‘No, they won’t. Anyway, who cares? That all in the past. It’s what’s going on now that matters.’
‘Unless they already think I’m some cold-hearted bitch who didn’t tell you that you had a child for more than four years,’ she said dryly.
‘Look, my mum is just ecstatic that she has a granddaughter.’ ‘You could have at least told them the part about us leaving without actually knowing each other’s surnames,’ she muttered.
‘Because telling them we met when we were both drunk and had a one-night stand is somehow better?’
Kenzie shifted in her seat slightly.Fair point.
‘Like I said, how we met and what happened in the past, none of that matters. We’re starting over. We have Poppy.’
When he put it like that, itdidsound kind of reasonable. ‘Tell me about your sister. You said before that she lived on the property as well?’
‘Yeah. Floss and her husband, Joe, have two kids, Angus and Cameron. They’re seven and five now, I think.’
‘Floss is an unusual name,’ she commented.
‘Her real name’s Flora. We’ve got pretty traditional names. It’s a lot more common back in Scotland than here, I guess. But we call her Floss.’
‘Is she older or younger?’
‘Older. She’s thirty-four. She used to work in marketing before her and Joe started the vineyard business side of things.’
‘Oh, nice.’
‘Yeah, one thing our family does well is diversify,’ he said with a small grin.
Kenzie wondered what his sister was going to make of the situation. Would she be more okay with it because she was closer to them in age? Or would she be judgemental because she had two kids and a husband? It wasn’t fair to make assumptions before she’d met the woman, but Kenzie was worried—it could go either way.
‘I’m thinking we’ll stop at the next town for the night? We can get something to eat and get a good night’s sleep, then set off again early tomorrow morning?’
‘I think that’s a good idea.’
‘From memory, I think there’s a motel next to a park. I thought maybe Poppy might like that, after being cooped up in a car all day?’
‘She’ll love that.’ Again, he surprised her with his thoughtfulness. She spotted a mileage sign for the next town and bit back a tired sigh. Another sixty-five kilometres. It had been a long drive and, despite the frequent stops, she was ready to get out and stretch her own legs.
After what seemed to take forever, large advertising signs began to appear on the side of the road for the local hotel, a bakery and a real estate agent before they were slowing down as they entered the town limits.
It was only a small town, but as they drove through the main street, Kenzie noticed they had the essentials; an independent grocery store, a chemist, hairdresser, butcher and a school and, as Ewan had promised, a well-maintained park with pretty flowerbeds and lovely green grass, beside an older-looking brick motel.
‘I’ll go and check us in,’ he said, stopping in the motel driveway.
‘Are we here, Mummy?’ Poppy asked, waking up.
‘We’re at the place we’re staying in tonight, but we haven’t got to Ewan’s place yet.’
‘It’s takingforever,’ Poppy said in a long-suffering tone.
‘Iknow,’ Kenzie said with a sympathetic smile. ‘It’s a very long way away. But we’ll get there tomorrow, and we’ll have lots of fun.’
Ewan came back and climbed into the car, then drove slowly towards a numbered carpark. ‘You guys have room ten and I’ve got twelve, just down there,’ he said pointing to a door at the end of the long building. He parked in front of their room, and Kenzie opened the back door to get Poppy out while he unloaded their suitcases.
‘There you go,’ he said, placing the suitcases on the end of the double bed. ‘Is this going to be okay?’
She followed his gaze, taking in the slightly dated furniture and bland colour scheme. There was a single bed alongside the far wall, and a small table near a window that looked out onto a tin fence. ‘It’s clean,’ she said, searching for something positive to say. ‘It’s only one night,’ she added with a smile.
‘There’s only the one motel in town to choose from,’ he said, sounding apologetic.
