‘Okay. What about stops? A break every two hours?’
‘Every two hours?’ he echoed.
‘You should be stopping every two hours to avoid fatigue,’ she said.
Who actually does that?Who the hell had time to waste, stopping every two hours? He sure as hell never did. He had somewhere to be, and usually just drove till he got there.
‘You’ll have a preschooler in the car. She’ll need to stop for toilet breaks.’
‘Okay, well, why don’t we just play it by ear? Pull up when we need to?’
She didn’t look completely reassured. This was clearly part of the reason she was such a great wedding planner, but making a detailed plan for a road trip was going a little overboard.
‘Also, we’ll need to break the trip up overnight.’
‘Okay,’ he agreed. He usually pulled over and slept on the side of the road in his car, but he wasn’t going to ask Kenzie and Poppy to do that. ‘I’m happy to pay for a room. I think that’s a good idea.’
‘Two rooms,’ she said, looking uncomfortable, but firm. ‘I’m happy to pay for a room for Poppy and me.’
‘I’llpay for your room. This whole thing was my idea. That’s no problem.’
The conversation was interrupted when her parents came out, carrying the food. As they ate, Ewan took stock of the situation. She’d agreed to travel with him back to Laire-Mor so his family could meet Poppy. Part of him tried to justify that he was only doing what his mother had suggested—enabling his parents to meet their new grandchild as any family wouldwant to do—but there was a smaller part that was relieved Kenzie had said yes, so he wouldn’t have to make the trip home alone. Which was stupid. He and Kenzie hardly knew each other. Yet, somehow, he found her presence calming. He found himself dropping his usual guard around her—as he had done that night five years earlier. There was something about her that made him feel like he could tell her anything.
This trip was vital if he planned on moving forward with Poppy in his life. He wanted to do things right and without causing any stress to his daughter or disrupting her life too much. That’s all this was, he told himself, firmly putting any other ideas aside. It was all about Poppy.
After dinner, Kenzie told Poppy about the road trip. Ewan watched his daughter carefully as she digested the news, before turning her sweet face to him. ‘Do your mummy and daddy have horses?’
‘Uh, no. There’s no horses,’ Ewan said, panicking briefly when her face fell. ‘But there are chooks and cows and a few dogs,’ he said hurriedly, relieved when a spark of interest returned.
‘Cats?’ Poppy asked, eyeing him almost suspiciously. He had a feeling her decision as to how impressed she was going to be about the trip hinged on his answer.
‘There are a few that hang around the sheds to keep the mice down.’
‘I like cats. Not as much as I like horses, though,’ she added, frowning a little as she remembered the lack of horses. He saw Kenzie try to suppress as smile.
‘I’m sure we can find lots of other animals to keep you busy.’ He’d come up against a number of tough negotiators in his line of work, but he was fairly sure none of them had ever made him sweat the way this four-year-old was.
‘Okay,’ she said with a decisive nod. ‘Let’s do it.’
He hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath until the air rushed from his lungs at her answer, and he fought against the sudden urge to high-five the air in relief.
Fifteen
‘Mum, I need to go to the toilet,’ Poppy called from the back seat without lifting her head from her colouring book.
‘Again?’ Ewan asked, sending a quick glance across at Kenzie. ‘We only just stopped.’
‘About three hours ago,’ Kenzie told him. ‘She’s only got a little bladder.’
‘Okay, sorry. I usually drive pretty much straight through.’
‘I did warn you that travelling with a child was going to be slower.’
‘You did. It’s all good,’ he added, glancing in the mirror at the little dark head in the back. It still surprised him each time he saw her.I have a kid.‘There’s a servo up ahead. We could all do with a leg stretch.’
‘Sorry,’ Kenzie said a few moments later, and he looked across at her warily. ‘I know this is all still a bit of a culture shock to you.’
‘It’s okay. I was the one who suggested it, remember?’
