AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘But I’m only twenty-eight.’
‘I know. You need to appear older.’
‘How do I do that?’
‘I have no idea. Talk about pensions and car finance?’
‘Christ,’ said Rob, taking deep breaths. ‘Will he want you to play tennis with him?’
‘Probably,’ said Hannah. ‘We usually do when I go to visit. There’s a British woman called Joyce in his village, she’s got a court. She’s got three adult sons who visit a lot; we’ve made up a four with one of them before.’
‘Brilliant,’ said Rob. ‘What am I going to do while you play tennis in the sunshine with your dad and Joyce’s hot sons?’
‘Look after our dog,’ Hannah said. ‘Make friends with the neighbours, focus on your assignment. Cook us food – Graham’s a really good cook, when he can be bothered. You can cook, right?’
‘Of course,’ said Rob, but Hannah could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
‘Just be dull. You don’t have to be the centre of attention all the time.’
‘I’m a tennis coach, Hannah,’ he said with a grin. ‘That’s literally why we do it.’
‘You think I don’t know that?’ she countered. ‘You’re all the same. But surely even you can be boring for three days?’
‘I could try, I suppose.’
‘We don’t have to do this, you know,’ she reminded him.
Rob nuzzled his face into Scrumpy’s neck, suddenly serious. ‘No, I want to. It’s the best thing for Scrumpy.’
Hannah nodded. ‘Why don’t you call a dog groomer? If we’re going to make my dad fall in love with our dog, he needs to look like he’s just strolled off the catwalk.’
‘Dogwalk,’ said Rob happily, pulling out his phone. ‘I’m on it.’ Scrumpy yawned lavishly and snuggled deeper into his chest, like he already knew that he was on his way home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Hannah parked up outside a small, well-kept terrace of houses with red-tiled roofs, and felt a flutter of anxiety as she spotted Rob taking a deep breath and wiping his sweaty hands on his shorts. Her dad lived in the end house, in the middle section of a small hillside community of homes that grew progressively larger the higher up the hill you lived – they’d passed a couple of two-storey apartment blocks lower down, and you could see glimpses of villas with turrets and towers further up the road. A leathery old man wearing nothing but faded shorts and sandals wandered past, everything about him screaming ‘British ex-pat’. His white chest hair covered an impressive set of man-boobs, and he was carrying a striped towel that suggested he was off to the community pool.
‘You ready?’ asked Hannah, eyeing Rob as she turned off the engine. Scrumpy immediately woke up from his nap and turned in excited circles, his claws digging into Rob’s legs.
‘Fuck,’ said Rob. ‘That hurt.’
‘No swearing,’ said Hannah. ‘Are you sure you’re up to this? It’s not too late for us to come clean. It might still be OK.’ In truth she could no longer foresee any scenario where this wasn’t going to be a complete disaster, but it was too late to turn round and drive back to Granada now.
Rob shook his head as he took off his seatbelt. ‘I’ll be fine.’ The front door of the house opened, so Rob gave her a nervous grin as they both climbed out of the car.
‘Hi,’ said Rob. ‘It’s so great to finally meet you, Mr . . .’ he trailed off, and Hannah realised that she’d never told him her maiden name. He looked mildly panicked, like this was something Graham would obviously know.
‘It’s fine, just call me Barnaby,’ said Hannah’s father, shaking his hand warmly.
Rob glanced back at Hannah, who had also failed to mention that her dad was called Barnaby. She gave him the tiniest shrug and turned to greet her dad.
‘Hello, love,’ he said, pulling her into a long hug. She let herself relax for a moment, genuinely glad to see him even if the circumstances were complicated. They’d worked hard to rebuild their relationship over the past decade, and it was still very much a work in progress. But he was still her dad, even though they looked nothing alike – Hannah’s olive skin, brown eyes and wild curls were all from her mum’s side of the family. Her dad was blue-eyed and fair, with tanned skin from seventeen years in the sun. He was wearing a blue polo shirt and grey canvas shorts, a pair of sunglasses propped on his head and old, faded flip-flops on his feet. Other than a further inch or so lost on his hairline, he looked exactly the same as he had three years ago.
‘Well,’ said Barnaby, giving them a beaming smile as he stepped back to look at them both. ‘I can’t tell you how glad I am to finally meet you, Graham. How long have you been married now?’
‘Fourteen years,’ said Rob, taking Hannah’s hand and showcasing a level of affection that Graham had never managed, even in the early days. Rob’s hand felt warm and strong, and it actually hurt to let go.
‘Well, that’s lovely,’ said Barnaby, looking delighted. ‘And who’s this?’ Scrumpy was watching them from the front seat, his tail thumping wildly.
