AllFreeNovel
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It’s the plan.
“I’m all for moving the ball forward,” Nina says. “There’s something about having it in springtime that I love. They’ve always been the best in my opinion.”
“I’d be free to help,” Luce tells me. “And Megs will be back by then, too.”
“She will. That’s actually perfect timing,” Nina agrees.
“And then a holiday will be needed after all this last-minute planning, right girls?” Lissie offers, smiling behind her wine glass.
I chuckle, looking between the three of them as they scheme. They’ll help me. I know they will. “I’ll make some calls, see what’s available.”
“You can’t just have time off, can you?” Elliot says with a chuckle. “You’re relentless.”
“Can we play rounders?” Ellis asks, already swinging a bat in his hand.
“I’m going to start the dishes,” Lucy says, standing and collecting up the empty plates.
“I’ll come help.” Lissie stands and starts to help clear the table.
“Mum, you can play, but you’re not bowling today,” Ellis tells Nina.
“Aww, thanks, mate,” she sings sarcastically. “Why don’t you put me into a position that suits you instead.”
“Back stop,” Ellis says without hesitation.
Mason chuckles. “I’ll bowl, angel. You can get distracted by my face.” He leans in and kisses her neck.
Ellis tuts and stomps off down the terrace.
“You don’t have enough players for two teams,” Lance says.
“It’s a variation of rounders,” I explain as everyone disappears from the table. “You bat until you’re caught out. You catch them out, you bat.”
“So not rounders.”
“No, I guess not.” I smile, sitting back down in the chair beside him, appreciating the last of the evening sun as the children play.
“You’re not playing?” Lance asks.
I shake my head, grinning. “I’m as bad as Nina.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Well, I won’t embarrass myself by proving it. The last time I joined in, I swung the bat so wide, I cracked Ellis in the ribs.”
Lance chuckles, dropping his head back. “He spoke to me earlier, you know.”
“That’s progress,” I manage, his infectious laugh making my words shaky.
He cringes, a lightness settling over him like the sun sinking behind the meadow’s hilltop. “He told me if he were me, he wouldn’t eat the burger I was about to eat.”
I laugh harder, grabbing his arm, shaking my head to reassure him. “He’s messing with you. He wouldn’t dare do anything to it.”
His eyes flick around my face, as if memorising parts of it. A furnace ignites behind my cheeks. “I know. I gave him some serious eye contact while I ate the entire thing.”
As if on cue, Ellis passes us, heading toward the middle of the field, the bat swinging aimlessly. He walks to where Waverley is sitting and drops down next to her. “He’s fiercely protective of her,” I say absentmindedly. When I turn to look at Lance, I find him already watching me. “He almost got suspended from school last year after getting into a fight with a boy two years older than them, just because he called Ave shrimp.”
“Shrimp?”
