A Suitable Lie Read Online Free PDF

down my right cheek. Then there was no stopping them. I cried for what seemed hours, my shoulders shaking and my head falling forward towards Pat’s. Still he continued his stare, as if trying tomake sense of the being holding him, while his face melted under the force of my tears.
    Even now, I can still remember that first kiss, the first time I placed my lips on the soft warmth of his forehead. That moment when I began the unfaltering process of falling in love with my son.
    Perhaps the Morrisons should have received my thanks for bringing me to my senses, but the thought that they would try and take Pat incensed me. Let’s see how they feel at the thought of never seeing him. Let’s see how they suffer. And for four years, I made sure they did just that. Though somehow their names entered Pat’s conversation.
    ‘So why did you decide to let Pat go with the Morrisons?’ asked Jim
    ‘Anna talked me into it.’ I answered. ‘She made me understand how it must have been for them. Besides, I’ve known for a wee while that Mum has been taking him over to see them…’
    ‘How…?’
    ‘I’m no daft and four-year-olds are not very discreet.’ I looked over at my brother, pleased and not at all surprised that he didn’t try to deny it. He was wearing one of his many suits – three piece, with a shirt and silk tie that matched perfectly – and I was reminded of where we were going. This was a good sign. The fact my brother had dressed with his usual attention calmed me. The planned pranks wouldn’t be too messy then.
    ‘So, what’s on the cards?’ I asked, not expecting a truthful answer.
    ‘Oh, you know,’ he grinned. ‘A few jars at the rugby club and then the minibus is coming to take a few of us across to Edinburgh.’
    ‘Edinburgh?’ I was worried by the weasel thought that entered my head: Anna might be annoyed. Then I dismissed it. If she was, too bad. Just because she had refused to have a hen party, didn’t mean I should stint on my own evening of fun.
    ‘I’ll send her a text in the morning. From the hotel, just before we hit the bar again.’
     
    A t the door to the club, Jim paid the driver and we walked in. From the entrance I could see around twenty guys in suits at the bar, the deep hum of their voices audible above the jukebox.
    Malcolm Kay, one of my oldest friends and a colleague from the bank, was the first to turn round. Judging by the flush on his cheeks the pint glass in his hand wasn’t his first.
    ‘There he is, guys,’ he announced.
    ‘Strip him,’ the roar rushed at my ears. I turned towards the door I’d just entered as if to leave and Jim gripped my arm.
    ‘Best just to give in, Andy.’ He smiled and nodded slowly.
    ‘Aye. Right enough.’
    I pulled at my tie. There was absolutely no point in fighting them, the end result would just be the same; me with no clothes on. In seconds I was naked, apart from my feet. No one would go near my socks.
    ‘Hey, steady on, guys.’ The sixty-year-old club secretary was the lone voice of sanity. ‘What about the barmaid? Poor Senga’ll have to stare at that thing all night.’
    ‘Hold on, Dave Heaney,’ said the aforementioned Senga as she placed a perfect pint on the bar. She ran stubby fingers through her cropped brown hair, stuck out her breasts, placed her hands on her expansive hips and leered. ‘Is this an expression of complaint you see on this here dish? No? Well shut up and let an old girl have her fun. It’s no very often I get to see any of these well-stacked young men in the skuddy.’
    The rest of the evening passed in a blur of booze and banter. I eventually came to the next morning, wearing nothing but my boxers, lying on top of a bed in a strange hotel room.

4
    T he shower in my hotel room was like some form of magic. Hot water just a few degrees from being able to melt flesh battered my head and neck like aqueous rivets. Just what the doctor ordered to banish the last of my hangover. I turned my back to the