‘Um… that’s a lovely idea, Sam, Ellie, but not um…’ He exchanged a look with Sylvie as the whole of her insides curled up in mortification. His look said that he couldn’t answer that question without being insulting so was completely stuck for an acceptable answer. She was half tempted to stick around and see how he dealt with it but her own embarrassment was too strong.
Trying not to pull at the hairs on his legs as she unwrapped the suddenly remarkably strong and uncharacteristically difficult four-year-old boy off this full-grown man’s body was quite tricky. She would have been proud of herself for managing it had she not been too busy clasping Sam’s form to her, gathering all the bags with her one remaining hand and racing off the beach, merely shouting, ‘Enjoy the rest of your holiday,’ at the man and the little girl left standing, staring after her. Thank goodness she would never,everhave to see them again.
Chapter Two
‘Daddy met a mummy, Daddy met a mummy!’ sang Ellie as she raced through the big front door, left ajar for her, and through to the sleek kitchen where Chase was doing something clever with vegetables as Angelina poured them both a drink.
‘Never know what’s going to wash up onshore here, but even in my book, that’s pretty quick work! Here, I’m guessing you may want one of these.’ Angelina smiled, and as an automatic reaction to having an attractive man in the vicinity flipped her perfectly groomed blonde hair over her shoulder and twinkled as she passed a glass to Alex who, a couple of beats behind his daughter, had entered the kitchen looking a bit frazzled.
‘Tell them, Daddy, tell them!’
‘Hmm, that’s not all Angelina and I have to discuss, Ellie, if you remember?’
Ellie looked blank and then sidled up to Angelina, trying to worm the glass out of her grown-up friend’s hands. ‘Can I have some? Is it gin? I like that, don’t I?’
‘No, not in front of Daddy!’
‘Are you joking? You’d better not have been giving her alcohol!’
‘Relax, it was just a little taste on my finger. We do grown-up-girl things, don’t we, Ellie, when we’re together. It’s not all drink-based. I was going to teach her how to shave her legs later – it’s never too early to perfect these skills. And she’s very bright, she much prefers Hendrick’s to Gordon’s and has quite grown-up taste in television, you know?’
Angelina took an appraising glance at Ellie, winked at her and turned back to Alex. ‘I expect there’s nothing this girl couldn’t do. I had a phone call from my agent this morning about a new circus-based reality show, look at her…’ Angelina pinched Ellie’s cheek in an affectionate, not a hurty, way, ‘…she’d look great coming out of a cannon. Neat little braids flying and sequinny spangled leotards.’
‘You and I need to talk.’
‘I always find talking is desperately overrated.’
‘Stop winding him up, Ange, he’s been known to take men out with a Vulcan death grip in times of high stress, and I think this might turn into one of these times if you don’t stop!’ Chase grinned good-naturedly at his girlfriend. They had been together a few months now and Chase had confided to Alex that he was never sure when she was teasing or whether she was as extreme as her words implied. He chose to believe it was the former – otherwise there was a chance he was dating a narcissistic, delusional psychopath – a chance that her brother Matt had assured him, and anyone else who would listen, was a strong possibility.
‘What’s a death grip, Daddy, huh? Teach me, teach me!’
‘A death grip is something that happens to little girls who don’t put away their beach stuff the minute they get home.’
‘Well, then, why didn’t I get one yesterday? I want one!’ Her voice took on a whiny tone.
‘Hey, hey, you don’t really. Daddy is just teasing. Here, have this and then you can go for a bath.’ Chase slid a cheese-and-tomato omelette he appeared to have just whisked up whilst they had been talking onto her plate, and then fetched a bowl of chop-chop salad and placed it to the side. ‘And I know how much you like this. I even put pomegranate in, just how you like. Can you see it?’
Ellie grinned up at him and wrinkled her nose. She loved it here. It was the most settled she had been since the adoption, and they had only been here a few days. Alex was discovering that parenting was a darn sight easier with your friends involved. There was a Nigerian proverb that said it took a village to raise a child, and if this was the difference two friends (well, one friend and his rather alarming new girlfriend) made then he could see that with a whole village it would be a breeze. He knew also that he was going to have to make a decision soon, find somewhere to settle. The nomadic nature of his professional life might have been what brought him into Ellie’s life but he was fairly sure it was unsuited for keeping her there. Her night terrors were lessening all the time and considerably so since they had arrived at Chase’s, thus he imagined a settled life and routine would be the quickest path to recovery.
Ellie didn’t look particularly traumatized now, although her face did wrinkle as she tasted the odd bit of celery snuck into her chop-chop salad, but it wasn’t stopping her from wolfing her supper down as if she hadn’t seen food for three weeks.
‘Can Angileeena give me my bath tonight? I’ll be extra good and won’t even make a mess or nothin’?’
‘That depends largely on whether Angileeena will be using gin or razorblades anywhere near the tub tonight?’
Angelina looked at him and grinned. He still hadn’t quite got her measure yet, and he was particularly good at reading people and situations. He had to be.
‘No, not tonight. I’ll be saving them for the next time Chase tries to take me fishing.’
‘Are you happy to give her a bath?’ Alex mouthed this over Ellie’s head. Angelina didn’t look the mumsy type, in fact she looked about as opposite as one could get, but for some reason Ellie had taken to her and spent far too much of her day chanting ‘Angileeena says…’ which was usually followed up withsomething so heinous that he expected Dr Barnardo’s to pound through the door the second she stopped speaking. They hadn’t yet, but it could still happen. Angelina nodded back.
‘She’ll have to hurry up with that food though. I reckon I only have about ten minutes of nice left in me today, and that’s drawing on tomorrow’s reserves.’
Ellie walloped the last bit of omelette into her mouth and jumped up, then quickly stuck her finger in the salad bowl and scooped out a bit more.
‘Come on then. Let’s go!’ She jumped around on the kitchen floor, hopping from foot to foot.
‘Angelina, is that top silk? It could get a bit splashy.’ Chase had been on bath duty the day before and Alex knew that ‘a bit splashy’ was characteristically understated.
