AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cal shot a grateful smile at Heather. ‘I’m glad you like it. How about we take it out for the day and see how it flies?’
‘All day?’ Ryan asked. ‘No lessons first?’
‘No lessons on birthdays,’ Heather confirmed. ‘It’s a rule.’
‘For me, too?’ Daisy asked.
‘Absolutely,’ Cal told her. ‘Go on, you two—go and get ready to head out. We’ll meet you at the front door in twenty minutes.’
‘So far so good,’ Heather murmured as the kids raced off.
‘Long way to go yet,’ Cal replied.
* * *
This was going well. Against all the odds—and definitely all his expectations—this was going well.
Cal had spent some time thinking about when he’d seen Ryan look happiest, or most relaxed, and had realised that it was whenever they were outside. Ryan was all boy, after all, and constantly moving, so getting him somewhere he could run and jump and yell just made sense.
Especially since they could also fly the new helicopter.
‘I swear you’re more excited about that thing than he is,’ Heather had muttered as Cal and Ryan had planned flights and adventures for it on the drive there.
He’d chosen an area he and Ross had loved exploring as kids, whenever they’d been able to persuade someone to take them. Just past Lengroth Woods, at the edge of their estate, was a valley with a stream running through it, steep hills for rolling down on either side, purple heather and yellow gorse blooming all around, and no people for miles in any direction.
It was perfect for a family walk, a picnic in the sunshine—and for sending the helicopter on its first mission, to find out how good the inbuilt camera that was meant to talk to his smartphone really was.
Pretty good, was the answer. As they all settled down for their birthday lunch Cal and Ryan reviewed the footage together, heads close as they stared at the little screen.
Something tightened in Cal’s chest as Ryan’s hair brushed against his cheek, and he realised that maybe—maybe—this was what he’d been looking for. A connection with these children he didn’t know and couldn’t understand. There hadn’t even been the tension between them that he’d felt in Edinburgh, when they’d still been figuring out how to spend time together at all.
Maybe all those lessons with Heather were paying off.
He looked up, wanting to share the moment with her, only to find her already watching him, with the softest of smiles on her face. She already knew, he realised as he returned the smile.
‘Is it time for cake now?’ Daisy asked, sounding bored. ‘I only really came for the cake.’
Heather rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you did. Hang on.’
She pulled a large bakery box from the picnic basket they’d lugged from the car, fiddled around with some candles and matches, then presented it to Ryan as they all chorused a slightly off-key version of ‘Happy Birthday’.
Ryan beamed as he bent forward to blow out the candles, and Cal snapped a photo on his phone so he could remember this moment. The day when he’d finally started getting something right.
He just hoped he could keep it up.
* * *
Heather thought her heart might burst as she watched Cal and Ryan together as they flew the helicopter back down the valley to the four-by-four.
She and Daisy were walking behind, a little slower, enjoying the last of the sweet summer air blowing off the stream. Even in August it grew a little chilly as the sun started to sink, and they’d stayed much longer than they’d intended since they were having such a lovely day.
Heather couldn’t remember the last time she’d lazed around in the sunshine like that. She and Cal had sat in companionable silence as the kids had raced around collecting flowers from the heather and gorse, or paddling in the stream as far as they could go before the current got too strong. For once the tension between them seemed to have faded, and they’d just been able to enjoy the day.
Heather hadn’t felt so relaxed, happy and at home since she’d arrived in Lengroth.
‘Did you tell him to do all that?’ Daisy asked suddenly, and in an instant Heather’s shoulders tensed again. ‘All the birthday stuff, I mean.’
