Page 14 of Pelvic Flaws

“Not as such,” I groaned, screwing up my face in exasperation. “She’s lovely, but extremely nosey and interfering, so please don’t be surprised if she asks you more questions than Andrew Marr on speed.”

Dex laughed. “The political journalist, right?”

“Yep, so try not to make eye contact with her. She’ll see your weakness and seize on it.”

“Okay,” he replied sounding a little cautious. “I’ll make sure I don’t.”

“Honestly, Dex. It would be the worst thing you could do. Don’t say anything and she may just go home without saying a word. I’m not even sure what she’s doing here.”

With another twitch of the curtains, I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns, so I let myself into the house. Kicking aside a couple of pairs of shoes and one sports bag, I stood to one side to allow Dex to enter.

“I’ll apologise now about the mess,” I said, throwing a quick glance up the hall and into the kitchen, looking at dirty dishes piled up on the draining board. “I’ve been out and I live with three children who think the damn fairies clean up after them.”

“No problem,” Dex drawled from behind me, sending a shiver down my spine. “I ain’t the tidiest, believe me.”

The thought of Dex being untidy spun images of his ripping his clothes off and abandoning them on the floor, which in turn had me then imaging him doing the same to me and then all I could see was…shit, you get the picture. The main thing was, I didn’t turn around and climb and grind him like I really wanted to do.

“Nice house though.”

“Thanks,” I replied with pride. “I bought it after the divorce. Anyway, come through, but remember, don’t give her eye contact.”

Dex chuckled and I pushed open the lounge door. My mum, in all her ‘titian but it went orange in the sun’ glory, was sitting in an armchair, nonchalantly reading a magazine. If I hadn’t seen her peering through the window, or the fact that the magazine was upside down, I’d have thought she really wasn’t interested in the tall, hot, silver fox that I’d brought home with me.

“Hi, Mum,” I said brightly. “What’re you doing here?”

She looked up and feigned surprise. “Oh hello, you’re back.”

“Yeah, I’m back.” I rolled my eyes. “Where’s Isaac?”

“He’s upstairs helping Charlie with some project work or something. It appears neither of them wanted to spend time with their grandmother.”

I grinned, imagining exactly what the boys said when they saw her walking up the drive – ‘quick, it’s Nan. Let’s hide’. It wasn’t that they didn’t love my mum, we all did, but she was a bit too much at times. As I’d told Dex, she was nosey and interfering, but she also loved herself – Isaac coming in a close second – and thought that she was the most beautiful woman on the planet. The old Carly Simon song, ‘You’re so Vain’, was definitely not written about Warren Beatty, it was written about my mother.

“But less about them,” she said, standing up and smoothing down the tight skirt she was wearing. “Who’s this? Who are you?”

She eyed Dex up and down, taking every inch of him in, and when she patted her ginger French twist, I knew she approved.

“This is Dex,” I said, presenting him like a prize on a quiz show. “I broke down and he helped me.”

The handsome stranger suddenly forgotten, she turned on me, her eyes raging.

“I’ve told you to make that idiot buy you a new car. Doesn’t he care you’re carrying his children in there?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, dreading the full blown rant that was coming on. My mother wasn’t Carl’s biggest fan and never had been. She’d tolerated him because I loved him and he was my husband, but she always thought he was a ‘big, blond, idiot with trifle for a brain’, according to Eric, my dear deceased step-dad.

“I have to be honest, ma’am,” Dex said, with a shake of his head. “That was my thought exactly.”

My mum’s face lit up as she turned to Dex. “Well finally, someone who agrees with me in this family. Although, you’re not officially in the family, but even so.”

Ignoring her ramblings, I swivelled to look at my visitor. “To be fair, you don’t really know the situation.”

“You’re right, I don’t, but I do know no woman of mine would be driving an unreliable vehicle.” Dex’s voice was strong and commanding and sent a little thrill through my body. I mentally shook myself, remembering I wasn’t supposed to be drooling over him.

“I’m not his woman to worry about any more.” I didn’t mean to sound sulky about it, but I obviously did, particularly as my mum rounded on me.

“Please don’t tell me you’re pining for that big, blond idiot.”

“God no,” I snapped. “I’m just stating a fact.”

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