“Nice to meet you, too.”
Dan stepped out, holding two cups of coffee.
“Your husband is very big,” Rellina said.
“Oh, this is Dan.We’re just friends.”Libby thanked Dan for the coffee, which he placed in front of her on the small table.She quickly moved it out of Karim’s reach.“We do have the same last name, though.”
“How come?”
“It’s a popular name.”
“You didn’t have to change it when you got married.”
“Well, we’re not… Never mind.”Libby giggled at the girl’s innocence.“How old are you, Rellina?”
“Six.How old are you?
“Twenty-eight.”
“Where do you live?”
“All over now,” Libby said, “but I’m originally from California.”
“Oooh,” the children cooed in unison.They’d obviously heard of it.
The eldest boy, Christopher Mac, tilted his head to Dan and asked, “Where are you from?”
“England.”
The kids oohed again.
“Do you know Tony in Nottingham?”the little kid in green shorts asked.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t.”Dan’s lips quirked as he blew on his coffee.“Is Tony a friend of yours?”
“He’s my cousin.”
“We’re cousins,” said Christopher Mac, pointing to the youngest child, a girl of about five with a missing front tooth.“How old are you?”
“Thirty.”
The kids sucked air through their teeth, as if he’d said ninety.
Libby sniggered and sipped her coffee while Karim munched on his cookie.
“Why’s your knee like that?”Rellina asked.
Uh-oh.Libby stared at her cup.
After a long pause that screamedtouchy subject, Dan said, “I had an accident.”
“How?”
Libby opened her mouth to stop the questions—not for Dan’s sake, but for the kids.She didn’t want him snapping at them and making a bad lasting impression.They’d only just gotten here, and the next ten days would be awkward if he upset the neighbors on day one.
“I fell off a horse,” Dan said.“And then the horse stepped on me.Several times.”
All the kids gasped as one.
