Agony Aunt

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I gazed down into the pastel green bowl, the spoon scraped across the last remnants of molten ice cream that had swamped over the decorative golden leaves at the bottom of the ceramic. The last bite of sticky toffee pudding and the now liquified frozen treat was shovelled into my mouth. With a satisfied moan, I dropped the spoon into the now empty dessert bowl and with relief, I slouched back into the comfortable wooden dining chair. 

Fortunately, my family weren't into the whole pretentious dining experience that only offered a meal that was two mouthfuls but six times the price of a regular meal. The Miller's liked to eat so that was what we did every time we came to the favourite family pubThe Oakland Inn. 

I gazed around at my family that were seated around a large wooden table that was centred underneath a large iron candelabra hanging from the ceiling. Mum and dad were happily chatting away to each other with love in their eyes and I wondered to myself if that was going to be Jacob and me in another thirty years. 

"Love is in the air," Adam chortled from the left side of me.

I gave my brother the side-eye, even though no one had directly mentioned what Adam had walked in on earlier, everyone knew. Their grins and subtle smirks teased the humiliation out of my body and into the ever-growing flames that were my cheeks. 

"That's quite the appetite you've got today," he chirped up again. 

I turned my head slightly to gain a better view of Adam, he had already finished his dessert ten minutes ago and was now sitting bouncing a sleepy-eyed Roe on his knee. A beaming grin plastered across his face and he tipped his head slightly to gesture to the empty bowl, in order to nudge out a reply from me. 

"Have you got something to say?" I exaggerated my huff by folding my arms across my chest. 

My eyes moved away from his smug smile and I took in the view of the private function room we had hired on the first floor. The rustic charm of its original eighteenth-century beams strung across the ceiling, an open fireplace brought warmth to the antique, wooden furniture, whilst three sofas encompassed the focal point. 

"Yeah, you're getting more than I am these days," Adam shrugged which wobbled Roe.

"Adam!" I whipped my head back around to him. 

"Hell, even Roe gets to bury his face in Riley's tits more than I do."

"Oh god," I picked up my wine glass and placed the rim on my apple-red lips in an attempt to hide my blush. "Just because you're sexually frustrated..." 

"Your point being?" He raised an eyebrow. 

"My point is, that you decided to bang my door down instead of banging your wife," I trailed off into my glass where I quickly took a sip of the ochre-coloured liquid. 

"Damn, I think I need some ice for that burn," Adam's words forced out a snort of bemusement which somehow echoed around the cylindrical vessel that I still held to my lips. 

"You deserve it for barging into my room without knocking," my eyes wandered around the table to see everyone else still too preoccupied with their own conversations to pay attention to ours. "You were like an excited five-year-old, I thought you had grown out of that phase." 

"Nah, just ask Riley." 

I knocked back the rest of my wine with a smile and then saw Adam wave over the bartender. Right now I was thankful that this function room had its own private bar situated against the wall next to the creaky, old wooden door, with spectacular waiter service that offered up enough alcohol to drown out my exuberant, older brother on his birthday.