‘Come in! We were just about to have a nice cup of tea so you’re just in time.’
Jenna smiled to herself as her gran bustled into the kitchen. It would be more unusual if she’d arrived when they weren’t about to ‘have a nice cup of tea’. The kettle was always on at Sanderlings.
Grandad, who was sitting in his favourite chair with a box of chocolates on his lap, called through to his wife. ‘While you’re in there, Cherry, why don’t you open that smashing ginger cake we got at ShopSmart the other day?’
‘If I do,’ Gran called back, ‘it will be for me and our Jenna. You’ve been stuffing your face with chocolates all afternoon.’
Grandad winked at Jenna. ‘Special offer. Less than four quid for this big box, can you believe?’ He offered the chocolates to her. ‘Help yourself.’
‘No thanks,’ Jenna said, smiling. ‘I’ve not long had my dinner.’
‘You think he hasn’t?’ Gran came back into the room carrying plates of ginger cake, which she put on the coffee table. ‘Nothing stops him. His stomach’s a bottomless pit. I’ve had to slice this up because if I brought the whole cake, it would be gone in five minutes flat.’
Grandad rolled his eyes and patted his stomach. ‘I’ve got the metabolism of a twenty-year-old.’
‘Keep telling yourself that,’ Gran said. ‘I’ve seen you without your vest on, remember.’
She turned to Jenna, a look of concern on her face. ‘As for you – proper skinny, you are. You need feeding up. Two slices of ginger cake for you.’
‘Honestly, Gran, I’m not that hungry.’
‘What’s being hungry got to do with cake?’ Grandad asked, sounding genuinely perplexed. ‘If you don’t want it, I’ll have it.’
‘You will not! Come on, Jenna. Save your grandad from himself.’
Jenna obediently took the cake and forced herself to take a mouthful. It was surprisingly tasty and deliciously moist. Before she knew it, she’d eaten both slices and was just picking up the last crumbs from the plate when Gran returned with mugs of tea.
‘Perfect timing to wash it all down with,’ Gran said, beaming in approval at the empty plate.
‘So, where’s that fella of yours then?’ Grandad asked, completely out of the blue. ‘Joel. Haven’t seen him for ages. I doubt I’d recognise him these days.’
Jenna stared at him. She’d never been entirely sure that her grandad even knew Joel’s name. He’d never seemed to take much notice of him, at any rate.
‘Working,’ she said briefly.
‘You’ve come to stay at Watersmeet for the holidays then?’ Gran asked, settling herself in the other armchair, mug of tea in hand. ‘Your mum’s over the moon to have you. She’s been worried about you. Says you don’t look well.’ She surveyed Jenna carefully. ‘Hmm. She’s not wrong, is she? Have you been ill?’
‘Of course not. It’s just work, that’s all. And looking after two boisterous seven-year-olds.’
‘I suppose so. It’s a lively age all right.’ Gran took a sip of tea and nodded.
‘They’re all lively ages if you ask me,’ Grandad said. ‘Never get a minute’s peace when you’ve got kids. Your life’s not your own. I remember our Alison when she was a youngster. It was one thing after another.’
‘And how would you know?’ Gran asked, her eyes wide in astonishment. ‘You were always at work!’ She turned to Jenna. ‘Anything he knew about your mum was because I’d told him. He used to come home from work, go upstairs and get changed, then plonk himself in that chair for the evening. There I was, waiting on him hand and foot and having to tell him all about what his precious family had been doing. Not much changes,’ she added, shaking her head.
Jenna noticed the twinkle in her gran’s eye, and the fond look her grandparents exchanged. She knew perfectly well that Grandad had been a lovely dad, because her mum had told her so many times. These two just loved to banter and didn’t mean anything by it. They adored each other.
She felt a pang of sudden envy, like the one she’d felt when watching her mum and Mac interact. How easy they made it all look! Her mum had had the same experience with Dad. And she knew Auntie Elaine and Uncle Christopher thought the world of each other. As for Niall and Kendra… Well, they were everyone’s idea of a perfect couple. A perfect family, really.
Where had she and Joel gone wrong?
‘What do you think to Mac then?’ Gran asked suddenly. ‘Between you and me, I mean. I won’t report back to your mother, promise. Do you like him?’
‘I do,’ Jenna said honestly. ‘He seems to be a genuinely nice man, very good to the twins. Very good to us all. Not many men would take us in the way he has. I mean, he doesn’t know us that well and it’s a lot, isn’t it? But he’s made us feel really welcome.’
‘Seems all right to me,’ Grandad agreed. ‘Gives me free duck eggs. Made us that quiche the other day, didn’t he, Cherry?’
‘The way to a man’s heart…’ Gran said, rolling her eyes. ‘Well, your grandad’s heart any road. What I like most about Mac is how much he loves your mum. She’s had a rough time of it, hasn’t she, what with losing your dad. But you can see how much he cares about her. I always knew he’d be good for her, you know. I told her he was a good ’un but would she listen?’
