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‘Charlie put banana in some, Mummy. They taste ’licious.’
‘Hey, I tried to put banana in a few times and you wouldn’t eat them,’ Carrie protested, kissing Dana’s head and pulling up a stool opposite Charlie at the breakfast bar.
Dana nodded solemnly. ‘I know, but Charlie says you got to try everything once else how do you know whether you like it or not?’
‘Does he, now?’ Carrie commented. So Charlie was the expert now, was he?
Charlie saw the frown knit her eyebrows together. ‘OK, here you go,’ he said, interrupting Dana before she got him into any more trouble. He served her up two pancakes, drizzled maple syrup over them and dusted them with icing sugar. ‘Eat up,’ he instructed, and just because he wanted to see the frown disappear he threw in a teasing ‘You need to replace those burnt calories.’
Carrie bugged her eyes at him in warning as she took the plate.
‘What’s calories?’ Dana asked, her mouth full of pancake.
Charlie stifled a laugh at the murderous look in Carrie’s eyes.
‘It’s how we measure energy in food,’ Carrie supplied. ‘Don’t eat with your mouth full, sweetie.’
Charlie helped himself to seconds—he’d burnt a few calories himself last night—and wisely kept quiet. He munched away silently while Dana kept up conversation with her mother.
I could get used to this. The realisation sank in insidiously. It was domestic and homey and reeked of commitment. Everything he’d been determined to avoid. His heartbeat kicked up a notch as alarm bells started to ring. He shifted in his seat and glanced at his watch. He had to get out of there—the atmosphere was affecting his ability to think clearly. Staying last night had been a mistake.
Dana swallowed the last of her pancake. ‘Can you stay all day?’ she asked Charlie.
‘No, darling,’ Carrie interrupted before Charlie could say anything. ‘Charlie has to go to work, don’t you?’ She sipped at her coffee, watching him furtively.
He nodded. ‘Yes, I do.’
Carrie noted how quickly he agreed with her and how he’d glanced at his watch twice now in a short time. He looked ill at ease suddenly and she wondered if he was already regretting last night now the cold light of morning had thrown her life into stark reality. It shouldn’t have hurt. But it did.
‘Can he bring ding rolls tonight?’
‘No, spring rolls aren’t healthy every night. Go wash your hands, sweetie. Aren’t the Wiggles on soon?’
Dana’s face lit up. ‘Wiggles!’
Carrie helped her off her stool and they both watched her run away to the bathroom.
Charlie smiled. ‘She’s a great kid.’
Carrie felt her heart contract. She could fall for him so easily. ‘Yes, she is.’ She started clearing the breakfast dishes. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him check his watch again. ‘You’d better get going. The kids at the centre will be wondering what’s happened to you.’
Charlie knew it was for the best. Knew she was giving him an out. Which was what he wanted. Wasn’t it? But memories of last night still heated his loins and the experience of cooking with Dana left a lingering sense of possibility.
‘Are you dismissing me, Carrie?’
Carrie scraped the plates, her back to him. ‘You’ve looked at your watch three times in as many minutes, Charlie. You don’t have to hang around. I’m a big girl. I know the score. Last night was just a very pleasant way to end a year of abstinence.’ She slotted a plate into the dishwasher rack.
It sounded so callous when she said it like that. Whatever it had been, it had been more than that. ‘What if it’s more?’
Carrie felt her heart leap stupidly and quashed it ruthlessly as she thrust another plate into the rack. ‘Right.’ She forced out a trite laugh as she turned to look at him. ‘More than what, Charlie? Look, let’s be real for a minute. Last night was great but it wasn’t real. This morning was real. A little person whose needs come before mine. I know that you get on well with Dana but I saw how quickly you bolted out of my house that first time when the reality of her existence banged you on the head. And right now you look like an animal caught in headlights.’ She turned back to the dishwasher and slotted in another plate. ‘You may be prepared to tolerate Dana, sweet-talk her to get in with me, but we’re a team. A two-for-one deal.’
Carrie slotted in the last plate and slammed the dishwasher drawer shut.
Charlie sat very still on the stool, realising the error he’d made that night in not correcting her assumption. She still thought he’d run because of Dana’s toy bringing him to his senses. And it was his fault. He’d let her think that because it had been an easy out. But it was coming back to bite him on the butt well and truly. To complicate what should have been a glorious morning after. Whatever else happened today, he had to correct this misinformation.
