Page 67 of One for the Road
The question of my life, right there, and it had been picked up by a seven-year-old. Maybe she was smarter than I’d anticipated. “I’m still trying, I think.”
She nodded like that made sense and added the next piece. We built in silence for a few minutes, until the sun disappeared behind a big cloud. “Do I need to say sorry to Mummy?”
“If you think you have something you should apologise for, then yeah, you should.”
She bit her bottom lip, twirling a piece of the red wing around in her fingers. “What if she stops loving me too?”
Teddy was facing me, her back to the cottages. She couldn’t see Isla appearing at the door just in time to overhear. I watched her heart crack in her eyes, but lifted a finger, signalling that I could handle this. Hoping to hell I wasn’t about to fuck this up.
“Kid,” I said to Teddy. “Your mummy is never going to stop loving you. I promise.”
Teddy’s head snapped up. “How do you know?”
It should have been obvious. But when it came to family, the answer wasn’t always so clear cut. “Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to her.”
“She told you that?”
“She doesn’t need to. She calls you sunshine, doesn’t she?” I knocked my knee against her small one. “I’d bet it’s because you are the one thing that brightens everything for her.”
She chewed her lower lip, considering. “I dunno . . . that could be true.”
“Itistrue. I’m Scottish, trust me when I tell you, there’s nothing more precious than sunshine.”
I couldn’t stop my gaze from straying to Isla’s. Catching it just in time to see her press a hand to her heart. A gentle smile on her lips. I’d done nothing but recite her nickname back at her. Still, I felt ten feet tall for putting that look on her face.
It was dangerous. I could see how a man could become addicted to the feeling.
“Thanks, Ali,” Teddy said after a moment. “I like speaking with you; you don’t treat me like a wee baby.”
“Because you’re not a baby.” I let her set the final piece in place, sitting back to admire the fully formed dragon.
Right on cue, Isla cleared her throat. “It’s dinner time, sunshine.”
Teddy rose to her knees, her expression brighter than it had been all afternoon. “Mummy, look what Ali and I made. Can we put it on the bookshelves?”
“If Ali says it’s okay.”
Teddy’s pleading face turned to me. “Please, Ali. You can come visit him anytime you want.”
Like a magnet, my eyes were back on Isla. I was far too tempted to take Teddy up on that offer. “It’s all yours, kid.”
Isla shielded her eyes from the sun. I couldn’t see where her gaze landed, but I would have bartered every penny I had that it lay squarely on me. Feeling restless, I stood, collecting the box and plastic wrappers.
“Tell Ali ‘thank you’, then wash your hands, okay?”
“Thanks, Ali.” Teddy’s face was still a little red. But she grinned up at me with an expression I could only describe as hero worship, and equal amounts of pride and fear knotted a ball in my gut.
“No problem.” Isla and I stood in silence, watching Teddy disappear inside the cottage, proudly carrying the Lego dragon.
She broke the silence. “You didn’t need to do that.”
No. But Ihad. I couldn’t undo it.
And now she was looking at me with a softness that made white noise blare inside my head. “It was nothing, just an excuse to play Lego,” I said, holding up the box. I moved to edge around her, to shut myself in my cottage and stare at that damn wall all evening, cursing myself for getting involved.
But her hand touched my bare arm, a request to wait. I halted instantly. “Hey, want to share a nightcap later? After Teddy’s in bed. I should thank you . . . for helping me today.”
“You don’t need to thank me. My reasons for being there were entirely self-serving.”
