The Long Way Home by Phillip Overton

  ****

  Later the two brothers sat quietly as they finished their meals. The hotel bistro was packed. It seemed all the locals had come out for dinner, friends, couples and families alike. There were quite a few elderly folk here also, some of them grandparents others just out together for the night. Doug seemed at ease the minute he stepped foot in the building and looked around. He didn’t know why he let himself get all tense this afternoon at the thought of hitting the town with his younger brother. It had turned out to be just what he needed, a couple of beers with his brother followed by a nice, big steak dinner.

  “You up for another beer mate?” Barry asked him after he had finished eating.

  “Nah, still going on this one.”

  “I’ll be back in a sec then, I’m just going to grab another.”

  Doug sat back and thought about how quickly Christmas had come around, it was less than a week away. He had already arranged to take the day off work on Thursday. That was no problem, no one ever buys a house on Christmas Eve and that made it possible for him drive down to Sydney with Barry to spend Christmas with their father. His Dad was already calling it Christmas with three lonely old blokes!

  “Back again.” Barry said as he sat back down.

  Doug hardly looked up from his near empty glass. ‘This Christmas was going to suck,’ he thought. Rowena had made it clear that she was having Christmas with her family but that didn’t stop Doug feeling empty inside that for the first time since his son was born he wasn’t going to see him on Christmas Day.

  “So, first Christmas on your own since….” Barry trailed off, as if reading his brother’s mind.

  “Yep.”

  “You going to be okay?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Try not to worry too much about it. You get to spend it with me and Dad.”

  “I know, still doesn’t make it easier though.”

  “Yeah I know. Well I don’t know actually, but Dad would. It would’ve been harder for him you know when he lost Mum. He still misses her every day, makes you wonder what he’d give to have one more Christmas with her. You on the other hand shouldn’t be thinking of spending another Christmas with that spiteful piece of work you were once married to.”

  “No, it’s Simon though. Why does it feel like I’m being punished because she wants to spend Christmas with her family? Why else would she go down to her sisters two weeks before Christmas? I’ll tell you why, it’s so that I can’t even see him beforehand, so that I miss out all together.”

  “Yeah that sucks, but you know what? That’s what it’s going to be like from now on. She’ll get custody, they all do.” Barry took another swig of his beer and tried to think of something to cheer his brother up. “When does the court settle everything?”

  “Early February.”

  “Tell you what then, after New Year’s Eve when you have Simon for the whole weekend, how about we have a late Christmas on the beach?” Barry’s face lit up with excitement as he began planning it out in his head. “Terrigal would be a perfect spot. We can play cricket on the beach with the cricket set you’ve got him for Christmas. We’ll invite Dad down, he’ll be in on it as well. We’ll call it the three and a half lonely blokes’ beach party!”

  Doug laughed, it was a great idea. “Let’s do it.”

  “There you go. See, we can still have fun. Now let’s go over to the bar and plan this party over a couple of drinks.” Barry said as he got to his feet.

  It was now nearly nine o’clock. Most of the bistro had cleared out except for a few stragglers still talking over their last drinks. It was a different crowd that was arriving now. The bar was a hive of activity, a mix of twenty and thirty-something’s just getting started while the older crowd called it a night and went home. The bar looked out over the bistro but also disappeared around the corner so that its’ L-shaped design also fronted on to next room. Doug followed Barry as he entered the next room and made his way to the bar. The music in here was much louder and his brother had to raise his voice to talk to him.

  “Another beer mate?”

  “Yeah sure.”

  “Two beers mate,” Barry said to the barman holding up two fingers and a five dollar note at the same time.

  “Hey pool tables.” Doug said as he looked around the room.

  “You want a game?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Thanks mate,” Barry said to the barman as he passed a glass to Doug. Then taking the change, he casually stuffed it into the front pocket of his jeans and made his way to one of the three pool tables that filled the room. They were all being used, so they sat instead at one of the tables nearby on the ridiculously tall chairs.

  The room continued around the corner from the bar. There was a polished wooden dance floor with a silver disco ball hanging overhead from the ceiling. The room was darker than out here by the pool table and right now the dance floor was empty save for some of the staff standing in the middle while talking to the DJ. He had come out from behind his table in the corner and it was obvious that the evening was only getting started. It seemed the more the time crept past nine the more people arrived, Doug thought as he tapped his foot along to the music.

  “See anyone you know?” Doug asked, but when he turned around his brother was talking to a gorgeous brunette.

  “….and this is my brother Doug.” Barry finished saying.

  “Hi Doug.” The hot brunette said as she held out her hand for a handshake. “My name’s Vanessa.”

  “Pleased to meet you.” Doug said as he clumsily shook her hand.

  “I’ll be back in a minute Barry, grab that pool table for us okay.” She said and then was gone, just as quickly as Doug had seen her come.

  “Man, how long was I on another planet for?”

  Barry just laughed. “C’mon, this pool table is free.” He motioned as he got up leaving Doug to hurry along behind him. One of the guys who had just finished playing handed two cues to Barry who immediately passed one on to Doug.

  “You guys up for a game?”

  Doug turned around to see who was talking to him and saw a huge, broad shouldered mountain of a man. He looked like an imposing rugby player, and his strong, chiseled jaw was busily chewing gum only a foot from his face.

  “Hey mate, how’s it going?” Barry stepped in and shook his hand. “The girls will be back in a sec, you guys wanna play for a round? Loser shouts drinks.”

  “Sounds cool, how many in your group?”

  “Four.” Barry said. “Two guys, two girls.”

  “Same here, I’ll rack ‘em up okay.” He said before joining his friends on the other side of the table.

  “One of my rules when I go out is to always bring a friend,” Barry said to Doug. “That way when you meet a girl who has come along with a friend, she doesn’t have to feel guilty about leaving her on her own. It makes it a lot easier to convince her to spend the rest of the night talking to you.”

  “Hi again.” Vanessa said as she returned. This time she wasn’t alone. “Everyone this is Samantha. Samantha I’d like you to meet Barry and his brother Doug.”

  “Hi there.” Samantha said awkwardly, a nervous giggle escaping her. Seeing her friend already standing beside Barry and the obvious body language that was already starting to unfold, Samantha turned her attention to Doug. “So tell me Doug, what do you do for a living?”