Page 93 of Be More Octopus

She looked out of her window to see three energetic young boys spill out of a big SUV. They began throwing gravel at one another. An exhausted-looking man got out of the driver's seat and made no attempt to stop the mini-riot.

A woman emerged from the passenger side. She looked considerably younger than the driver and voiced her annoyance loudly. 'I don't know why I agreed to come on holiday with your children. It's only been four hours, and I've had enough already. We should have gone to Rhodes on our own.' The man made no effort to respond.

Em checked her clipboard. The Smiths. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now started playing in her head. How appropriate. It looked like they were going to have a fantastic week. Em opened the door to greet them.

With the Smiths settled into Lavender Cottage, Em headed next door to Jack's.

He'd cooked her favourite meal: lasagne with garlic bread and salad.

'I've missed this,' he said as they sat opposite one another at his dining table.

'Lasagne?' asked Em.

'No. Eating with you.'

Em smiled. 'This is so good.'

'Eating with me?' Jack gave her a cheeky grin.

'No. The lasagne. '

They both laughed.

'My mother's recipe,' he said. 'I'll have to teach you how to make it.'

'I'd like that.' Em cleaned up the last piece of lasagne from her plate. 'There's one thing that's been bugging me. Why did you wait for me to come around with your clean linen today? Why didn't you come to see me once you'd decided to forgive me?'

'Because I hadn't entirely decided to forgive you. Then when I saw you …' He sighed.

There was a crash from next door and the sound of Mrs Smith shouting. Em winced. 'I hope Nancy's got good insurance.'

'Something tells me I'm not going to get much peace and quiet this week,' Jack laughed.

'I can ask them to keep the noise down?'

'I think you might be asking for the impossible.'

Jack started pushing his last piece of lasagne thoughtfully around the plate. 'Do you want children?' he asked.

Em looked at the wall adjoining the Smith's cottage. Judging by the sounds coming from next door, the riot that had started on the drive was kicking off again indoors. 'Not those ones,' she said.

'But would you like your own?'

'Are we doing all the serious questions tonight?'

'Yes, I thought we could cover politics and religion next.' He grinned.

'You already know my political views, and I'm an atheist.'

'Same here, but you've dodged the family question.'

'Did you and Isabella want a family?'

'I did. I thought she did too, but then it turned out that she thought pregnancy would ruin her figure, so she kept taking the pill without telling me.'

'That's awful.'

'It all came out when I suggested we go to a fertility clinic. But at least it got me to finally see that everything in our marriage was only about her and what she wanted.' He sighed. 'And you've still managed to sidestep my question!'