BR - Balls! Part 4

“I’ve been trying to hint about it for ages,” Beth says, frustrated. She finishes her glass and shakes it at the barman, then glares at Edna. “I had Riley on every call. I posted a thousand pictures of us.”

You are taken aback. That’s all true, but you never thought about it at the time. Beth was trying to signal to Shauna what was going on, but Shauna wasn’t picking up on it. So what Beth told you about what was bothering her was only half the story.

“She’s not paying the slightest bit of attention,” Beth says, accepting another beer.

“That’s what this is about,” Edna says, nodding. “She’s not paying enough attention to you.”

Beth hisses in annoyance and jerks a thumb at herself. “I’m a bloody star now. A bit. Not as much as you,” she adds offhandedly to you. “But I am. And what do I get? ‘Lizzy, where are my bloody grandchildren?’”

“I think that’s a gross mischaracterization of your mum’s actions,” Edna says soothingly. “She’s quite proud of you. Never shuts up about you. And besides, Elizabeth. She has a life of her own. She’s a person. Remember?”

“What? Working on the bloody house?” Beth demands, gesturing. You duck to avoid having the glass smashed over your face. She sees that she almost got you and looks abashed. Beth sets her glass down and glowers at Edna. “Don’t defend her.”

“I don’t have to. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“She has. She hasn’t got on with her life.”

“What? According to you?” Edna asks, taking off her glasses to look more directly at Beth. “What do you know about her life? How often did you call her when you were at Surrey? And now that you’re in America.”

“Fuck off,” Beth says, rolling her eyes. “She’s being ridiculous and you bloody know it.”

“Somebody is, but I don’t think it’s her,” Edna replies airily. “You want her to pay more attention to you and you want her to move on and find a man. Why? Because you won’t spend time with her so you need someone else to do it for you?”

Beth twitches. “Yes,” she says, taking another drink.

“All right then,” Edna replies with a shrug.

You sip your drink, watching them warily. It’s not a fight, exactly, but Beth is prickly. It makes you a bit nervous. Relationships have rough patches and that’s okay, but cranking it up to maximum awkwardness when you happen to be in a foreign country staying in her house… yeesh. You need to keep Beth happy.

“You seem tense,” Edna says.

Beth snorts.

“You should have another drink.”

“Oh, I will,” Beth assures her.

“I meant at my place.”

Beth chokes. She stares at Edna.

“God,” she says after a moment. “I thought you were mum’s friend.”

“Shauna’s a very dear friend,” Edna replies, nonplussed.

“Then why are you making a pass at her daughter?” Beth asks, trying not to laugh.

“I would never lay a finger on my friend’s daughter, no matter how charming and beautiful she might be,” Edna says, turning to look at you. “Her, friend though—that would be another matter. And I’m a generous spirit. I’d let my friend’s daughter watch.”

You feel your face turning so red. Your ears burn.

“Huh?” you say.

Beth seems struck by what Edna said, but not the way you would expect. She looks… difficult to read. Then she blinks several times and frowns thoughtfully.

She looks at you. She’s waiting for a reaction.

“Another drink sounds good,”

Or

“Sounds like trouble,”