She takes us to a great spot, a little table with a view on the ocean. Giving us the menus, she is still looking fondly atLiam. “Oh, sweetie, I feel so nostalgic seeing you there again! You know, darling, this boy used to come here every single day when he was a kid! Oh, Liam, I remember you doing all your homework on this very table, with that little mint diabolo you always had.”
“And you would always give me free refills, Nina. Can I get that diabolo today?”
“Sure, you can, sweetie! What would you like, young lady?”
“I’ll have the same as Liam.”
“Okay! Take your time, I’ll come back for your order. Our special today is the fish and chips; I would recommend it!” She takes off quickly, and Liam sighs with a smile.
“She loves you a lot,” I say.
“Nina is the sweetest waitress in the world. She didn’t just give me refills, you know. Most of the time, she didn’t take any money for those diabolos.”
“So, you really came here often?” I ask.
Liam nods, but before saying anything else, Nina comes back with our diabolos, takes our orders. I pick the fish and chips, the biggest burger for Liam. Once Nina leaves, he starts playing with his straw and looks at me. “How are you, Nora?”
“I’m fine, I suppose... Better than last night.”
“Looks like it. I was a bit worried. Well, a lot actually. I was afraid that might have been a big blow for you.”
I frown and push my drink aside to lean closer to him. “Why did you take me there, Liam?”
I want to know what he was trying to achieve. After all, he was the only one among all the others who chose to do so.
He frowns and sighs. “To be honest with you, Nora, I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Damian. That engagement is total bullshit, and I don’t want him to be unhappy, tied to a bitch like Alessandra King.”
He says her name with so much disgust, I do feel a bit better.
“Why did you bring me to the party, then? Couldn’t you just talk to him before all this? Liam, now that it’s done, I’m... It’s just plain painful for me!”
Does he realize how much I suffered last night? Seeing Damian with another woman... No matter the reasons Liam had, I still feel like I was just brought there to watch this nightmare and suffer. Why use me in all this?
Liam stays silent for a while, apparently thinking. After a while, he turns his head to the docks, and a soft smile appears. “...You know, my brother is the worst liar.”
What does he mean now? Sometimes I can’t decipher Liam. One minute he is acting like a kid, and the next one, he is there acting all mysterious and plotting behind his brothers’ backs... He points to the docks, and I follow his finger.
“When I was young, Damian used to work right there. He started when he was ten. After school, I would go see my mom at the hospital, and then Damian would take me to this restaurant. I’d do my homework and drink diabolos while he was working. He worked, on this very dock, for five or six hours straight every day. He carried huge boxes back and forth from boats to the dock. Whenever he stopped, he just came here to check up on me, and he went back right away.”
I try to imagine a young Damian, working there, sweating under the weight of heavy containers. It’s hard to imagine how his youth was like...
“Those boxes were awfully huge and heavy. It was a job even a lot of adults didn’t want because it was hard. Old man Seaver let my brother work there, because he never complained, never took a day off. When he was done, if I saidI was tired, he would carry me home. Whenever I asked, he lied, saying he wasn’t tired.”
He must have been. How could he have not been, after working like that... And Liam and Damian have a six-year age difference. No matter how young Liam was, he must have been heavy for Damian to carry after all that...
Liam chuckles. “He lied all the time. He made me believe for ten years that he didn’t like chocolate because our Mom often gave me chocolates for the three of us, and I loved it. So, Damian would say he didn’t want it, and I’d eat his share without knowing.”
I can’t help but smile, imagining a young Liam happily eating chocolate... Our plates arrive, and after thanking Nina, Liam goes on.
“Nate and Damian always hid stuff from me. I learned very late that they had to work because our father didn’t give us any money. We ate fish that Damian would bring back from his work. They both dropped out of high school to work full time. Yet, they never let me see any of the hardships. Every time, they made it look like a game.”
Now I know why they are so adamant about Liam going to high school properly... They are genuinely caring for their youngest brother. The three of them had to protect each other, but Liam more because he was the youngest. It’s a miracle they turned out the way they did, given their family situation... Liam stops eating to play with his fork.
“You know, I suffer from claustrophobia because of them. When I was a kid, they made up a game where I had to sleep in a hole under Nate’s bed. Moon Goddess, I hated that game! It was a stupidhole, with just a blanket. Damian took my bed whenever he’d make me sleep in there. With Nate’s mattress above, I couldn’t see a thing. I thought for years that theywere messing with me, the kind of stupid jokes you would play on your younger siblings, you know?”
Liam shakes his head, frowning at the memory. Why would they put him in a hole? I don’t see Damian or Nate playing this kind of mean jokes on him just for fun.
“It took me a long time to realize. Every time I was in that hole, it was a night when our father would come home.”
