Page 4 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Someone efficient and organised who will whip this place into shape in no time at all, I reckon,’ Ethan told him, holding out his phone.

Ryan took the mobile from his brother and read the email. Words like proficient, orderly and meticulous stood out as he scanned the screen. Words totally unsuitable for the messy station and the even messier family situation that he was surrounded by.

‘You see?’ said Ethan, looking smug as he took the mobile back. ‘She sounds great.’

‘She sounds like a lunatic,’ Ryan told him, making a face. ‘What kind of person answers a crazy job description like that?’

‘Who cares?’ replied Ethan, as ever nonchalant. At the age of thirty-one, he showed little sign of acting responsibly, although only Ryan knew that it was all an act.

They had always been chalk and cheese in looks as well as personalities. Whereas Ryan was dark-haired and brown-eyed like his dad, his younger brother was blonde and blue-eyed taking after their mum. Ethan was the laid-back joker, never taking anything seriously and always dodging the blame for the end of his many relationships. Ryan, meanwhile, had always felt the weight of responsibility of being the older brother, never more so than in the past month, and had always had to be the sensible, dependable son.

‘Anyway, I’ve sent a reply and she’s coming for an interview this afternoon,’ carried on Ethan.

Ryan groaned in despair. ‘What interview?’ he said, struggling to keep his temper under control. ‘There’s no job here!’

‘You’ll think of something,’ Ethan told him, with a shrug.

Ryan looked at his brother, his eyebrows raised. ‘Why shouldIbe the one thinking of something? You’re the one whose dumb idea this was.Youcan interview her.’

‘Because I’m heading to Canada tomorrow evening for that theatre job, so I figured it would be better if you did the honours,’ said Ethan, avoiding eye contact all of a sudden. ‘After all, I won’t be here to supervise things, so I can leave all that to you.’

Ryan sighed, even though he wasn’t in the least bit surprised as to what his brother was telling him.

Ethan had returned home at the same time as Ryan to help look after their dad when their mum had walked out but Ryan could feel his brother’s impatience to leave growing by the day. The fact that Ethan had even stayed on at home for the past couple of weeks had been incredible enough, despite his busy work schedule as a lighting specialist for large-scale events such as concerts and theatre productions. It wasn’t a shock that Ethan was running away again. After all, he’d been running ever since their discovery one summer fifteen years ago.

Their childhood had been a happy one. Growing up in a close-knit community such as Cranfield, they had enjoyed the freedom of the countryside and the excitement of the station bustling with people from the nearby villages using the short train line into the town of Aldwych ten miles away.

But then the small branch line had been closed, along with many others around the country, due to government cuts. Their dad had reeled from the shock and had found himself lost without his beloved trains to look after.

A couple of weeks after the station had shut for good, Ryan had passed his driving test and bought himself a Ford Fiesta with the savings that he had made from working in a local pub clearing tables and washing up.

It had been a long hot summer and so he had already enjoyed a few weeks of driving around with all the windows down on the car, racing around the country lanes. However, he had promised to pick up Ethan and take him into Aldwych town so that he could meet his friends and so Ryan had headed back home late one afternoon.

Having picked up his younger brother, on their way out of Cranfield, they had decided to take a detour to drive through a nearby ford. It wasn’t a normal route for their journey, but they were both looking forward to the splash of water if hit at the right amount of speed in the little car.

However, as they had slowed down to turn a corner, they had seen a couple enjoying a lovers’ tryst in a field beyond a large gate. Ryan had shot his brother a grin, but Ethan’s face had quickly dropped and become frozen in shock. It was only when Ryan had followed his brother’s gaze once more that he had realised that the woman was their mother. And that the man was the local vet, a known playboy.

They had driven on in a dazed silence, barely noticing the ford or even the journey. When Ryan had pulled to a stop in Aldwych to drop off Ethan, he finally turned to look at his younger brother.

‘What do we do?’ he’d asked.

‘We don’t do anything,’ Ethan had snapped. ‘It’s none of our business.’

Ryan was shocked. ‘What about dad?’

‘He doesn’t need to know,’ Ethan had told him, frowning. ‘He’s already reeling from the shock of the railway line closing. He doesn’t need any more heartbreak at the moment.’

Ryan had stared at his brother in disbelief, about to disagree with him, but then Ethan had shot him a strange look. A look that suddenly changed Ryan’s whole life. It was a look that told him that this wasn’t the first affair that their mother had had. And that Ethan had known of others before then.

‘She always leaves them and goes back to him,’ Ethan had carried on in a dull tone. ‘So what does it matter?’

Ryan could hear the hurt in his brother’s voice and knew that the secret had caused him immense heartbreak. And now Ryan had to share in it as well.

So they had agreed not to tell their dad the truth about the real state of his marriage. He was a gentle, kind soul who adored his wife, never seeming to mind her endless criticisms about his love of the railway or even how he dressed and acted.

But despite protecting their dad, Ryan had always hated not being truthful with him and had lived with the guilt every day since. Soon after, he had graduated from catering college and, unwilling to participate in any more of his mother’s lies, Ryan had left home, swiftly followed three years later by Ethan when he finished college.

Over the years since, neither of them had returned home very often, except for the festive holidays. The memories whenever Ryan came back were sometimes overwhelming and he had found himself biting his lip on many occasions to prevent from blurting out the truth. The anxiety made his stomach roll and he always left with a sigh of relief.