Page 28 of A Taste of Paradise

‘Thanks.’ Confused, Naomi slipped in beside Holly while Will pulled another chair from a nearby table.

‘You know Will, dear?’ Janice questioned, smiling.

‘Yes, we met on the tour yesterday.’ Naomi looked around. ‘Did I miss breakfast? The restaurant seems very empty.’

‘I’m afraid so – it ended at ten.’

‘Dammit. I accidentally overslept.’

‘Well, aren’t you very fortunate to have me for a mother then?’ she chuckled. ‘I ordered you something and asked them to pack it up just in case.’

‘Thanks, Mum, love you too.’

George then beckoned the waiter over and asked him to bring the food they’d ordered for Naomi, before he and Will fell back into a conversation about fishing.

Janice was chattering away to Holly about her school and her favourite TV shows, while Naomi waited for her breakfast, slightly baffled by the cosy tableau before her.

It was as if they’d all known each other for ever.

It was also a scene straight out of her imagination, an image she’d been conjuring up in her mind since she was a little girl – three generations in her family all together enjoying a holiday. The only problem was that Will and Holly weren’t family.

‘So how did you meet my folks?’ she asked him as the waiter placed a bowl of granola and a delicious selection of tropical fruit in front of her.

‘Will here came to my rescue earlier,’ her mother said, laughing. ‘I was having a tough time trying to find something I could eat when he offered to help.’

‘I was walking by and heard the accent, so thought I might be able to assist. I’d want someone to do the same if it were my mother,’ he admitted bashfully. ‘It was nothing really.’

‘Nothing? It was wonderful. Such a gentleman. Will told the waiter exactly what we wanted, and even offered a few alternatives so your father’s heartburn wasn’t an issue,’ Janice continued. ‘The least we could do was ask for him and his lovely little girl to join us.’

‘I see,’ Naomi said as she spooned yogurt into her granola. ‘But how did you know what to suggest?’ she asked him.

‘I’m kind of in the business myself back home in London, so I’m used to dealing with people with all kinds of food sensitivities.’

‘Daddy has a restaurant,’ Holly piped up. ‘Named after me.’

Naomi smiled at her. ‘Oh, I’m in London a lot. What’s it called? Maybe I’ve been there.’

‘The Holly Golightly.’

‘Like as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?’

‘Yes. It was my late wife’s favourite book. Hence …’ He nodded toward his daughter, blushing a little.

‘Dad says it’s where I got my name from. Mum had it all picked out from the minute she knew about me,’ the little girl prattled, and Naomi’s heart almost broke at her adorable grin.

‘The movie is one of my favourite movies too,’ Janice remarked. ‘Audrey Hepburn was always such a lady. When my girls were growing up I used to tell them they should model themselves after her. She was one of the few proper ladies I’ve ever seen. She and Grace Kelly. Now, there aren’t many you’d call a lady these days.’

‘There’s Lady Gaga,’ Naomi joked, and everyone but her parents laughed.

‘Who’s Lady Gaga?’ Janice quietly asked her husband, but George shrugged and took a sip of his water.

‘Sorry, Mum, I was only teasing.’

‘Well, you need to do more eating,’ she grumbled, indicating her half-eaten breakfast. ‘Didn’t you say we were going out again today?’

Her mother was always so sensitive to teasing, she never took it well, which was why Naomi loved to do it. It made her mother seem less the superwoman she’d always appeared to be while she was growing up, and made her more fallible.

‘If you all are heading out, Holly and I really should get going. We wouldn’t want to keep you,’ Will offered.