“I think that’s a good idea. Maybe… maybe we can spenda few days with her over the Christmas break.” They both look impressed and I roll my eyes. “Okay, don’t make a big deal of this. We’re taking things slow.”
“Is Mum aware you’re taking things slow?” Adrian asks, chuckling.
“Of course not. She’s already phoned me three times this week just to ‘check in.’ And on one of those times, she insisted on reciting a poem about the unbroken bonds of family.”
“Had she written it?”
“No.”
“Thank God.”
“I think it’s lovely that she’s making the effort,” Dad interrupts, looking chuffed. “We’re moving forward as a family and that’s important.”
“How are things going for you on the dating front, Freya?” Adrian asks boldly.
“They’re not going,” I inform them. “I don’t think I’m ready.”
“I don’t think you’ll know until you try,” Adrian says with a shrug. “Maybe give it a go and if you realize it doesn’t feel right, you’re not ready. But I, for one, think you deserve some fun.”
Dad nods, adjusting his sun hat. “You might meet someone very interesting, you never know.”
“I guess. It’s daunting, though.”
“That’s why I think you need to just get out there,” Adrian insists. “If you keep putting it off, it will just get scarier.”
“You may have a point there, Adrian,” Dad says, shifting nervously. “It’s not as scary as I thought.”
“Hang on a second,” I begin carefully. “Dad, are you implying that you’re… dating?”
“Well, if you must know, I’ve been on a date this week.”
“What?” I shriek, causing others in the bar to look over. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I knew you’d make a big fuss,” he says gruffly, adjusting his hat. “I didn’t want any nonsense from you two shrouding my brain and making me nervous.”
“Who is it? What’s she like? Did it go well?” Adrian asks impatiently. “I can’t believe you haven’t said a word about this! It’s great, Dad!”
“All right, don’t go getting overexcited,” he instructs, chuckling. “She’s called Harriet and we met on the Life Evergreen forum.”
“The what?”
“It’s a website with tips and advice for gardening enthusiasts. One of my neighbors suggested I use it for help with the pond and so I started putting questions on the forum and these brilliant answers kept being posted by the same person: Harriet. She’s extremely knowledgeable and we ended up chatting so much on this forum, we thought it worth seeing if a phone call might be better. Well, that went really well and before you know it, we’d chatted for over an hour! We discovered we didn’t live too far and, inspired by Freya, I took the leap and invited her over to check out my pond and meet my newts.”
“Wait.” I hold up my hand to the screen. “What do you mean inspired by me?”
“I’ve long known that both of my children are much braver than me. Look at you, Adrian, moving to a brand-new city, working hard at your career, finding love. And Freya, we all know that you can handle almost everything—”
“Not jellyfish.” Adrian smirks.
“Shut up, Adrian,” I huff.
“When you told me about your conversation with Matthew,” Dad continues, “I was reminded that it’s not always easy to make the right decision for ourselves. It’s downright terrifying. But I realized that I owed myself a chance, and so I worked up the courage and asked her if she wanted to see the pond in person. She came over a couple of days ago and it was a really nice evening.We sat in the garden and she met Horatio Nelson and Francis Drake.”
“You’re talking about the newts, right?”
“No, Adrian, he’s talking about the long-dead admirals.”
“We’re going on another date this weekend,” Dad says, talking over us. “I’m taking her to the Crown. And before you say anything, Freya, I told her about the food there and she’s now determined to work out if it really is microwave meals in disguise.”
