Page 28 of A Recipe for Romance in Brambleton

‘And it’s nice to be invited,’ Bella added. Marc knew, from the hints Noah had given him, that Bella had little contact with her own family, and she seemed to be enjoying being included in the Hathaways’ dynamic.

They settled back on the sofas, Marc on one and Bella and Noah on the other. The four boys were soon engrossed in the movie and, despite having sunk enough mini sausages and crisps to feed a small army, were shovelling in popcorn from big bowls as fast as they could. Perhaps this would be the right time to text Lauren that picture.

‘I’m, er, just nipping to the loo,’ Marc said, pulling himself up from the sofa. ‘I won’t be a tick.’

‘No worries.’ Noah smiled. ‘If war breaks out while you’re gone, I’ll sit back and enjoy the fun!’

Marc gave his brother a rude but affectionate gesture and as he left the living room, he pulled his phone out from the back pocket of his jeans. Scrolling through his photographs, he found the one of the boys blowing out their candles and sent it to Lauren with a ‘thanks again for this – hope to see you in the pub on Christmas Eve.’ He tried not to second-guess himself, although he wondered if he should have included a kiss on the text, as well.

‘Everything all right?’ Noah’s voice broke into his thoughts. He hadn’t even heard his brother behind him.

‘Er, yeah,’ Marc replied. ‘I was just… checking my phone. Didn’t want to do it in front of the kids, set a bad example, you know.’ Aware he was gabbling, he stopped abruptly.

‘Okay.’ Noah smiled. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanted to be sure you weren’t… what was that thing I read about? Spiralling? You left the room pretty quickly.’

Marc was touched. Noah wasn’t one for emotional check-ins. None of them were, really. The fact that his brother even knew what ‘spiralling’, an escalation of negative thoughts was, was surprising. He reached out and clapped a hand on Noah’s shoulder. ‘I’m fine, mate, honestly. Relieved that things all seem to be going so well in there.’ He tucked his phone back into his jeans. ‘But thank you. I appreciate you looking out for me.’

‘Any time.’ Noah smiled again. ‘And it really is lovely to be included today. The boys are great, and it looks as though they’ve made some good friends.’

At that moment, a cheer went up from the living room. Poking his head around the door again, Marc could see that the dinosaurs had got the better of the robots in the mid-movie confrontation. All four boys were sprawled out on the floor, now, finishing off the popcorn.

Marc sent a silent message upwards, as he always did on these occasions. Tessa, I think you’d be proud of us all today.

Noah obviously clocked the strange expression on Marc’s face. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

‘Yeah. Just… you know. Every birthday’s a milestone where she’s further away from us.’

‘She’d have been so happy to see how the boys are turning out.’ Noah’s voice, with a trace of gravel in it, made Marc’s throat ache. He cleared it, swiftly.

‘Well, we’d best get back to it.’

Noah nodded. ‘I think Bella’s called dibs on running pass the parcel, when the movie’s over.’

‘She’s welcome to do it!’ Marc grinned. ‘Although I’m not sure how much time we’ll have before their friends go home.’

‘That’s all right. I’m happy to have a go myself,’ Noah quipped. He headed back into the living room, and Marc tried to put thoughts of the ‘milestones’ out of his mind as he popped to the loo. Things were the way they were, and he needed to live in the moment.

26

After the twins had said goodbye to their friends, and Noah and Bella had left, Marc wearily cleared up the debris. The boys were watching another movie, happily exhausted by the afternoon. As he put the rubbish out, and then carefully placed what was left of the cake in a large tin, he smiled. The party had been a success. Now on to the next hurdle… Christmas. He’d already invited Noah and Bella to spend the day, and the night if they both wanted a few drinks, at the lake house, and extended the same invitation to their other brother, Joel, although it was unlikely he’d accept it at such short notice. He felt guilty for making Joel the afterthought; he must make more of an effort to connect with him.

Cleaning up complete, he looked at the message he’d sent Lauren. She’d replied with a heart emoji, which he tried not to read too much into. He’d been hoping for something a little more but didn’t want to push things. The connection he sensed between them was tentative, and he didn’t want to come on too strongly. Putting his phone away again, he wandered back to the living room.

‘Did you have fun today, boys?’

Turning briefly away from the movie, which was about to end, they both said yes. Marc let them finish watching the film, and then, as they were chatting about the party, he had an idea.

‘How would you like to colour Lauren a picture to say thank you for your birthday cakes?’

Luca nodded enthusiastically. ‘What do you think she might like?’

‘Maybe we could find something online. I could print it out and we could colour it and give it to her the next time we’re in the café.’

‘Yeah!’ Luca smiled. He and Marc discussed a couple of possibilities, and by the time they’d switched off the credits of the film, they’d decided.

‘Would you like to help, Liam?’ Marc asked. His other son had been quiet.

‘No. Colouring’s stupid!’ Liam exited the living room and stomped upstairs.