Thank heavens Sarah had come in when she had. If she’d been ten minutes later… Maggie’s stomach pitched. She didn’t know how Sarah would have reacted to the idea of Maggie kissing her brother. No, it was worse than that. Seb was Sarah’s younger-by-ten-years brother. One thing for certain, Maggie didn’t plan on ever finding out. This crazy over-reaction to him was a sign she needed to get out there and date again. And she would, once she’d found someone suitable: a man nearer to her age and experience, who wouldn’t make her conscious of her stretch marks, her wrinkles, her saggy bits. Who was looking for a meaningful relationship rather than a couple of hot trysts.
None of which helped her dilemma.
‘Who’s going to pick us up?’ Penny asked as she shrugged on her coat.
‘I’m not sure yet.’
‘Will it be the woman Rebecca and Edward have sometimes? I don’t like her.’
‘No.’ Alice’s childminder had been efficient but horribly grumpy. Maggie had used her occasionally, in those dark days after Paul had left and before Hannah had arrived. ‘She retired earlier in the year, which is why their grandma picks them up now.’
‘What about our grandma?’
‘She’d love to, I’m sure.’ A white lie wouldn’t hurt. Penny didn’t need to know her mum’s parents were still far too busy running their company to bother with things like wanting to help their daughter, or their granddaughters. ‘But it’s a bit far to come.’ Damn it, she was going to have to grit her teeth and ask the favour of Seb. It wasn’t fair on the girls to not know who’d be picking them up. ‘If Seb is free, would you mind him picking you up?’
Penny shook her head. ‘I don’t mind. He’s funny. And I can ask him some more about the reef.’
‘Okay then.’ Her children would be happy and safe with Seb. That was more important than her wobbly emotions. ‘I’ll give him a quick call while you get your shoes on and help Tabby with hers.’
Taking a deep breath, she pulled out her phone and called the number Sarah had given her a few weeks ago. The number she’d put into her contacts out of habit, and a need to be organised, without expecting to use it again.
‘Hello?’ The answering voice sounded deep and husky with sleep.
‘It’s Maggie. Sorry, did I wake you?’
A rustle of what she assumed was bedding. ‘Morning, Mags. And yeah, I guess if it’s still before eight, you did wake me.’
‘Sorry.’ Had he really just called her Mags? She hated that. Then again, she needed a favour, so maybe now wasn’t the time to tell him.
‘You already said that, and no worries. How can I help? I assume you need my help, and aren’t just phoning to say you missed me.’
The smile in his voice was unmistakable, and made it pretty hard not to smile back. ‘It’s the first one.’
‘Damn, I knew you’d be hard to charm. Go on then, ask away.’
Her smile faltered, and Maggie inhaled a deep breath. She hated asking for help, and hated even more asking it of a man she wasn’t sure was flirting with her out of habit, to prove something or because he was genuinely interested. Whatever it was, she’d feel more comfortable seeing less of him, rather than more. ‘Hannah’s still not well, so I wondered if you were free later today to pick Tabby and Penny up from school? You could take them to Sarah’s or to ours, whatever’s easier.’ There was a beat of silence. ‘But no problem if you can’t,’ she added hastily, aware she sounded pushy. And awkward. God, she definitely sounded that.
‘What time are you back? I need to be at the youth centre for six.’
Damn, she hadn’t anticipated that one. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise. I should be back in time.’ Patients willing. Unconsciously she crossed her fingers. ‘Are you working there now?’
‘Sort of. I’m volunteering for a few days so we can both get a feel for whether it’s a good fit.’
‘It will be.’ Oops, she’d not meant to say that out loud.
Again she heard a smile in his voice. ‘I’m glad someone is confident.’
‘I just meant that from what I’ve seen, you’re a natural with children.’
‘I don’t know about that, but you’re trusting me with yours, so I must be doing something right.’ There was a pause, and as Maggie tried to work out how to bring the conversation back to more practical matters, he did it for her. ‘So, you’d better give me the name of this school. And where you work, as I guess I’ll need to collect your key if I’m taking them back to yours.’
Maggie rattled off the name of the school. ‘I’ll tell them to wait in the playground, as usual. And I’ll leave the house key with the receptionist at the surgery.’
‘Okay then, I’ll catch you later. Oh, and no worries if you’re running late. I’ll take them along with me to the youth centre.’
As she thanked him, Maggie felt the stress of the morning slide away.
Seb slid his phone back on the bedside table and sank back against the pillow. Damn and blast, he hated being this guy. Not the one who was needed by Maggie, oh no, that felt frigging fantastic. But. She’d only asked him because he was the one person she knew who wasn’t working.
And she’d assumed, of course she had, that he had the available means of transport to pick her girls up. He was guessing that didn’t include his ten-year-old battered push bike.
Groaning, his head fragile from too many Sunday night beers – as the alternative had been staying in with sister and watching the Strictly results show, the beers had seemed like a good idea – he considered his options. He could ask to borrow his dad’s car, but the fragile way he was feeling now, he didn’t think he could stomach giving the man another opportunity to lecture him on where his life was going.
Public transport was out, because to get him to the school, and then to the surgery and on to Maggie’s house would take all evening, the way the buses were around here. He could taxi it, but by the time he’d paid for that, he might as well hire a car. At least then he’d have the flexibility of being able to use it to drive to the youth centre later.
Grabbing his phone again, he found a local hire company and reserved the cheapest car he could find, putting yet more money onto his credit card. He hoped Maggie was right, and the youth centre thing worked out. With his savings currently sitting in an Australian bank, and his English account not exactly brimming with surplus cash, if he couldn’t get work soon, watching Strictly was going to be his main form of entertainment.
The rest of the morning he spent with his parents, as had been the pattern since he’d come home – shit, had he really been here over three weeks?
‘When are you heading back to Australia?’ his mum asked as she walked him out.
He looked at her tired face. ‘When Dad’s back to being Dad.’ Instead of the moody man he’d left slumped in front of the television.
She gave him a wan smile. ‘You might be here some time then.’
Seb reached his arms around her and hugged her tight. ‘He’ll get there. And in the meantime, I’m here to give you breathing space.’
‘You’re such a good son.’ Her eyes welled, and Seb felt a lump jump into his throat. ‘I know your father gives you a hard time, but he only wants the best for you.’
‘I know he does.’ His dad had never understood him though. Had never twigged that Seb wasn’t an over-achieving, super-bright version of him, like his sisters were. Seb was average, and still trying to find something he could stick at. Travelling had been fun, Australia had been fun, but it was only ever a short-term gig. He’d always known family would bring him home at some point. He only wished the trigger had been a happier one. And that his life plan had been sorted when he’d stepped on that plane.
Christ, there were kids everywhere, all dressed in green jumpers, white shirts and grey trousers or skirts. How the hell was he supposed to find the two he needed among this swarm?
But magically, the moment he stepped through the school gate and into the playground, Tabby and Penny dashed towards him.
‘Hey, Tabs, good to see you, too.’ He flashed her a grin, and as happy was Tabby’s default, she dropped the pout and grinned back. Then he turned to her quieter sister. ‘And how are you, young Penelope?’
She opened her mouth, he presumed to say hello, then frowned and closed it again. Finally, she spoke. ‘Nobody calls me Penelope.’
‘Is Penny not short for Penelope?’
‘Yes, but everyone calls me Penny.’
He smiled. ‘Ah, but I’m not everyone.’
‘I’m Tabitha.’ Tabby scrunched up her nose. ‘Why do I get Tabs?’
‘Because I can’t cause Penny Pens, can I?’
The pair of them giggled, and Seb thought, not for the first time, what lovely kids they were. Happy, polite. Girls it was a pleasure to spend time with.
Following a fifteen-minute drive to the surgery, they all piled out of the hired Kia – he wasn’t sure of the rules about leaving minors alone in a car. Herding them inside, he told the girls to sit down and headed to the reception desk.
The lady there greeted him with a smile that told him she was pleased he wasn’t yet another pensioner. Then her eyes flickered behind him, and her smile widened. ‘Well, well, you must be Seb. How… interesting.’
‘He’s taking us home today,’ Tabby piped up, swinging her legs. ‘Usually we only see him when we watch Strictly.’
Oh boy. Now, the forty-something-year-old was looking at him with blatant curiosity. Deciding the best way to handle the question in her eyes was to ignore it, Seb cleared his throat. ‘Mags…’ Shit. ‘Maggie said she’d leave a key for me?’
‘Yes.’ The woman reached into a drawer and pulled out a dancing bear keyring, complete with pink tutu. A present from her daughters, he’d like to bet.
‘Thanks.’ Feeling faintly foolish, he shoved it into his jeans pocket.
‘Before you go, she also left you a note. Well, it’s more of a list.’
‘Of course it is.’ Smiling to himself, he read the neat handwriting.
Leave the key on the hall table once you’ve let yourself in.
Presumably so he didn’t run off with it.
Make sure they take their shoes off and leave them by the door so we know where to find them tomorrow morning.
Please get the girls to do their homework. Tabby will say she doesn’t have any but check her homework book. She’ll also say she’s finished when she hasn’t, so please check what she’s done.
They’re allowed a cookie with their drink – they’re in the cookie jar by the bread bin. Don’t be conned into letting them have more or they won’t eat their tea.
Please message me if you need to take the girls with you to the youth centre, so I know where to pick them up.
As if he didn’t already know that.
One of the doors down the corridor opened, and Maggie stepped out. She caught his eye and, after a start of surprise, gave him an uncertain smile and began walking towards him.
He waved the paper in the air. ‘Just getting my orders.’
‘They’re not—’ She sighed when she saw him smirk. ‘Okay, I deserved that.’
He scanned down the list. ‘I wouldn’t have run off with the key. And I wouldn’t take them anywhere else without letting you know.’
He’d intended to sound matter-of-fact but it clearly hadn’t come across that way because her expression tightened and that guard he hated came down. ‘Noted. But you’ve not looked after them before, so I wanted to make sure.’ Her gaze finally settled on his. ‘I know my lists aren’t always appreciated, but they’re intended to help.’
Ah. It didn’t take a genius to work out that lists must have been a bone of contention with her ex. And the realisation he’d reacted exactly like the jerk who’d left her annoyed him. ‘You’re right, sorry. Being the kid brother I was always the irresponsible one.’ He gave her a half smile. ‘I guess this made me feel ten again.’
She blinked. ‘Looks like we both over-reacted.’
Her attention moved over his shoulder and she gave Tabby and Penny a wide smile. The one that made everything inside him sit up and take notice of her.
The one he wished she’d direct at him.
Going over to them, she gave them both a quick kiss on the top of their heads. ‘Be good for Seb.’
‘I’m always good,’ Tabby protested, making them all laugh, and thankfully defusing the remaining tension.
‘Okay, well.’ Maggie glanced back at him. ‘Thanks again for taking care of them.’
‘No problem.’ He nodded down to the sheet of paper in his hand. ‘Thanks for making it easy by giving me such a comprehensive list.’
For a split second he feared she’d take his joke the wrong way, but then her mouth curved, and her eyes lit up with silent laughter. Damn if it wasn’t one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen.
She was late. Maggie parked in the youth centre car park and ran up the steps. Her job often overran – people needed time to talk to their doctor, not be herded through the system like cattle. It was fine when she had Hannah, a friend whom she paid to stay with her children. It hadn’t been fine with Paul.
She didn’t know if it was going to be fine with the man helping her out simply because she’d asked him to. A man who’d had to bring two children to his first shift in his new job. Bugger, bugger, bugger.
Feeling breathless, she marched down the corridor, pausing to look through the open doors. He wasn’t playing pool in the games room.
Nor in what looked to be a computer room.
The double doors at the end had a glass window, and after a glance through them, she exhaled in relief. It was a large multi-purpose hall/gym and Tabby and Penny were at one end of it, trying to throw a ball through a hoop.
Seb was at the other end with a group of around ten kids in their early teens, showing them how to dribble with a basketball.
Edging the door open, Maggie slipped inside. Immediately the girls saw her and ran over. ‘Hello, darlings, sorry I’m late.’
‘’S okay. We did our homework and watched some telly and then Seb brung us here in his new car which isn’t really his car and we played trying to get the ball in the hole.’ Tabby’s words tumbled over each other. ‘And he called me Tabs again, and Penny Penelope ’cos he can’t call her Pens.’ She sniggered. ‘That was well funny.’
Oh dear. Maggie gave her eldest, and at times rather sensitive, daughter a hug. ‘Do you want me to tell him not to?’
Penny shook her head. ‘It’s fine.’ She shrugged, twisting her hands. ‘In a way, I kind of like it.’
‘Me too,’ Tabby piped up.
Maggie glanced towards the man who seemed to have won her daughters over. Wearing a hoodie and scruffy jeans, laughing and mucking around with the kids, from this distance he looked like he was barely older than they were. She, on the other hand, in her prim work skirt and blouse, felt old and straight-laced.
He looked over and waved when he saw her, saying something to the group before jogging over, his loose-limbed style a dead giveaway that he was physically fit. As if the athletic body wasn’t enough of a clue.
And yes, now he was standing in front of her, six foot something of virile male, flashing that grin, he no longer looked like a kid. He looked like a man who made her knees weak.
‘I’m really sorry I’m late.’ The more his eyes danced in amusement, the more flustered and defensive she felt. It was one thing being in his debt. Another finding herself embarrassingly attracted to him. ‘I try not to be but it’s not always in my control. Sometimes patients—’
‘Hey, do I look annoyed? Worried?’
She bit into her lip, feeling like the up-tight woman he must have her down as. ‘No, but when I asked you, I fully intended to be home in time. I didn’t want to put you out even more by having to bring them to work.’
‘Then it’s lucky they’re not bad c
ompany, for a couple of ankle biters.’ He winked at the girls. ‘Remember your bags, kiddos. You left them in the games room.’ In a flash, before Maggie could ask them to wait, they’d all go together, they were off. As she followed them, Seb held the door open for her. ‘Don’t worry. They know where they’re going.’
‘I wasn’t worried.’
He shrugged, leaning on the door. ‘Okay.’
Damn, why did she always do this? Put up the defensive wall, when he was only trying to be kind? ‘Right, well, thank you for today. It meant a lot to know they were in good hands.’
His mouth curved. ‘Good hands, eh?’
‘Yes.’ She looked him straight in the eye. ‘My daughters like you, and that’s important to me.’
He nodded, folding his arms across his chest. ‘The boy in me wants to ask if you like me, but the man in me thinks it’ll make me sound like a prat, so instead I’ll ask if you’re okay for childcare tomorrow?’
A smile hovered across her lips. He seemed to have a knack of bringing it out of her. ‘Thank you, but I spoke to Hannah on the way over here and she sounds better so you’re off the hook.’
Silence descended between them. Oddly, it wasn’t awkward. More of a tingling silence that crackled with awareness. It made her realise her worry hadn’t really been whether he’d be cross she was late – that would almost have been a relief, because then she could have dismissed him.
Instead he’d made everything so easy: asking him the favour, pushing her luck with the timing so much he’d had to take them to work. Even the niggle about the list he’d smoothed out and turned into a joke. It all meant that this inconvenient attraction, instead of dwindling the more she got to know him, flared brighter and hotter.
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