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‘Come on, Sleeping Beauty,’ Charlie said, lifting Dana off the bench and setting her down. He picked up two plates and followed Carrie through to the dining room.
Charlie had never laughed so much in his life than he did over dinner. Dana kept them distracted from each other. She was a truly delightful child. Her smile was angelic, her voice melodic and her laughter wicked. She was captivating. Why the hell were Sunday lunches never this much fun with his family?
They were so stiff and formal. Everyone dressed up, definitely no paint stains or tie-dye. His siblings and their assorted partners tried to outdo each other with their latest published paper or research grant. The menu was cordon bleu—no two-minute anything allowed. And his father pontificated and preached and tried to convert him to one specialty or another. He dreaded them. In fact, he only really attended them out of a mixture of duty and guilt.
But this? This evening with Carrie and her daughter showed him the way a real family conducted itself. With warmth and laughter and sharing. He’d never had such a sense of family as he’d had tonight. He doubted he ever had. From as early as he could remember, things had been stiff and formal and the pressure to perform had been there. This relaxed, laughter-filled meal was like a breath of fresh air. He desperately wanted in on this scene of domestic bliss, but a part of him held back. Upbringing was a hard act to beat, and his childhood had been the complete opposite of Dana’s. What if he got involved and then messed it up?
He felt a pang in his chest as he watched Carrie wipe Dana’s mouth, and couldn’t decide if it was envy or lust. He suspected from the tightness in his loins it was the latter, but there was no denying he coveted what Carrie and Dana had.
‘Come on, you, bathtime,’ Carrie said. She could feel Charlie’s gaze on her and if she didn’t move now she might just do something ridiculous, like lean into him and rub her cheek against his chest. The situation was hopelessly intimate, all of them sitting here, laughing and chatting like a family. It was hard not to weave fantasies.
‘I want Charlie to do it,’ Dana said.
Oh, no. No. No. No. That would be too much like happy families. ‘No, sweetie. Charlie’s going to do the dishes. Aren’t you?’ She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
He could see the gentle note of warning in her eyes. ‘Absolutely.’ He nodded. ‘I love washing up.’
Carrie shot him a small smile.
‘You are going to stay for the dancing, aren’t you, Charlie?’ Dana looked up at him, pleading with her big blue eyes.
Charlie saw Carrie roll her eyes and smothered a smirk. ‘Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,’he promised. ‘Now, go have your bath.’
Dana turned to do his bidding obediently and Carrie rolled her eyes at Charlie again. His warm sexy chuckle followed her all the way to the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later the dishes were done and Dana was padding down the hallway, her wet hair combed, her thumb in her mouth, dragging her blanky behind her. She had on some tie-dyed pyjamas.
‘Do you like my pyjamas, Charlie?’ Dana asked, pirouetting.
He looked up as Carrie entered behind Dana. ‘Very much,’ he said.
‘My aunty makes them. She’s a niner.’
‘Oh?’ he said, shooting a puzzled look at Carrie.
‘A designer,’ Carrie clarified.
‘A niner.’ Dana nodded. ‘She loves tie-tie the best.’
‘Tie-dye,’ Carrie corrected.
‘Ah.’ He nodded sagely.
Dana walked towards him and stopped in front of him. She put her head all the way back to peer up at him. ‘Come on, Charlie, Mummy, it’s dance time.’ Dana slipped her hand into Charlie’s and tugged.
He laughed and followed.
‘We don’t have a dukebox, do we, Mummy?’ Dana asked, not bothering to wait for a reply before she ploughed on. ‘We have a DD player.’
‘Ah.’ Charlie nodded. ‘A DD player. Cool.’
‘Can we have “Crocodile Rock”, Mummy?’
Carrie smiled. ‘Sure sweetie.’
Carrie put the Elton John CD in the player and fast forwarded to Dana’s current favourite. She could feel Charlie’s stare and her hand shook as she pressed the play button.
‘Come on, Charlie,’ Dana said pulling him up from the lounge. ‘Dance with me.’
Carrie sat back and laughed and smiled and clapped as her daughter twisted and bopped energetically with a grinning Charlie. She looked so happy it was almost painful. This was what it could have been like if Rupert had stuck around. Well, actually, she couldn’t quite imagine stiff-lipped Rupert letting his hair down this much, but didn’t every little girl have a right to a father?
