‘No problem. Thanks for trusting me with such an important mission.’
Maggie found herself laughing again as she ended the call, causing Penny to look over at her.
‘Who was that?’
Maggie wrapped her arms around her. ‘That, my darling daughter, is an expert on the effect of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.’
Seb winced as he watched his dad haul himself out of the armchair. He still wasn’t steady on his feet, yet he refused to use either a walking stick or a frame. ‘I’m not a bloody invalid.’
His mum had the patience of a saint to put up with him. Then again, they’d been married for forty years, so she’d had plenty of practice.
‘I told you, you don’t have to see me out,’ Seb protested. ‘I’m capable of finding my way out of the house unaided.’
His dad straightened, resting a hand on the back of the chair to steady himself. ‘And I’m capable of walking with my son to the front door.’
Stubborn sod. Seb glanced at his mum, who just smiled in that serene way she had. ‘Fine, come on then, Dad, I’ll race you.’
‘Very funny.’ Slowly he shuffled towards the door. ‘So, have you sorted yourself out another job yet?’
Here we go again. For a few blessed moments he’d begun to think he’d escape the sermon this time round. ‘It’s taken you three hours to ask. Must be a new record.’
‘Less of the cheek, son. When I was your age—’
‘You were already climbing the career ladder,’ Seb interrupted. ‘What was it again? Marketing manager at twenty-seven?’
‘Senior marketing manager.’
‘Your parents must have been very proud.’ The remark was tart, too tart for what he knew his father had only meant as a prod, a gentle push. Yet these ‘gentle prods’ had become more and more frequent. And Seb was feeling more and more battered by them. This was his dad, though. A man who’d nearly died two weeks ago, so he gentled his voice and gave him an honest answer. ‘Look, Pops, I’m still considering what I want to do next.’
‘How about, stay in one place long enough to actually make something of yourself?’ His dad gave him a baleful look. ‘And stop with that ridiculous name. You know it winds me up.’
Just as you know making my life feel insignificant winds me up, he wanted to counter, so let’s call it even. He’d not come back to England to cause more hostility though. He’d come to build bridges and to help out his mum, so as they reached the front door, Seb swallowed the words. ‘Same time again tomorrow?’
His mum, who had followed them to the door, leant forward and kissed his cheek. ‘If you’re sure that’s okay.’
‘I don’t need babysitting, you know.’ His dad glared at the pair of them, clearly recovered enough now to realise what was going on. ‘I can be trusted to be in the house by myself.’
‘We know that.’ Seb clasped his dad around the shoulder in a hug. ‘But I’d hate to deprive you of a chance of giving me another career lecture.’
It was just after four by the time Seb knocked on the door of the address Maggie had given him. A big detached house down a leafy lane. The sort of place owned by grown-up people with families and good jobs, he thought ruefully.
Hannah opened the door, a wide smile lighting up her face when she saw him. ‘Hey there, come on in. I hear you’re the reef expert.’
‘Wow, expert.’ He rubbed a hand over his chin. ‘That’s a word that’s never been assigned to me before. Ever.’
Hannah laughed, ushering him inside. ‘Apparently Maggie told Penny that’s what you were.’ She leant in closer, and he wasn’t sure if it was accidental or not, but he felt the brush of her breast against his arm. ‘I think she was disappointed when I told her it was you.’
He wasn’t surprised. Just like her mother, Penny seemed cautious. Still, he’d back himself to charm a nine-year-old, given long enough. Her mother was a different matter. Not just a cautious nature, but with walls a mile high. He suspected there’d be a few surprise barriers, too, just when a guy thought he’d scaled the wall. Most of them probably courtesy of her ex – and yes, he’d gone to the trouble of asking his sister about Maggie. She fascinated him, the wary grey eyes in a quietly beautiful face, the sharp attitude. It was disappointing to know, despite his boast to her, he probably wouldn’t see her tonight.
‘Penny’s in the kitchen.’ Seb dragged his mind back to what Hannah was saying. ‘She’s doing homework but you can go on in. I think Maggie wants her to get the project done.’ She flicked him a glance. ‘Unless you fancy a drink and a bit of grown-up talk, first?’
Yep, he hadn’t been imagining it. Hannah was flirting with him. His ego wagged its tail, yet he wasn’t sure he felt anything more than that. Maybe it was down to the setting: Maggie’s house, Maggie’s kids. ‘I’d better see Penny.’ He flashed Hannah a smile. ‘But I wouldn’t say no to a tea if you’re offering.’
He took a quick scan of the rooms either side of the hallway as he followed Hannah down, trying not to feel too intimidated. The house was as he’d expected, impeccably neat, the furnishings tasteful, the muted colour scheme classy. Yet it was also so much more than he’d bargained for. More rooms, more space. More expensive.
He was pleased to find Tabby also in the L-shaped kitchen, though rather than sitting at the centre island like Penny, the younger sister was in what appeared to be a space designed for the kids to watch TV as Mum prepared tea. And… holy shit, what was that bright orange thing she was sitting on? No way was that Maggie’s choice.
As soon as she saw him, Tabby jumped up from the satsuma of a sofa. ‘We’re not watching Strictly. That’s for Saturdays but we get to watch It Takes Two if we’re good. Penny has to do her thing for school now but I can watch the telly ’cos I’ve done my homework.’ She pursed her lips as she glanced over at the TV screen. ‘I guess you can watch with me. It’s SpongeBob.’ A grin lit up her face. ‘He’s well funny.’
God, Tabby cracked him up. ‘That’s quite some offer, thank you.’ He glanced at Penny, who was staring at him with serious grey eyes identical to her mother’s. ‘First I need to see if I can help Penny with her project though.’
Aware of the elder sister’s eyes on him, he walked over to where Penny was working and slipped onto the stool opposite her. ‘Your mum tells me your project is about climate change.’ Penny inclined her head, but remained silent. ‘She thought you could use the Great Barrier Reef as an example of something that’s been affected by it.’ Another nod, and Seb felt the first knot of worry. What was he supposed to do if she refused to engage with him? Just bugger off home?
The thought of Maggie coming home to find Penny hadn’t done any work towards her project, and he’d snuck off with his tail between his legs… nope, wasn’t going to happen.
Resolutely he picked up the iPad in front of Penny and entered the website address of his home for the last few months. ‘Did you know I was living on the Great Barrier Reef a few weeks ago?’
This time Penny’s eyes caught his. ‘You lived in the sea?’
‘Not quite.’ He found the picture he wanted and handed the iPad over to her. ‘On the sea.’
Chapter Five
Maggie hadn’t been sure what to expect when she let herself in. Penny and Tabby in front of the television, homework and project abandoned? A reasonable bet. Seb still there, flirting with Hannah as he watched her cook tonight’s tea? Maybe.
It certainly wasn’t the sight of Penny still working, pointing out something in her workbook to Seb. Nor was it the absolute focus on Seb’s face as he listened to her.
Tabby was the first to notice her mum’s arrival. She jumped off the sofa, the one Maggie hated with a passion because Paul had chosen it – everything else in this house is so damn bland, Maggie – and wrapped her arms around Maggie’s legs. ‘I did my homework and Hannah said ’cos I’d been good I could watch SpongeBob. Then I watched Blue Peter.’
Hannah, who was chopping up vegetables, looked up and smile
d. ‘She’s left out the part where she conned me into letting her have a cookie, too.’
Tabby gave Maggie a look of outraged innocence. ‘I was good two times. Doing my homework and setting the table. That means two treats.’
‘So it does.’ Laughing, because it was hard to do anything else when Tabby used her special brand of logic, Maggie hugged her back before walking over to Penny and kissing the top of her head. ‘How about you, Penny?’ Maggie glanced briefly at Seb, who was now leaning back in his chair, before turning her attention back to her daughter. ‘I didn’t expect you still to be working on your project.’
‘We’re nearly done.’ Penny pointed to the iPad, and a photo of a pontoon over the most beautiful turquoise water. Blue cloudless sky above, sun glinting off the water. Nothing else in sight but the ocean and the horizon. ‘Did you know Seb used to live on the Barrier Reef?’
‘Live on it? I think you mean he used to work on it.’ Her eyes found Seb’s, and once again she was struck by their colour, the blue so similar to the sea in the photograph.
‘Yes, but he lived on it, too,’ Penny protested, looking at Seb for confirmation. ‘Didn’t you?’
At the fond smile Seb threw her daughter, Maggie felt a small, but definite, squeeze in her chest. He might be too brash for her taste, and he might unsettle her, but it was hard not to like a man who treated her daughters with such respect, yet such indulgence, too.
‘I did live on it.’ Seb confirmed, his eyes drifting to the photo. ‘Not all the time, we had a rota, but for a few months, off and on, I lived on a pontoon floating right over the Great Barrier Reef.’
A shadow crossed his face, and though it was over in a flash, it was enough to make Maggie pause. ‘You must miss it.’
Those bright eyes snapped to hers, his surprise clear. ‘That’s the first time I’ve been asked, since I’ve been back.’
She wasn’t sure what it said about her that she’d recognised the sadness in his eyes, where his family hadn’t. ‘Well, look at what you’ve come back to.’ She waved her hand towards the window, where the dark had already descended, and the lashing rain was making a din against the glass. ‘Why would anyone think you’d miss life on a sun-drenched pontoon over the ocean?’
He chuckled, and when his eyes met hers, they shared a smile. A real smile, devoid of mick-taking or pretence. For the first time Maggie felt she’d seen the real guy behind the smart-mouthed, cocky drifter act he seemed to wear like armour.
Clearing his throat, Seb tapped a finger over Penny’s workbook. ‘How are we doing? Have you captured the part about the plastic, the bottles, the bags?’
Her daughter’s eyes skimmed over the page. ‘Yes.’ She gave Seb a shy smile. ‘It’s in the bit about what people should do to help keep the reef from dying.’
‘Okay, good stuff. Anything we missed?’
As Penny proceeded to turn over the pages to check, Maggie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘Wow, there’s a lot there.’
‘There has to be, because there’s so much that can hurt the reef.’ Penny counted off the items on her fingers. ‘There’s the weather, and then the… the acid of the sea, and the way the sea’s getting higher.’ She looked up at Maggie, grey eyes alive with interest. ‘Did you know where Seb worked, there’s a bit of reef in the shape of a heart? It’s so cool.’
‘No, I didn’t.’ Again she glanced at Seb, her friends’ kid brother, the wayward one who’d set off backpacking round the globe instead of settling down. She wondered if Alice and Sarah had ever actually asked him about his life, his experiences. ‘How long did you live in Australia?’
‘Long enough to develop a bit of an Ozzie twang, according to Alice.’ Crossing one long, jean-clad leg over the other, he leant back again and smiled straight into her eyes. ‘But if you’re interested in the proper answer, I spent the last two years there, the last eighteen months in the Whitsundays.’ He shrugged. ‘The longest time I’d spent in one place since leaving the UK.’
‘And before Australia?’
He gave her a long, steady look. ‘You really want to know this stuff?’
Maggie was aware that Hannah had stopped chopping and was listening. Aware too that Penny was watching her. Yet she was right to be interested, wasn’t she? His experiences were so different to her got a job as soon as she left university, got married to a man who worked even longer hours than she had. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d been abroad. ‘If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked.’
Her rather tart answer made him laugh. ‘Fair enough. It’s just some people ask out of politeness, and then glaze over when I start telling them how an orphan sun bear adopted me while I was teaching English to kids in Cambodia, or the time I was dive bombed by flying squirrels when I led a trek through the Borneo jungle.’
Penny’s eyes grew wide. ‘Are there really squirrels that fly?’
‘It’s actually more gliding than flying, but it’s pretty awesome to watch.’
Penny turned to her, and Maggie had rarely seen her daughter so animated. ‘Can we go to Borneo? It sounds so cool.’
Maggie laughed, though inside she felt a twinge of guilt. Holidays had never been a key priority for them as a family. Paul had been so focused on work, he’d never wanted to leave the country for long so they’d mainly stuck to UK holidays. And since the divorce, it had taken all her effort just to get by, juggling work with life as a single mum to two girls who’d not understood why their dad had all but disappeared from their lives, barring the occasional phone call. Holidays had slipped off her to-do list. ‘Maybe one day.’
Uncomfortably aware she’d hogged too much of Seb’s time, Maggie stepped back. ‘I think we should let Seb go home now. I’m sure you can finish it on your own.’
For the first time since he’d come back, Seb could truthfully say he’d been enjoying himself. Two hours spent with a switched-on kid who’d fired questions at him as if he really was an expert, and who’d absorbed his answers with a focus he could only aspire to. Add to that the last five minutes he’d spent talking to Maggie, who’d seemed genuinely interested in what he’d been saying.
Well, until a few seconds ago when she’d suddenly closed up, his time apparently up. He wasn’t ready to be dismissed though, not ready to leave the warm kitchen, the cute kids or the striking mother who, for a few precious minutes, had made him feel more than he was.
‘I’m not in a rush,’ he replied evenly. ‘And I can’t leave a job before it’s finished, it’s not in my nature.’
She clearly hadn’t been prepared for that, but he was coming to realise Maggie was pretty good at hiding her real feelings because she gave him one of her polite smiles. ‘Fine. I’ll leave you and Penny to finish up while I help Hannah.’
Tabby, who’d been as good as gold while they’d been working, wriggled off the sofa and meandered over. ‘I want to see the squirrel. The one with wings.’
Chuckling, he ruffled the top of her head. An instinctive gesture, yet one glance at Maggie, who’d stopped pulling a jug out of the cupboard to stare at him, and he realised it was too familiar. Snatching his hand away, he reached for the iPad. ‘They don’t have wings, Tabs. They have this extra skin, called a patagium, that connects the front and back legs. Here, let me find you a photo.’
For the next twenty minutes, he had fun showing Tabby photos of weird animals he’d come across on his travels while Penny finished her project. If he ever needed another stroke to his ego, he thought, he’d come here. The girls had made him feel like a bloody king for a while.
All too soon though, Maggie declared tea was ready. ‘Go and wash your hands, girls.’
As the pair of them disappeared, Seb wondered about his odds of bagging an invite to stay. Probably hovering around zero. Still, he’d always been partial to an outside bet. ‘Smells good. What is it?’
‘Lasagne. Hannah’s signature dish.’ Maggie turned to smile at Hannah. ‘The girls pester Hannah to make it at leas
t once a week.’
You can stay and try some if you like. The invitation didn’t materialise. Clearly she didn’t want him getting too familiar. A shame, because her kids were a real crack, and he could have done with another hour of fielding questions from their enquiring minds, while eating a plate of someone else’s cooking.
And yes, okay, he’d like another shot at trying to impress Maggie too.
Instead all he had to look forward to was an evening rattling around Sarah’s place, waiting for her to come home. It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends here – he’d enjoyed catching up with his old school mates at the weekend – but during the week they, unlike him, were too knackered to go out because they’d been at work all day.
‘Right, well, I’ll leave you to it.’ He stood and picked up the coat he’d slung over the back of his chair.
At that moment the girls dashed back into the room. ‘Is Seb going?’ Tabby pouted. ‘He can stay and watch It Takes Two with us after tea.’ She glanced up to Maggie. ‘Can’t he, Mum? He doesn’t have to be quiet in that.’
Maggie looked towards Hannah, and then back at him. ‘Well, if Seb wants to stay, I’m sure Hannah won’t mind, but he’s probably got much better things to do.’
He didn’t. Still, he wasn’t quite sure what he was letting himself in for. Or why it was down to whether Hannah minded. ‘What’s It Takes Two? If it features another dude dressed as a sponge, I’m out of here.’
Tabby giggled. ‘Duh, It Takes Two is about Strictly. It’s where they talk to the dancers about costumes and stuff.’
Ah. Maggie must have seen his pained expression because she smiled. ‘I think Seb might prefer SpongeBob.’
‘No, it’s fine.’ It beat an empty house, anyway. ‘I get to eat the best ever lasagne first though, yes?’
Hannah rolled her eyes at him. ‘No pressure, huh?’
As it turned out the lasagne was tasty and the conversation, dominated by the girls, was easy. It was only as he helped clear the plates away with Hannah that Seb realised Maggie was making moves to leave.
Strictly Come Dating (The Kathryn Freeman Romcom Collection, Book 3) Page 4