He led me to the passenger side and opened the door. ‘That you are,’ he smiled, before closing it behind me.
* * *
‘Oh Seb, dear! You really didn’t have to do that,’ Mum said, her face flushed with pleasure as she admired the enormous bouquet he’d come out of the supermarket with.
‘You’ll be popular!’ I’d said as he’d passed the bouquet to me to hold and I peered round it, giving him the directions to my parents’ house. ‘You didn’t have to do this, you know. My mum already thinks you’re pretty great.’
‘I wanted to. And why does she think that?’
‘Because of your heroic stance of staying with me until the breakdown truck came, not being prepared to leave me undefended against dragons and brigands.’ I’d placed a hand against my chest, doing my best impression of a damsel in possible distress.
He’d given his head the briefest of turns, then looked back at the road. ‘The dragons were less of a worry. Plenty of brigands about though.’
‘I’d have been fine. Just have locked myself in the car. No biggie.’
‘It was a biggie to me. And obviously to your parents. If my daughter was sat in a car park in the middle of the night alone, I wouldn’t be too thrilled about it either.’
I’d studied him for a moment.
‘You’ve gone quiet.’
‘I was just pondering on you as a dad.’
‘Oh.’ There’d been a pause. ‘Dare I ask what conclusions you came up with?’
‘If you like. I think you’d make a great dad. I do, however, pity potential love interests for any daughters you may have though. Man, they’re going to be in for a grilling. I mean, look what you’re like with me, and I mean nothing to you compared to what a daughter would.’
‘You mean a whole lot more than nothing to me, Lottie.’
I’d smiled and held his gaze for a moment before I’d flapped my hand. ‘You know what I mean. Oh, turn here. It’s the one on the end. Just park anywhere.’
We’d entered via the kitchen, immediately ensconced within the warm fug of cooking and home. The dogs had charged in, Scooby following his new best friend around as Humphrey went off to inspect his grandparents’ house, just in case anything had changed since his last visit. Seb had made a bid to catch hold of his dog’s collar but to no avail, calling him back.
‘I’m sorry. He’s normally really good.’
‘He is.’ I backed Seb up.
‘Oh, they’re not doing any harm,’ my dad chuckled. ‘Just off checking to make sure there’s no intruders. Don’t worry. They’ll be back. This is where the food and company are, after all.’
Seb smiled and nodded, and my dad gave him a hearty clasp on the shoulder.
‘Now, what can I get you to drink?’
‘I’m driving back later, but anything non-alcoholic would be great.’
‘Good, good. We can do that. I’ve got a little selection here. Come and take your pick. You into rugby at all?’ My dad led Seb through into the annexe off the kitchen where he stored all the drinks bottles and we soon heard them laughing.
Mum glanced over at me and gave a little smile. I pretended not to know what it meant and just returned it innocently, happy that my dad was putting Seb so much at his ease. Not that I’d had any doubt of that.
It had always been in our house that friends had gathered after school and at weekends, and not only because of Mum’s fabulous cooking but also for the atmosphere – the ease, the humour that pervaded the house. I’d always loved coming home, even on my odd stroppy teenage day. I’d never really gone through a phase. I always thought that made me sound boring – the fact that I hadn’t gone through a rebellious stage, dyed my hair black or pink or blue and declared anarchy on the System. To be honest, whenever I saw others at school doing this it just looked bloody exhausting!
Sally, of course, definitely didn’t have any teenage angst. She’d been far too busy being pretty much perfect, getting good grades, looking beautiful and aiming for the career she wanted. I was good at the academic side, did my best to look presentable – sometimes with Sally’s help when she was feeling in a generous mood – but had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. That hadn’t fazed my parents either. They’d just told me I’d find out eventually. It took me a while but I had. And, as a bonus, this career came with a free Seb Marshall included.
* * *
Dinner was, as always, totally scrummy and ridiculously filling. I knew I shouldn’t have another roastie, or another anything really, but they were so delicious it was often hard to resist. Not that I tried that hard. I had nothing like my sister’s willpower when it came to Mum’s cooking.
‘No, no,’ Mum said, whipping the washing-up liquid out of Seb’s hand with the swiftness of a ninja. Seb opened his mouth but she held up a finger. ‘I’m serious. I’m just going to stuff it all in the dishwasher anyway.’
