“I wore so many patches I was like a fucking quilt,” Sebastian breathed out, before he shook his head. “Actually, I was going to say I need aholiday.”
“After the wedding,” Ari promised. “Just a few more days and you and Luis will be lying in the sun.”
“Lying in the sun? I think not. Luis might, but not me,” Sebastian corrected her, gesturing to his skin. “Retinol.”
“Lest I forget.” Ari smiled.
“Are you still okay for Luis and me to take Reine for a couple of weeks?” Sebastian asked, and suddenly there was a hesitant tone to his voice. “We don’t see her as often as we used to. We miss her.”
Ari paused, instantly closing her laptop. “Sebbie—”
“Oh, I know, it’s all for the best, and don’t get me wrong, Luis and I are loving having our weekends back and our social lives and all, but... but we miss her. We didn’t know how much time we had with her until suddenly it was cut in half, you know?”
“Yes, I know. I know.”
She really did. Tom had been good to his word, slotting himself into Ari and Reine’s life and keeping his promise to be the father to Reine that she deserved. Twice a month he flew over to London from the States, picking up Reine from school on a Thursday and keeping her until Monday. He’d taken a small flat near Ari’s little house, and both he and Marnie had become regular fixtures in Reine’s life, never missing any event, no matter how small.
Ari still remembered the look on Miss Bates’s face when she, Tom, Marnie, Luis, Sebastian, Corentin and Stella turned up at the school nativity to see Reine play Sheep Number Three, her costume lovingly hand-stitched by Luis in the finest Merino wool. She wished she’d taken a picture of the headmistress’s disapproving face, although, looking back, she was fairly sure Stella did. It was hard to miss Stella’s flashes. Miss Bates was probably still temporarily blind.
It had been odd, those first few months with Tom sharing parental responsibility. Ari, unused to having a co-parent to rely on, had been given her first free weekend in years. She’d sat listlessly at home until Sebastian and Luis persuaded her to come to their flat for a Christmas party they were hosting, and it had been an eye-opening experience for her. She’d walked into their flat to find it full of fabulously dressed people, all friends and acquaintances of Luis and Sebastian that Ari hadn’t even known existed. One woman, taking in Ari’s off-the-rack jacket and flat ballet shoes, had looked at her with sceptical eyes until Luis had rushed over for an embrace and to take her coat.
“Oh,” the woman said, loudly, “that must be Sebastian’s sister. You know,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “thesingle mother.”
Ari had never realised quite how much she’d leaned on Luis and Sebastian until she suddenly didn’t need to. With Tom on the scene, she hadn’t needed the hours and hours of babysittingor childcare, and Luis and Sebastian had been able to step into the roles of loving uncles rather than pseudo-parents. Luis and Sebastian had a life away from Ari and Reine, and Ari was glad for it. It had been a strange transition for all of them, but a positive one, she reminded herself.
The most positive effect, Ari soon learned, was on Reine. The little girl, still quiet and thoughtful, had adapted well to suddenly having a father, and had learned to love Tom. She’d slipped into calling him ‘Daddy’ just recently, and although Tom hadn’t made a big deal of it, Ari had seen the soft look that came into his eyes when he told her about it afterwards.
She’d seen that soft look in his eyes before. It was the look Tom wore when his heart was full. Once, Ari had liked to imagine that only she could inspire that look in his eyes. It was wonderful to know she was wrong, and that her child —theirchild — could inspire it too.
“Of course you can take Reine on holiday with you,” Ari carried on, patting Sebastian’s hand again. “She’s looking forward to it. Did you decide where you’ll be going yet?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Our ‘money-is-no-issue’ couple threw a spanner into the works when they scheduled their wedding for the day we were due to fly to Nice. Never mind. We’ll find something else.”
“Well, just let me know,” Ari stopped, clearing her throat. “Um, Tom and Marnie want to take Reine away for a week too.”
Sebastian looked up instantly. “Really?”
“Yes. Marnie was thinking about Spain, apparently.” She paused again. “They’ve asked me to go with them.”
For a long moment, Sebastian stared at her. “Okay. How do you feel about that?”
“I’ve never been to Spain. It might be nice.”
“What do you mean, you’ve never been to Spain? Every Brit has been to Spain. Vomiting into the foam of an Ibizan nightclub is practically a rite of passage.”
Ari shrugged. “I’ve never been.”
Sebastian frowned. “You mean, you never got there when you and Tom travelled across Europe? Back when he was Tom Miller?”
Ari shook her head. “No, we meant to . . . it was on our list . . . but then . . .”
“But then Tom knocked you up and ditched you?” Sebastian asked.
“Something like that.”
“Hmm. Well, you should go — wait, Marnie’s paying, right?”
“She’s offered.”
