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Ron shrugged and smiled. ‘I’ll have Pepe to keep me company. Anyway, it wouldn’t be the first time, mate.’
‘I’ll join you,’ Brett offered, but Kate tugged at his arm.
‘Maybe Annabelle would appreciate a few minutes peace?’ she suggested, and it took Brett a second to get what she meant.
‘Oh, right, yes, good idea. Come on you lot,’ he said, rounding up the children. ‘Let’s go find a table.’
Annabelle looked uncertain, but when Jake and Izzie happily allowed themselves to be ushered inside, Ron saw her relax.
A short while later, with a portion of fish and chips in their hands, and a sausage for Pepe, Ron and Annabelle were sitting on a park bench, the early evening sun warming their faces, and the aroma of recently mown grass wafting over them.
‘Ow! Hot!’ Annabelle mumbled, around a mouthful of food, as she sucked in air to try to cool her mouth down. ‘Good, though.’
Ron wasn’t going to argue with that. He wolfed his supper down, faster than Pepe snaffled the sausage portions he was being fed, and very soon he began to feel pleasantly full. A can of fizzy pop washed the meal down, and he patted his stomach.
‘I needed that. I was starving,’ he announced, wiping his fingers on a serviette.
Annabelle bundled up the remains of her meal (which wasn’t much – just a few scraps of chips) and popped the rubbish in the nearest bin.
‘Do you know what I could do with now?’ she asked.
‘A nice cup of tea?’
‘You sound like Beverley. No, not tea. Guess again.’
‘Coffee? Half a lager?’
‘Nope. A kiss.’
‘I’m sure I can oblige,’ Ron said, scooting closer, and putting his arms around her.
She tilted her head back, her lips parting, and he could see tiny grains of salt sparkling on them. Slowly, he licked them off, desire flaring inside him as she closed her eyes and uttered a soft moan of pleasure.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he told her, then his tongue found hers and neither of them said anything for several delicious minutes.
Then Ron felt Pepe stir at his feet, and he opened one eye.
He hastily opened the other and dragged his lips away from Annabelle’s.
‘We’ve got company,’ he said, and she hastened to compose herself when she realised the rest of the family had finished their suppers and had just emerged from the chip shop. Hopefully no one had noticed them canoodling.
As the family entered the park and walked over to them, Kate and Brett were smirking, so clearly they’d seen enough, and Beverley winked at him, but Helen sniffed and looked away. She’s not my greatest fan, Ron thought, not feeling in the least bit bothered. As long as the kids hadn’t noticed their mother being soundly kissed, that was the important thing. Ellis and Portia both had their heads down, their phones in their hands, thumbs flying over the screen, and Sam and Jack were busily chatting between themselves. Izzie’s attention was on Pepe, not on her mum, so she hadn’t spotted them kissing, either.
But when Jake glanced at him and caught his eye, Ron could have sworn there was a hint of disapproval on his face. He and Annabelle would have to be a little more careful, Ron decided, not wanting to upset the boy. He appreciated how difficult it must be for him, being dragged away from everything he knew, and plonked in a foreign country to live with grandparents he’d only seen infrequently. To top it all off, he was facing having to go to a new school, make new friends, and carve out a place in this new world he suddenly found himself in. The last thing Jake needed was to see his mother smooching with another man, especially since his father was several thousand miles away.
Oh well, Ron sighed to himself, he and Annabelle would have no choice but to be discreet when they returned to Brighton. Living in two separate houses would see to that. However, he supposed there was an upside, in that by not sharing the same house and by not being in the unrealistic setting of a holiday, it would almost be as though they were starting from scratch, getting to know one another properly, and getting the children used to him being around. Despite his trepidation on the home and the job front, he found he was quite looking forward to it.
Brett had been right when he said this was a perfect day. In Ron’s opinion it had also been a perfect holiday. He might not want it to end for that very reason, but he suddenly found himself looking forward to the future very much indeed.
First though, he had tonight to look forward to, and he couldn’t wait for Annabelle to slip into his bed where they could make the most glorious and wonderful love.
However, Ron hadn’t reckoned on the man standing on the doorstep of their holiday house when Annabelle’s car pulled into the drive.
