Except he didn’t get mugs and coffee granules out. Instead, he walked over to where she was standing just inside the kitchen door and pulled her against him and kissed her, hard.
They kissed for a long time. And then Georgie stayed the night, and they didn’t get much sleep. And when they were both dragged awake by her alarm clock, which she’d set for nine o’clock so that she could get back to Bristol to pick Max up from his sleepover, they lay next to each other smiling stupidly. Well, Raf was smiling stupidly and she was pretty sure that she was too.
She didn’t know where they would go from here or where shewantedthem to go, but she did know that she’d had anamazingnight.
27
POPPY
There was nothing like waking up thinking about your estranged husband and how much you loved him and how maybe you could get back together and how much you were looking forward to seeing him later that day…
And then looking out of the window after breakfast and seeing him with the son he shared with your ex-best friend. Max must have had a sleepover at Declan’s last night.
Poppy felt like she’d been physically punched, actually physically winded.
She stood frozen to the spot until Daniel, who she was holding, accidentally hit her in the face. He was waving manically at Declan and Max, and beaming away like nobody’s business, his four little teeth on display. ‘Daddy. Mak,’ he yelled. He wassoclever. He could wave. He could grow teeth. He could say people’s names.
Now he was banging on the window and yelling even harder. Okay. She had to open the front door and call to Declan and Max. She couldn’t let Daniel think that they were ignoring him.
They heard her as soon as she called. Max ran straight over and gave Daniel a hug. Poppy could feel her shoulders goingcompletely rigid. She wanted to be nice about things, for Daniel’s sake, she really did. But shecouldn’t.And then she looked properly at Max. He was pulling faces at Daniel like he always did and Daniel was laughing and laughing. Then she looked at Declan. He was smiling at his two sons and she could see the love and pride on his face.
Then Declan looked up from the boys and at her and his face changed. His smile got smaller and his eyes got a bit wider and his eyebrows rose a bit. He looked… nervous.
Okay. She had to get a grip. Max was Daniel’s brother and Declan’s son. He hadn’t hurt anyone. Daniel hadn’t hurt anyone. And Declan hadn’t hurt her on purpose. She had to pull herself together right now and make sure that the boys never got hurt by this situation.
‘Do you have time to come in and play with Daniel for a bit? Together?’ Now she was the one feeling nervous. It felt incredibly important for Declan to understand how big this was from her perspective.
He was smiling properly at her. That was good.
‘Max, do you know if your mum had any plans for you this morning?’ he asked.
‘Don’t think so. I’ve got a match this afternoon. I think she just wanted me to do my homework this morning.’
‘I’ll ask her.’ Declan kind of chewed his lower lip as he took his phone out of his pocket.
‘Okay, thank you.’ Poppy wasn’t totally keen to hear him talking to Georgie.
But, actually, it was alright. Fine, in fact. He sounded spectacularly business-like on the phone to her, like he was talking about a wardrobe delivery or something.
It was also fine – lovely, even – having Max with them. And watching Declan being the fantastic dad he was, with both his sons together, and Max and Daniel having fun together, madeher realise that for Daniel’s sake, for Declan’s sake and for Max’s sake, they had to do this regularly.
‘Maybe we could all go out somewhere next time you have a weekend together.’ It was worth it just for Declan’s smile. ‘Are you coming over for bath-time later?’ she asked, really wanting him to say yes.
‘Yep, looking forward to it. Do you fancy maybe watching a film together or something afterwards? If you like?’ He sounded a little bit breathless.
‘That would be lovely.’ She felt as breathless as he’d sounded.
Poppy felt jittery all afternoon, desperate for Declan to turn up. It felt like they shouldtalk. It had felt like that since the wedding party last weekend.
It had been a really good night. She and Declan had chatted all evening, in a cocoon of togetherness over dinner, and then danced for hours.
And they weren’t the only ones. Beth hadn’t said anything since, but she’d been in Melting all week and permanently looked as though she was brimming with news. Either she’d developed a serious drinking problem or she and Noah were seeing each other.
Poppy was fairly sure that Georgie and Raf had kissed that night too, although she obviously hadn’t seen Georgie since to gauge whether or not things were happening in that way. She’d realised, the day after the wedding party, that she hoped for Georgie’s sake that shehadgot together with Raf, because, irrespective of what had happened, she’d like her to be happy.
So everyone else seemed to have been kissing that evening. She’d have liked to have seen a bit of action too, but Declan hadn’t made a move, despite someamazingslow dances where she could feel his whole body against hers, making her remember how they used to be.
So this evening… she’d cooked what she’d have to describe as a seduction meal…
