Later, having enjoyed a classic Sunday tea of sandwiches, cake and some freshly made sausage rolls, Seb and I began to get ourselves and the dogs ready to make a move. Mum always insisted on sending me home with leftovers and I followed her into the kitchen to help.
‘I’ll just wrap a bit of this up for Seb. He seemed to enjoy it earlier. Oh, there you are,’ she said, glancing up to see him and my dad entering the kitchen. ‘I was just saying I’ll send you home with some of this cake, if that’s all right.’
‘Oh, you really don’t have to do that.’
‘She’s worried that if you leave it here, I’ll just eat it all,’ my dad chuckled.
‘You probably would,’ Mum chided him with a loving laugh.
‘I hate to see good food go to waste.’ He winked at us both.
‘See?’ My mum waved her hand. ‘You’ll be doing us a favour. It’s only a little bit,’ she said, placing a massive wedge in some tin foil and neatly sealing it up. ‘There’s a few sausage rolls in there as well. I made too many really.’ She always made too many.
‘Thank you.’ Seb smiled, having already sensed it was a losing battle trying to protest.
‘Anyone in?’ Sally’s voice drifted in from the front door.
‘In here, darling,’ Mum called, as she tidied up the rest of the leftovers.
‘Hi,’ my sister said, greeting my dad and stopping as she suddenly noticed the extra member of the party. ‘Hello,’ she said, holding out her hand. ‘I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Sally.’ I got a pang of envy at how smooth she was. How she dealt with every situation with just the right amount of panache and good manners. If I’d charged in to my parents’ kitchen and suddenly noticed the best looking man I had ever met in my life just standing there, I was pretty sure my entrance would not have been anywhere near as dignified or elegant. But then, that was yet another difference between me and Sally.
‘Seb Marshall, pleasure to meet you. Lottie’s talked about you.’
‘Has she?’ Sally replied, smiling, as she turned her head slightly towards me, one exquisite brow arching ever so slightly.
‘All good,’ he smiled, charming her without effort or intention. ‘She said you work for an airline.’
‘I do. Yes.’
‘You off for a few days now, love?’ Dad asked.
‘Mmm,’ Sally nodded, watching Mum packaging up the food.
Mum looked up and frowned. ‘You hungry, love? Shall I do you something?’
‘No,’ Sally stopped her with a hand on her arm. ‘I’m fine.’
From the corner of my eye, I saw Mum and Dad exchange a look and I knew why. Sally was normally a bit of a force of nature. She didn’t do anything without a purpose. And now she was… almost relaxed. Like a normal person. Which was weird. Of course, there was the possibility that she was still pissed off with me about the whole book club thing but couldn’t say anything with company in the house. The more I thought about it, the more I felt I might have struck a bullseye.
Having woken from their after-walk snooze, the two dogs now stretched and, sensing new smells, padded over to investigate. As Scooby trotted happily past his master, following his pal on their mission to investigate the newcomer, Seb called him to heel. Scoobs stopped short of Sally, and looked back, all soulful eyes.
‘Don’t look at me like that. Come on. Here.’ Scooby let out a sigh and trotted back, rewarded for his obedience with a chin rub and a dog treat Seb had left stuffed in a pocket from earlier.
Humphrey, however, being smaller, had taken the shortcut under the table and wound around the chair legs, making it a little more difficult to catch him. And his recall, although pretty good, still wasn’t on a par with Scooby’s. Blissfully unaware that my sister was not as enamoured with him as the rest of us were, he trotted towards her. I took in the sheen on the fine tights she wore under her short, fitted leather skirt and reckoned I’d be paying for those shortly if I didn’t move fast. Knowing my sister, they were unlikely to be three for the price of one at Poundland, and I had no desire to find out their true cost.
Dashing forward, I scooped Humph up just as he was about to rest his little paws on her shin.
‘Up we come,’ I said to him.
Sally looked at me.
‘Sorry. He thinks he’s cuter than he is.’ I, of course, thought he was beyond cute, but I already knew what my sister thought about him, and dogs in general, from previous experience. Clearly Seb had remembered too.
My sister stepped towards me and, much to my, and my parents’, surprise, gave Humphrey a little fuss as he sat contentedly in my arms. ‘He is rather sweet.’
I couldn’t help the smile that broke on my face. ‘Thank you.’
She looked up, meeting my eyes, and my smile. Maybe she wasn’t peed off with me after all.
