Dad’s phone rings. “It’s your mum. I’d best go.”
I wave before he can hug me. Senna whispers as he leaves the room, “I texted Mum while you two were arguing.”
My body shakes with laughter. “Thank you. Now, about the first race, I have an idea about tyre strategy and what corners we should push on, if that’s not out of line.”
“Hell no. I’ve missed having someone reasonable to discuss this stuff with.” Senna smiles. “I’ve missedyou.”
“I’ve missed you, too.”
CHAPTER 14
Rosie
“Come on, Mummy and Auntie Sassa,” Tabi shouts, unable to pronounce Sasha’s name due to her excitement. “I want to see the pigs.”
With a hand in mine and another in Sasha’s, we let her drag us to the pig field.
“It’s too cold for this,” Sasha mumbles as Tabi squeals with delight at the grumpy pigs. “I could be in a warm bed with the guy I hooked up with last night, but instead I’m shivering at a farm park.”
I side-eye Sasha, who’s wearing dark sunglasses. “You look like your mum when she used to drop you off for primary school in the morning.”
“You take that back.” Sasha pokes me in the side. “I’m nothing like Cassandra. Am I wearing massive gold bracelets that crash louder than cymbals or a giant fur coat?”
We giggle, which earns us a glance from Tabi before she copies the pigs’ oinks. “At least she was fun to be around.”
“Your parents are fun, but in the weird way where they don’t show it or laugh,” Sasha cheeks. “At least your house wassafe growing up. They always had your back. How are they about you leaving the carpet business?”
“Grouchy.” I kneel beside Tabi, who sticks her fingers through the pigs’ fence. “We don’t feed pigs our fingers, nugget. We won’t be able to draw later if we do.”
Tabi’s brow furrows, and she stares back at me. “I want to paint later.”
“Okay. Do you want to paint pigs or something else?”
“Pigs with bus wheels.” She gasps loudly and jumps up and down. “Can we feed the chickens?”
“Yes, but we have to see the horse first.”
“Mr. Grumpy Horse?” She squeals and runs to the stables. We visit here often because it’s rarely busy, especially on a cold Saturday in March. A stable worker waves as Tabi nears her.
“So your parents aren’t happy?” Sasha pulls her padded jacket tighter as she resumes our conversation. “Did they see the car? If you hadn’t promised me a trip in the Porsche Macan and brought a coffee, I wouldn’t be here.”
“They saw it. Mum said I should work somewhere sensible, not somewhere they give you ridiculous cars before you’ve worked your first day.”
“Oh, Mother Denham.” Sasha shakes her head. “Does she know it has heated seats—well, heated everything? I felt like a queen.”
“No, and she wouldn’t care. I told Niki I didn’t need a car, but he called to explain mine was a pile of trash no one could fix.”
Sasha laughs. “He has a point.”
I roll my eyes. “And he said his assistant needed something reliable to arrive punctually, help with his plans, and be a gopher. He tried to give me his two-door Ferrari.”
“Why did you say no to the Ferrari? We’d have driven here like fucking models.”
I glance over my shoulder to check no young children hearSasha’s swearing, which she insists on with me, because she’s on her best behaviour at work.
“I can’t get a child seat in the back. I asked if he had something with more room, as I’d need to get a lot of stuff in the back to gopher for him.”
Sasha sips her coffee and groans. We join Tabi, who’s glowing as the stable worker helps her onto a box to stroke the horse.
