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‘She should cover that arm up. It’s not very nice...’
She felt herself flush, and saw Alistair’s face darken. Now, of all times, he’d heard what was going on behind his back.
‘I just can’t work up an appetite, you know... People should be more considerate.’
Alistair turned in his seat suddenly and Raina winced. The women had turned their gazes back onto Anya, looking as if they were both sucking lemons.
‘Hi. My name’s Alistair Duvall.’ He took his wallet from his pocket, producing his card and reaching over to put it on the women’s table. ‘I’m a director of a charity that produces prosthetic limbs for kids, like my niece here. You seem interested, and I’m always on the lookout for volunteers to help with our work.’
One of the women looked away, and the other shot him an outraged glare. Alistair gave her his most easygoing smile. ‘We’re very flexible over hours...’
‘The cheek of it!’ The woman glared at Alistair and got up from the table, walking over to the waitress, her companion picking up her handbag and following. Alistair winked at Anya and she gave him an effusive smile, clearly understanding that he’d scored a victory on her behalf.
The women were talking to the waitress and pointing to a table by the window. The waitress shook her head, and the women walked over to it anyway. The debate seemed about to get heated, and the waitress indicated the Reserved sign, displayed prominently at the centre of the table. The women tossed their heads and left, and the waitress came hurrying over.
‘I’m so terribly sorry. I heard what those women said, and it’s beyond unacceptable. Would you like me to call the manager?’
‘Yes...’
‘No.’ Raina silenced Alistair with a glare. ‘Thank you, we really appreciate your concern. But I think it’s best if we let it drop now.’
‘As you wish. I would have done anything I could to prevent this...’ The waitress was clearly upset about what she’d heard. ‘Please let me know if there’s anything else you need. Some more tea, perhaps?’
‘That would be very nice. And thank you for your kindness.’ Alistair gave her an incandescent smile and the waitress grinned back, hurrying away.
He reached for the cake stand so that Anya could choose which cake she wanted, and put the small cupcake decorated with pink icing and sugar pearls onto her plate for her. Raina knew how he felt, though. The same outrage that she felt when people treated her daughter as if she had no feelings at all had been written all over his face.
And he’d called Anya his niece. He had to call her something, she supposed, and Anya had started to call him Uncle the way she did all grown-ups that she liked. If they’d still been married, Anya really would have been his niece.
Raina couldn’t think about that. She picked up the teapot and poured the tea. The best thing she could do for Alistair now was to show him that the incident hadn’t spoiled their day.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ALISTAIR LEANED BACK on the sofa, closing his eyes. ‘I never realised that they were so exhausting.’
Raina laughed. ‘You have higher standards than I do. I can’t keep your level of play intensity up for that long.’
Alistair had thrown himself into his task for the day like a bull at a gate. After they’d returned home, every moment had been spent with Anya, playing with her and finding things to delight her. When she’d brought Anya back downstairs in her pyjamas for a bedtime story, she’d fallen asleep after the first page.
‘It’s harder than I thought. I’ve heard about people staring but you don’t really get the full force of it until you experience it. I just can’t imagine how anyone could be so downright nasty as those women were.’
‘You d
on’t get many like that. And there are lots of people like that lovely waitress for everyone who’s nasty.’ Raina sat down in an armchair, stretching her limbs. ‘Did you see her face when you asked her if she wanted to volunteer? I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or beg you to stop.’
Alistair chuckled. ‘Nothing like asking for volunteers. There are some people who’ll volunteer for anything, and others who run a mile.’
‘What would you have done if she’d said she had volunteered?’
‘There wasn’t any danger of that. Trust me.’
It was nice having someone to talk to in the quiet evening hours. Someone to share her day with. Raina had missed that, and she’d missed Alistair.
‘You’ve had a hard time of it these last few years.’ His thought came out of nowhere, in the way that evening thoughts often did.
‘I guess... I had to get through it. For Anya’s sake.’
‘You had your own grief to contend with...’ The open-ended statement was an invitation for her to talk.
