The Summerhouse by the Sea. Jenny Oliver
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his battered old school rucksack.
‘Hang on,’ said Claire, taking the bag from him.
Max looked confused as she rested his hand luggage on the wall and unzipped it. As she pulled out his laptop, his little face fell. ‘What?’ he said with a whine. ‘No way.’
‘You’re going to go on a digital detox,’ she said.
Max kicked the wall. ‘I don’t want to go on a digital detox. I like digital. What am I going to do without my laptop? What am I going to do on the plane?’
Claire ruffled his hair as he sulked. ‘Get your dad to buy you a book at the airport.’
‘I don’t want a book. I want my laptop.’
Claire shook her head.
‘This is so unfair,’ Max said. ‘This is so unfair.’ He turned to look at his dad, but the deathly paleness of Rory’s face and the aura of holding-it-together-hopelessness meant Max didn’t repeat his protest for the third time.
Rory opened the passenger door. ‘Come on, mate. In the car.’
Max tried Claire one last time. ‘Please let me take it, Mum?’
‘No.’
Rory had an inkling the laptop ban was as much for his benefit as Max’s. To stop the obsessive Twitter refreshing. Rory himself had reverted to an old Nokia that could do nothing more whizzy than send and receive black and white texts of 160 characters.
Max stuck his bottom lip out.
Rory saw Claire hold back a smile as she bent down to hug him. Reluctant at first, he rolled himself round into her arms and Rory heard her whisper in his ear something along the lines of, ‘Be good, look after your father, and I love you,’ as she gave him a huge, bone-crushing hug. Then she stood up, face to face with Rory.
‘Take care of yourself,’ Claire said, pushing her hair back behind her ears, then clearly not knowing what to do with her hands, folding her arms across her chest.
It started to rain slightly. Just the odd tap-tap on the pavement.
Rory nodded.
‘Be nice to your sister,’ Claire said.
Rory nodded again.
‘Have you told her you’re coming?’ she asked.
‘No.’
‘Rory!’
‘I will.’
Claire rolled her eyes.
The rain tap-tapped heavier.
Rory stepped forwards. ‘We’d better kiss so I don’t leave on an eye-roll,’ he said.
She smiled.
He bent down, a bit nervous, and kissed her on the corner of her mouth. Claire reached up and held his face, kissed him square on the lips, quickly. Then she put her arms around his neck and hugged him.
Rory could smell the Chanel and Max’s shampoo because she’d run out of her flash stuff. He thought he might cry again. Hold it together, you pussy, he told himself.
‘Have fun,’ Claire said brightly as she stood back.
‘I’d have more fun with my laptop,’ said Max, cheeky this time.
Claire swiped his hair.
‘I love you,’ she said as they both went round to their respective sides of the car, and Rory wondered how much of it was for him.
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