waitressing t’ing?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Listen, I’ve got something you might be interested in—well it’s not me, it’s my boy actually, he’s launching this—what’s it called again?” He called off to someone in the background. “Yeah, that’s it, it’s like some pop-up restaurant for Nigerian food, but not like a takeaway? I dunno man, but he’s looking for someone to help with marketing and I thought of you.”
The words “I thought of you” echoed in Glory’s mind, but “pop-up restaurant” was the thing that really made her pay attention.
“Is it paid?”
“Come on, Glory!”
She felt the familiar comfort of his laugh.
“You think I’d try bring you in on some internship? ’Course it’s paid, you’re legit, that’s why I suggested you. I know you don’t really wanna do the social media thing, but I thought being as you’re a foodie, this might change your mind.”
“It does sound interesting.”
“Calm.” Julian sounded satisfied. “I’ll give him your number.”
“All right, then.”
“You good, though?”
“I’m OK, yeah. How are you?”
“Man’s here, y’know. Livin’.”
There was a pregnant pause, enough space for Glory to tell him about Hope, to impress him with her tenacity; enough space for one of them to declare something that might push open the door of possibility.
“Anyways, let me not take up any more of your Sunday. My boy will be in touch—his name’s Ayọ̀, yeah?”
“OK, no problem,” Glory said with an ease that sounded convincing. “Take care, Julian.”
“Always,” was his response and then the line went dead.
Glory lay back and let her mind wander. She thought of the restaurants she’d read about that started off as pop-up sensations. She imagined herself posing in Time Out, next to this Ayọ̀ and the rest of the team, in an article singing the praises of this new venture. She imagined a launch party—with Julian there, of course, it would be a genuine excuse to see him. But then the front door opened and Glory nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Hellooo?” Faith called into the house and Glory cycled through fear, relief and confusion.
“It’s just me!” she called back.
“Ah, good,” Faith said, entering the room and surveying Glory stretched out on the sofa, the coffee table littered with plantain crisps and a single bottle of Supermalt.
Glory put her phone down and watched her sister sit carefully in one of the armchairs. Faith rubbed her palms together, stood back up, took off her jacket, then sat back down.
“Where are the twins?” Glory asked.
“Michael offered to take them out,” Faith replied, her eyes fixed on the television screen. “He said you went to see her last week.”
Glory tried to remain charitable but this refusal to say Hope’s name felt childish and cruel. Hope was the only one in all this that had done nothing at all.
“I did. I spoke to the woman too. Joan.”
Faith held her poker face.
“So, what does that mean going forward?”
Glory didn’t know how to answer this question, so she said nothing for a moment. When one of them finally spoke, the other did too.
“Look—”
“I—”
Faith gestured for Glory to continue.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about everything you said before and you were right about so much. But I had to do this. I just had to.”
Faith’s face stayed blank.
“I think the fact that I wasn’t here for so many of the important things made me feel like I had to try and fix this one thing, and I know now that it could have backfired and been the most horrible thing to happen on top of everything else, but I needed to feel like I was doing something to help. You’ve done so much for us, Faith. I’m sorry I ran away from it all and you had to do it alone.”
“Thank you,” Faith said, but her body language didn’t change.
“And you know what?” Glory said with resignation. “I’ve chatted a lot of shit about Michael over the years, but he’s not actually that bad. He’s a good lad.”
Faith was so shocked by this concession that she forgot to maintain her emotional distance, and didn’t suppress the confused smile that appeared on her face.
“I checked the weather this morning, but it didn’t say anything about pigs flying!” she said, now trying to regain her aloof position. But it didn’t work, the wedge between the two sisters had dissolved.
“What’s your plan for this big reunion then?” Faith asked Glory, sitting forward in her chair slightly.
“Well, I was thinking maybe a neutral environment, like going for coffee or something.”
“Er, no,” Faith said. “It needs to be at home or Mummy won’t be comfortable.”
“But it would be a bit intense don’t you think?” Glory asked. “Just putting myself in Hope’s position, that’s all.”
Faith thought this over.
“She should come with Joan, then. I’m sure Mummy would be happy to see her as well.”
Faith tossed out the name with an easy familiarity. Glory’s tongue still tripped clumsily over what to call the only woman Hope had known as “Mum.”
“You sure?”
Faith nodded.
“And how do you feel about it?”
“The wheels were in motion long before you poked your nose in this,” Faith said. “I should have expected it, really.”
“You knew,” Glory said, as the realization dawned on her.
“Sort of.”
Glory was swamped with questions, but she reined them all in. There would be time for all of that, she reminded herself. Nobody was going anywhere.
Faith picked up a handful of plantain crisps, settling in to get comfortable and watch the TV.
“You’re turning into Daddy, y’know,” she said to Glory after swallowing a mouthful. “He used to do this every Sunday after church, remember?”
“Watch Come Dine With Me?” Glory said doubtfully.
“No, sit on the sofa and drink malt and eat plantain crisps.”
Glory paused to think, and yes, it was a scene that came easily to mind. She grunted and sat up straight.
“You can have the rest of the Supermalt if you want.”
Her phone started ringing again and when she read the caller display, she rushed to show it to Faith. It was Hope.
“Do you want to speak to her?” Glory whispered excitedly.
“No,” Faith said calmly. “She’s phoning to talk to you. You answer.”
And she sat back, turning her attention to the TV.
“Oh my God, Glory!” Hope exclaimed when Glory answered. “I told you Mark’s sister is a solicitor, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“He was with her last night and apparently she was talking about work and I don’t know, but one thing lead to another and Mark mentioned something about joint enterprise—I don’t think he mentioned Victor or anything, I mean, he knows, I told him, I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t think he would have—anyway! Eliza mentioned that there had been a Supreme Court ruling on it.”
“On what?” Glory asked.
“Joint enterprise! Mark looked it up this morning! I’ll send you a link now!”
Hope ended the call and not two seconds later, a link had appeared on Glory’s screen.
“What’s up?” Faith asked, wondering why the call had been so short.
“I’m not sure, one sec,” Glory said as she loaded the webpage.
A headline appeared in solid black type: “Joint Enterprise Law Wrongly Interpreted For 30 Years, Supreme Court Rules.”
Glory’s eyes scanned hungrily over the article, her throat constricting after each sentence.
“Faith! Oh my God, Faith! Look at this!”
Glory leaped up and onto the arm of the chair Faith was sitting in, holding the phone out.
Faith’s eyes widened as she read, her hand held midair, holding a plantain crisp that hadn’t quite made it to her mouth.
“Does this mean—”
Glory was already calling Hope back.
“Hope? You’re on speaker, Faith’s here too!” Glory held the phone between the two of them.
“Oh! Hi Faith, you all right?”
“H-hi Hope,” Faith said, for once not sounding self-assured.
“What does this mean, though?” Glory asked, afraid to allow herself to come to any conclusion.
“Was that Glory or Faith?” Hope asked. “You both sound so similar! Sorry!”
All three of them laughed.
“It was me, Glory.”
“Right, well, it means we’d need to get him a lawyer and then appeal it, I think? Oh my God, I don’t know. Do you want me to ask Mark’s sister?”
“Yes, please!” Glory said hurriedly, then looking at Faith she added: “We can call Michael as well, Faith’s husband—he’s a lawyer too!”
“Oh, perfect! Let me try her now and call you back.”
“Mad, innit?” Glory said to Faith, taking a deep breath and rubbing a hand over her face. And, for once, Faith was speechless too.