Mabel considers this. The crease of tension on her face suggests she’s going through some sort of internal struggle. Then a smile lifts the corners of her mouth. “OK.”
I don’t want her to feel like she’s being watched, so I quickly turn away and cram my mouth full ofpecorino. When I catch Theo’s eye, he gives me a smile. It’s the first we’ve shared in days. I’m relieved to feel my heart leap.
“Now who wants the last of this orange juice?” I ask.
“I’ll have it.” Dom reaches over for the jug, then spots Callum watching. “Sorry, mate, do you want it?”
“No, thanks,” replies Callum. “It’s got bits in it.”
Dom raises an eyebrow. “Dude, when you meet a really hot girl and go round to her house for the first time, what are you going to say if she gives you orange juice with bits in it?”
A smirk traces itself on Callum’s face. He holds out his glass.
I daren’t look directly, but out of the corner of my eye I’m stunned to see him drinking it.
As I survey the scene, I’m even more stunned that everyone’schatting and smiling—my outrageous gay sisters and my boyfriend’s kids. I wonder what Wilf would make of it. When no one’s looking, I slip upstairs, open the window, and put on one of his opera records.
When I come back—to the sound ofTosca—I see that Gloria’s been to the car for his beauty bag and is doing a full face of makeup on Mabel.
“I do this with my nieces,” he’s saying, as he contours her cheekbones, “although obviously they’ve got a different coloring to you.”
“What’s your heritage?” asks Mabel.
“My family’s from Uganda,” Gloria answers. “Which at the moment is one of the worst places in the world to be gay.”
“Really?”
Gloria steps back to examine his work, then gives a few more swipes of his brush. “Yeah, but my parents are cool with me. Well, they are now. Let’s just say we’ve been on a journey. You’ve got to work on these things, my angel.”
“You can say that again,” I want to throw in. But I keep my distance and start clearing away the plates and leftover food.
Theo stands up to help me. “Everything alright, Ads?”
He smiles at me again and again I smile back.
“Yeah, thanks.”
His smile grows into a grin. “I’ll wash, you dry.”
“You’re on!”
“That’s good to see,” Theo says as he rinses the first plate and slides it into the water. “Everyone getting on.”
“Yeah,” I say, taking it from him to wipe. “It is, isn’t it?”
I kiss his shoulder and we continue working in a contented silence.
Once we’ve finished, Theo and I go back outside to find Gloria teaching a fully made-up Mabel how to throw a fan, and Dom training Callum and Archie in various football skills.
I pick up the juicer and the big bowl of squeezed oranges and turn to take them indoors.
“Wait a minute!” calls out Dom. “You’re not throwing those away, are you?”
When I answer yes, he yanks them off me and lines up the boyson the side of the hill. He takes half an orange, draws back his arm, and throws it up into the sky. It arches over the trees, skims some of the branches, and lands in the overgrowth with a little rustle.
“See if you can beat that!” he booms.
Callum and Archie start lobbing oranges over the hill, winding each other up about whose reaches the farthest, and laughing riotously. Mabel jumps up to join in and the laughter only increases. Soon, they’re throwing two oranges at a time, then one with their backs turned. Next, Theo stands up to take a turn—and trounces them all.
