* * *
One of the great things about Cassie’s parents staying was that they kept her very busy, which meant that she had a lot less time to lose her grip on sanity. It was hard to fit in too much secret googling of ‘positive IVF stories – real life symptoms’ around all the sightseeing her parents wanted to do.
They had almost nothing in common other than a strong enjoyment of each other’s company. Her dad was a keen fan of military history. His top three London tourist choices were the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms and the National Army Museum. Her mum had reached the point several years ago where she said she’d kill herself – or her husband – if she had to go to another war-related place of interest. She did, in fact, still often go with him, but she wore headphones and listened to 1970s music or audiobooks while tour guides talked.
On her parents’ second morning in London, Cassie went with her father and Anthony and Juliet on a trip to see the pagoda in Kew Gardens in West London, while her mother went to the National Portrait Gallery.
‘Your father’s already spent forty minutes talking to me about the pagoda being used to test smoke curtains used to camouflage low-flying aircraft in the Second World War,’ she told Cassie while her husband was in the shower. ‘I can’t take any more today so I’d have to ignore him if I went, and your neighbours need to flirt with each other without me being a gooseberry.’ Cassie wasn’t a huge fan of military history either, but she could definitely use the pagoda and smoke curtain thing in her second London book.
Annoyingly, she managed to leave her phone in the flat, but Juliet obliged by taking a lot of photos to help with her research. Anthony definitely featured in more of them than was necessary. Cassie’s matchmaking was going fantastically well.
If her mum had gone with them, they’d have been in a cab both ways, but her father liked to ‘see London properly’ and that involved a lot of public transport. By the time they were on their way back, Cassie was almost beside herself with exhaustion.Surelythis meant she was pregnant. Please let her be.
‘Cassie, it’s our stop.’ Her father was shaking her gently while Anthony and Juliet smiled at her. Oh, okay, she might have nodded off a little there. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Just a little bit tired. I’ve been working hard.’ She could use this tiredness as an excuse for not drinking any wine this evening when her mum’s cousins came over. One less thing to worry about today.
As they opened the front door of the flat, the aromas of Middle Eastern cuisine and the sound of Cassie’s mother talking – presumably on the phone – reached them, and Cassie felt a wave of nostalgia for childhood and arriving home from school on her mother’s day off work. It was justsolovely having her parents around.
‘Well, it’s been wonderful to talk to you, James,’ Cassie’s mother said, blowing a kiss across the room at Cassie.James? Surely notJamesJames. ‘Could I just ask you a question?’ She winked at Cassie. Oh no. Please no. She had that look in her eye. ‘Are you single?’ She listened to the answer and then laughed. ‘Saucy.’Saucy? Honestly. What had Jamessaid? And what would he be thinking? Her mother winked at her and Cassie sighed. Incorrigible.
Her mother was nodding and smiling and eyebrow raising now. ‘I’ll let Cassie know,’ she said.
Cassie shook her head.Whyhad she left her phone behind today?
‘Great to talk. Bye.’ Her mother waved the phone at Cassie. ‘I like his WhatsApp photo.’ Yep, that was a good photo. ‘He has a very nice voice. Good sense of humour. He works in private equity. He’s good with your animals. Thirty-five. Single. No children. Straight. You know where I’m going with this. It’s like it was meant to be.’
Cassie took her phone. ‘Yes. Serendipity. Absolutely.’
‘Exactly.’ Cassie’s mother nodded. ‘I’m looking forward to meeting him in person.’
Cassie sighed again.
‘Ach, that’s enough teasing. I don’t think Cassie wants to marry the man she swapped homes with.’ Cassie’s father sauntered over, picked up a spoon and stuck it into the dish simmering on the hob.
‘I’m not suggesting marriage. That’s so old-fashioned. But I’m serious. I have a sixth sense. I like him.’ Cassie’s mother swiped the spoon out of her husband’s hand before he could get it to his mouth. To be fair, she’d never liked Simon, so she did at least havesomesixth sense.
Cassie’s father rolled his eyes and smacked a big kiss on her lips. Cassie’s heart clenched as she watched them. If she couldn’t find what they had, she’d be better off single.
‘What did James want?’ she asked. She genuinely wanted to know and she also wanted to divert her own thoughts, because she was feeling tearfulagain.
‘He was just calling for a chat, to let you know how things are with Laura and the animals. But we had amuchmore interesting conversation than that.’
Honestly.
Fifteen
James
James was still laughing following his conversation with Cassie’s mother as he made his way up the field to feed the alpacas, checking his phone for messages as he went. She’d been hilarious. And possibly only half joking when she’d propositioned him on Cassie’s behalf, and he didn’t even mind.
She sounded like a fantastic mother. Involved. Caring. Sober.
It didn’t surprise him that Cassie seemed to have a good relationship with her parents. The way she lived, the homeliness of her house, the animals, the close friendships she evidently had with her neighbours, all seemed to point to someone from a stable family.
He thought of Cassie’s mother asking him his height and shoe size, and chuckled again.
Wow. Island living was clearly doing something to him. A few months ago he’d have found her questioning annoying or – if she’d been like Emily’s mother – terrifying, but somehow he’d been totally charmed, even if he was clearly being sized up as a potential father. So far off the mark it was untrue, but funny all the same. He could imagine how livid Cassie would have been if she’d been in the room.
