Craig

The noise in the pub was getting to him.

It was a Saturday afternoon and he was there with his mates to watch football. The place was packed but they were lucky enough to have found a table.

Jokes were cracked, lager was drunk, and hoots and yells and curse words were thrown at the large flat screen televisions on the walls.

Craig stared into his lager and wondered not for the first time in three weeks whether he would ever find something funny enough to laugh at again.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder and turned to look at Stevie, who was crammed in next to him. “Maybe you just need to get laid,” he offered, concern in his eyes.

Obviously Craig wasn’t doing a very good job of looking happy to be there.

Despite knowing Stevie’s words were well meaning, Craig scowled at him. “Is that what you’d do if Audrey left you? Fuck the first bird that came along?”

Stevie glowered back at him . . . but then he turned away and lifted his pint to his mouth, muttering, “Fair point.”

Craig sighed and pulled out his wallet. He put a twenty on the table beside Stevie. “Sorry. Have a few on me. I’m heading home before work.”

“The game isn’t finished,” Stevie argued.

“Not in the mood.” He got up and ignored his friends’ good-natured name-calling as he left.

As Craig walked back to his flat he thought how fucked up it was that his city, a city that had been familiar and warm to him his whole life, felt so damn strange and empty these days.

He knew why, but he daren’t think her name.

When he got to his flat he felt a moment of apprehension rush through him when he found his door unlocked. Silently he turned the handle and on light feet he walked inside.

“It’s us, sweetheart!” his mother’s voice called out from the living room.

Relaxing at the identity of the intruder but confused as to why she was there, Craig shut his front door and strode into the heart of his flat.

He came to an abrupt halt at the sight of his mother, Maggie, and Jeannie. “What’s going on?”

Maggie stepped forward, her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a familiar, mulish expression. “This is an intervention.”

“An intervention?” He frowned, not in the mood for this crap. “For fucking what?”

“Watch your mouth,” his mum snapped.

He wisely kept his trap shut.

Jeannie gave him a sad smile. “We’re worried about you.”

Growing up, all he’d done was worry about her. Some of that worry was eased when she met her fiancé. He was a good solid bloke and he clearly loved his sister. Still, Craig never stopped worrying about her. It was strange to be on the receiving end of that familial concern. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” his mum said, sounding exasperated.

His eyebrows rose at her tone. He’d been avoiding her these last few weeks. Finally guilt made him take her phone call the other night and he’d told her that Rain had left and why. She’d gotten off the phone sounding sad. Not exasperated.

“I will be,” he insisted, although right now it didn’t feel like it.

He missed Rain with every inch of his being.

It felt like grief.

“You’re going to Australia,” Maggie suddenly announced.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

Their mother rolled her eyes at her youngest daughter. “I thought we said we’d lead up to that?”

“I cut to the chase.”

“Well, I’m confused, so perhaps we should return to the leading-up-to-it part,” Craig suggested impatiently.

“Ugh, you’re so snarky when you’re heartbroken.” Maggie made a face and was abruptly pulled down onto the sofa by an annoyed Jeannie.

“We know you didn’t follow Rain to Australia because of us,” his mum said. “But we’re here to tell you that we want you to go be with her.”

Euphoria shot through him at the thought but was quickly extinguished when he took in each of their faces. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Craig, sweetheart . . .” His mum got up and came toward him, cupping his face in her hands. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Will I miss you if you’re over there? Yes. But I miss you more right now because you’re not you. Rain took a big piece of you with her and you need to go get it back. I need you to be happy more than I need you to be here.”

Maggie and Jeannie came up behind her, wrapping their arms around his and their mum’s waists. “Ditto what mum said.” Jeannie kissed his cheek.

He looked at Maggie, his heart pounding in his chest. His smart-arse little sister had tears on her face.

“Go get her,” Maggie whispered. “We’ll be fine.”

The thought of leaving them weighed heavily on him. “I can’t.”

“You can,” his mum insisted, the tears replaced by a blaze of determination. “You take all that money you’ve been saving and you get a flight out there. And while you’re out there maybe you can do something about that dream of owning your own bar.”

“Plus if you go I’ll have an excuse to visit Sydney,” Maggie added, and there was genuine excitement in her young eyes at the thought.

“Ditto what Mags said,” Jeannie laughed.

Craig stared at them in disbelief but the hope inside of him was building and building . . . “I promised I’d always take care of you. When Dad died . . . I promised . . .”

“A couple of continents won’t stop you from keeping that promise,” his mum assured him. “I’m not taking no for an answer. This is an intervention with no choice.”