‘That was unexpected.’ Clara gave Sam a little smile as Kerr and Georgie walked down the hill towards the tennis club.
‘Yeah, it was.’ They shared a look for a moment before he sat back down beside his mum. She put her hand on his arm.
‘I can’t believe that was Georgie Porter for real.’
After Moira had bounced back to earth, she spent a while trying to light the candles in the breeze before they all sang happy birthday to Sam.
Feeling slightly hot in the cheeks, Sam cut the cake. The kids wolfed theirs down before running off with a frisbee. Alisha had Skye on the lead beside her and looked like she was trying to explain the rules to her.
‘They’ll be asking for a dog next,’ Sam said to Claire.
‘Oh don’t. With our crazy working patterns, that’s not possible.’
Sam smiled. He’d like to get a dog again. He’d often felt he wouldn’t have the time because of his work, but Clara managed. She hired a dog walker during the week, and that seemed to work well for her. Maybe that was what he needed for companionship.
‘This has been a lovely afternoon,’ Moira said, checking the time on her phone. ‘Such a shame you don’t have the rest of the week off.’
‘You can enjoy exploring on your own.’ Sam leaned back on the tree.
‘My sister visited Dairvin Castle at Easter,’ Clara said. ‘It sounds nice. I really should make the effort to go. It’s not far from my house really.’
‘Let’s put that on the list,’ Moira said. ‘I love Scottish castles. I read all the books I can about them.’
‘She means romance books set in castles,’ Sam said, ‘not factual ones.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Clara said.
When the kids started to flag, the adults packed up the picnic things, and Sam walked with Kaleb to the car while Clara and Jacob were still talking to Moira.
‘You might see Grandma again before she goes back to Somerset,’ Sam said to the boys. ‘Depends on what your mum says about her plans for Friday night.’
Kaleb smirked. ‘She’s got a boyfriend, so she’ll definitely want us out.’
‘Does she?’ Sam frowned.
‘Yeah. She obviously didn’t want you outdoing her.’
‘Seriously.’ Sam narrowed his eyes at him. ‘Clara and I are—’
‘Just friends,’ Kaleb said. ‘When are you going to admit that you fancy her?’
Sam shook his head. ‘I can’t. We can’t have anything like that. You know how it is with Mum’s job. If we have to move on, I couldn’t do that to Clara.’
Kaleb gave a little shrug. ‘Thing is, I don’t think Mum’s that keen to move on anymore. Not now that she’s met Gareth.’ He waggled his eyebrows.
A tiny flicker of hope sparked in Sam’s chest, though he barely dared to acknowledge it. It was so insignificant that the tiniest breath could extinguish it.
‘And is Gareth nice?’ Sam asked.
‘He seems ok,’ Kaleb said.
‘Good.’ Sam ruffled his son’s hair. He hoped Olive had grown more honest in her dealings with partners – for Gareth’s sake.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Clara
Clara ran through her end-of-week routine on Friday. Neither she nor Sam was hanging about as they were both going to spend the evening with his family before they headed back to Somerset the next day. The week had absolutely flown by, and Clara had only managed brief catchups with Sam, though they’d been messaging loads. Her favourite message had been one where he told her the news about Olive having a boyfriend and possibly wanting to stay in the area.
