He tipped his head back and laughed. “Did you think we were seeing each other?” His shoulders shook.
I shrugged, looked at the table. “No…”
“You did! That’s so funny. She’s like my sister. Seriously.” His words quietened and I realised he was studying me. “I’m single, Georgie. Have been for some time.”
I managed to look up at him. “Me too.”
Whatever rule had been in place for the last week, we’d just broken it.
Seph beingsingle had suddenly changed things.
I paused outside a children’s toy and book shop, a book of alternative fairy tales for girls catching my eye. Rose had asked me the night before, while I was reading her Rapunzel, why the princesses couldn’t save themselves. She then gave me a plausible way that Rapunzel could’ve escaped the tower without losing her hair – trust my daughter to think of that – and that she didn’t need the prince. To be honest, I felt she was probably still annoyed with James for showing her his willy and anything boy shaped wasn’t worth her time.
I was hoping it lasted a very long time.
I headed into the shop, needing to delay my break ending, because that meant being in the office with Seph again and neither of us seemed to know what to say to each other after this morning’s confession.
It shouldn’t matter. So we were both single; that wasn’t something that needed to be taken into consideration. We worked together, had known each other just over a week and had to carry on working together for a lot longer.
As I looked for the alternative book of fairy tales, I didn’t think about Seph’s broad shoulders and how his shirt tightened around them, or how his biceps had been so pronounced when he’d tensed up at his brother. I didn’t think about how his trousers had clung to a bulge between his legs after Max had gone and it had been just to two of you.
Didn’t think about what might’ve happened if we’d lingered there for longer.
Because we hadn’t. I’d thought he was dating Amelie.
I’d thought wrong.
But it didn’t matter and that was what I told myself as I picked up the book and flicked through the pages, looking at the illustrations, anticipating my little girl’s reaction when she saw it.
I found Rapunzel and a picture from the end of the story, her hair still long, her eyes fearless.
She never asked about her father. Rose had been brought up by women: me, her gran and Aunt Olivia. We worked, laughed, had fun – all without a male influence. But even though her father was not the epitome of a hero, there were good men out there and I wanted her to know that, see them, listen to them. Not all men were dicks, and my daughter needed to grow up knowing that.
Which was all the more reason why even thinking about what Seph Callaghan looked like when he wasn’t wearing his suit or anything else was not what I should be doing. Rose didn’t need to see what would be left after a relationship went wrong. When things ended with her father, she wasn’t born, and I couldn’t be a mess because I had her growing inside me. I had to be strong for her and I knew that my happiness would affect her even as she grew inside me.
I bought the book, and another that I saw near the till, then headed back to the office. There was a sense of busyness as soon as I entered, a hushed tone near reception and I tensed up before fobbing through the door that led from reception to the ground floor offices.
“Heads up,” Eli Ward, Ava Callaghan’s fiancé and partner here, made me jump as I went through, appearing from pretty much nowhere. “Ron Hartford has just turned up with his lawyer. David is here too. We’re all waiting for war to break out.”
The smile on his face suggested he was looking forward to this.
“Want me to grab you some popcorn?”
He nodded. “Any excitement that doesn’t involve me is always good. I’ve heard these two go at it before.”
“Why’s Ron here?”
Eli shrugged. “I think his solicitor needed to drop some files off and Ron came to make sure it was done. I don’t think this was planned.”
Raised voices came from the large office that was used for mediation.
“How did he get through to here then?” Someone must’ve let him through.
Eli laughed quietly. “David was about to leave when Ron came in. Lisa in reception got them back here because another client turned up at the same time.”
There was another roar and a man I hadn’t seen before, who looked enough like David for me to know it was his brother, stormed out, a torrent of curses and threats streaming out of his mouth.
Eli’s head turned, no attempt to hide his grin. “Glad it’s Seph dealing with this shit and not me.”
