“I’m so glad you could both make it,” Michael said, smiling at Poppy and Monty together. He leaned in and kissed Carrie on the cheek. She felt warm all of a sudden. “Especially since you brought drinks! The drinks table is over there by the back door. There are plenty of cold beers in the ice bucket. I think there should be a few people you know milling about. Lucy will be here soon.”
Had he invited every single woman in the town, Carrie wondered.
A family with a couple of kids who looked around Poppy’s age arrived and Michael went to greet them so Carrie took the drinks she’d brought with her over to the allotted table and helped herself to a beer. A man appeared next to her and took a bottle out of the ice bucket for himself. He had short blond hair and it was obvious from the size of his arms in the tight T-shirt he wore that he spent a lot of time in the gym.
“Hi,” he said, holding out his hand to her confidently, “I’m Dylan. Michael’s best mate.”
Carrie shook his hand. “Are you sure you’re his best mate? Have you checked this with him?”
Dylan laughed. “I’m sure. Presumably you’ve met him. How many friends do you think he can have?”
“I’m Carrie,” Carrie said, taking a sip of her drink. “I’m looking after the bookshop next door for a few weeks.”
“Oh cool. Are you from around here?”
“No, visiting from London, but the bookshop belongs to my aunt and my mum is Cornish and grew up here.”
Poppy came over, tailed by Monty. “This is my daughter, Poppy. Poppy, this is Michael’s friend, Dylan.”
“Best friend,” Dylan corrected with a grin. “Hello, Poppy,” he continued. “It’s nice to meet you. I see you’re mates with Monty.”
“And with Tabitha,” Poppy said. “Michael says she doesn’t like many people but she definitely likes me.”
“Yeah, that cat does not like me at all,” confided Dylan. “She hisses whenever she sees me.”
Poppy gave a little ‘we can’t all be cat whisperers’ shrug. “May I have a drink, please, Mummy?”
“Of course, Pumpkin. Would you like juice or water?”
“Juice, please.”
As Carrie poured her daughter a drink, she spotted Layla coming out of the back of the house with a couple of teens. Carrie was worried Poppy might interrupt Layla and her friends who were laughing and joking, so didn’t point the girls out to her daughter, but she needn’t have worried. Layla saw Poppy and came straight over with her friends.
“Hi, Poppy, hi, Carrie, hi, Uncle Dylan,” she said. “I’m glad you could come. Dad’s got so much food. I’m in charge of slicing all the buns because he didn’t buy the pre-sliced ones.” Shegave a little roll of her eyes making Poppy giggle. “These are my friends Zoey and Lottie from school,” Layla said. “Tabitha’s in the sitting room, Poppy, if you want to come and see her.”
Poppy nodded, a little in awe of Layla’s friends it seemed, and went inside with the girls.
“Poppy seems very popular,” said Dylan.
“Apparently so.” Carrie was grateful to Layla for being so kind and welcoming.
It was good to have Dylan to chat with as Michael was busy cooking and talking with other guests. Michael’sbestfriend was good company, and she felt herself relax as he asked her about the bookshop and her job in London. It seemed he’d designed her aunt’s fancy website for her. She spotted Michael looking over at them a few times, and when Monty came over and made them both laugh by begging dramatically for some sausage, she caught a puzzled expression on Michael’s face.
Lucy arrived and waved to Carrie. She chatted with a group of people by the barbeque with Michael.
Poppy came back outside just before food was being served up. It sounded like she’d had a lovely time and had the teens wrapped round her little fingers. Apparently, they were wanting to braid her hair after they’d eaten.
One of the other little kids came over to Poppy and asked if she wanted to play with them at the end of the garden so Poppy went skipping off again.
“It’s so easy to make friends at that age,” said Carrie with an exaggerated sigh.
“I don’t think we’re doing too badly,” said Dylan with a killer smile.
He was definitely good-looking; Carrie couldn’t deny that. But she found she was more interested in what Michael was doing. He glanced over again and their eyes met. She gave hima little smile and was rewarded with a nod. But he didn’t seem overly happy.
Everyone filled their plates with food. There was barbecued chicken, sausages and burgers, with veggie options available, and plenty of bread, salad and potatoes to accompany. Layla hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said her dad had ordered a lot! But she definitely had been when she’d warned Carrie off her dad’s cooking, everything was delicious.
Seren arrived and joined Carrie and Dylan for a bit with some food which she picked at but mainly moved around her plate. It was clear she wasn’t entirely comfortable as she fiddled with the bracelets on her wrist and tapped her foot. Carrie tried to put her at ease. Bless her she really didn’t like social situations. She made her excuses soon afterwards and left.
