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“Yeah?”
She nodded firmly. “Definitely less embarrassing.”
“Em,” he hissed.
She moved to the passenger door, shooting him an amused look over her shoulder.
“Were you really embarrassed by the way I dressed?” he asked, sliding into the passenger seat.
“No.” She pursed her lips. “Well, maybe a bit. But most kids are embarrassed by their parents so it’s not as though it was a big deal.” She brushed her fingers over the sleeve of his T-shirt. “You look younger now. Less dad-like.”
He closed his eyes briefly, glad that his new look had provided a distraction for Em, even if the conversation wasn’t doing much for his self-esteem. When he looked at Emmy again, her features had turned serious.
“Is this because of her?” she asked.
“What? Who?”
“Allie. Did she tell you to change your clothes?”
“No. Of course not. I just thought maybe I’d try something different.”
“Did Allie go shopping with you?”
“No. Leo and Damian came with me and bullied me into a whole new look.”
She let out an ambiguous hum.
“I like it,” Hugh said truthfully. “I wasn’t sure at first, but now I really like it.”
“That’s good.” She licked her lower lip. “If you need more new clothes, I can go shopping with you.”
“That would be good,” he told her as he turned the engine on.
He focused on getting out of the multi-storey and had just joined the main road when Emmy spoke again.
“How’s the dating going?”
“Fine,” he said, not wanting to be too effusive and not sure how much to say on the subject.
“Do you really like Allie? It sounded as though you’ve been out with her a lot.”
“We’ve been spending quite a bit of time together,” he said. “I like her.”
“That’s nice.” Her gaze shifted out of the window as they met slow-moving traffic.
“How was Paris?” Hugh said to shift the conversation away from him. “How are you feeling about Mum’s news?”
She shrugged. “I guess it won’t really affect me that much. Except Mum made some comment about me babysitting, which annoyed me.”
“Yeah?” He waited for her to elaborate.
“I told her I’ll happily babysit if they pay me. She didn’t seem very happy about that, but Louise laughed. Why should I babysit for free, though? It’s not as though I asked for a sibling.”
“Does it bother you?” he asked, as traffic began to move faster.
“No,” she said after a pause. “I can’t really imagine it. It seems weird … What was Mum like when I was a baby?”
“How do you mean?”
