She was going to die.
Jonny’s laugh was the loudest she’d ever heard it, loud enough to raise Sadie from her game.
“I didn’t mean to be funny.” Charlie sounded worried. “Do you think someone will look at me like that one day?”
And her heart broke. “Come on, Sadie. Let’s see what they’re doing with those pancakes.” She scooped her up and disengaged her hands from the game console and guided her into the kitchen before she had a chance to argue.
“How’s Miss Sticky Hair?” Jonny flipped a pancake. “Do we need to get it all cut off?”
“No!” Sadie almost screamed.
Rayah laughed, not feeling in the least bit sorry for Miss Sadie. There was another hour of washing and combing before there was any possibility of letting it dry. “Good flipping. Let’s see Charlie try.”
Sadie stropped over to the table and sat down to sulk. No one paid her any attention mind.
Charlie shot her a grateful look and took the pan from his dad. “I missed last time I did this.”
“You won’t this time. Get the pan hot again.” Jonny started to supervise.
Rayah watched him, coaching and prompting, given praise and cheering when Charlie flipped and caught it.
“That’s great, see. Be braver next time and get more height, but that’s excellent, better than the first one I did today.”
She saw Charlie glow but then her eyes were on Jonny. She had no idea if she’d be sitting in this kitchen on a Sunday morning in six or even three months’ time and the thought of it being another woman here instead killed her. She didn’t know what Jonny’s intentions were towards her; she knew he wouldn’t hurt her intentionally or mess her about – that wasn’t him and if he did it would cause issues with him and Jake, plus he wouldn’t confuse his kids. But she wanted to be married at some point and have a baby of her own and she had no idea whether that was something Jonny would do again. He’d had the sleepless nights and endless days of shit and snot already.
With his eldest right now he was being exactly what she wanted as a father for her own babies and she was melting.
“Can I do another?” Charlie was enthusiastic.
“Absolutely. Exactly the same as last time.”
“What do you think, Rayah?” His voice was excited. This gangly pre-teen was excited about tossing pancakes.
“I think we’ll get you a weekend job at Sorrell’s hotel.”
He beamed.
It was the best breakfast ever.
Rayah and Jonnywere loading the dishwasher when Jonny’s phone rang. He had two; one for personal stuff and the other solely for work that he could switch off when he wasn’t on call. The ring belonged to the second and he cursed when he heard it.
“Shit. I was hoping for a clear day.” He fumbled for his phone that was under one of the Sunday papers. “Tell me there’s an issue with Tommy having a hangover and they don’t know who’s on cover.”
Rayah picked up a newspaper and flipped to the sports section, wanting to check over the football results.
“Tell me it’s good news and the syndicate won the lotto last night.”
It clearly wasn’t judging by the curse word that fell out of his mouth a few seconds later.
“I’ll go straight there. Send two more engines and make sure my gear is in one. I just need to sort the kids.”
“I can see to them.” She put the paper down.
“Rayah, I didn’t ask you here because it was convenient.” He looked half-mad.
“I know. But as it is, even if I hadn’t been here, I might’ve ended up helping you out anyway. I have no plans for the day apart from a bit of work, but I can do that here if you’re not back. Do the kids have anything to do today?”
He shook his head. “Their stuff for school, but you’ll know more about that than me. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
