Page 26 of One Hot Summer

“Nothing, nothing,” I said, although I had been staring at his mouth, waiting for the signature lip quiver to give him away. “So, who’s here then?” I looked around, seeing a crowd of people I didn’t really recognise swarming round Elizabeth as she cuddled baby Cora.

“Not many, actually. A lot of Elizabeth’s friends made it. Had a few people cancel last minute. Uncle Roy said something about a job in his garden.”

“Hmm, weird.” I said, betting anything that it was the food on offer that had turned off many of his family and friends. “Well, you’d best tell me what food there is because I have no clue what you’ve put out.”

“Me neither,” he said, a lot quieter. “It’s all a load of crap. I’ll tell you where the sausage rolls and chicken drumsticks are hidden later.”

“Jenny?” my mother called from across the garden. I saw she was holding Cora and making her way across to us, Liz eyeing her carefully as she made off with her baby. “Jenny, come see little Cora. Isn’t she beautiful?” She finally reached us.

I peeked at Cora’s chunky little cheeks as she was presented to me. “Aw, yeah, you did make another cute one, bro. Kudos.”

“She is beautiful,” Zack agreed.

“What are you doing?” I asked my mum, who was trying to pass the baby to me.

“Unfold your arms then. Come on, she won’t bite.”

“Yeah, Jen,” my brother piped up. “Come on, you know you want to.”

I shot him a glance as my cheeks burned.

“Here.” Before I could protest, my mum placed the baby in my arms, which I reluctantly unfolded to cradle little Cora. She was sound asleep, luckily, and little squeaky sounds escaped from her tiny nostrils.

“See,” my mother said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

I smiled in agreement as I looked at the baby’s face. Tiny specks of dark hair were visible on her head. I released one of my hands to stroke her, amazed at how soft her skin was.

“Looks good on you, Jen,” Andrew teased.

“Yes, perfect practice for when you and Zack have…” I shot my mother a glance this time, hoping to silence her. “I mean, if you and Zack, not that you need to, you might not, or you might, but…”

“Come on, Mum.” Andrew took baby Cora from me. “Help me see if Cora needs a nappy change. It must be time now.”

“I didn’t mean…” Mum tried to argue her case as my brother put her arm around her, pulling her away.

“Let’s just head this way.” Their voices faded as they made their way back into the house.

I looked to Zack who was trying, and failing, to hold in a laugh. “Are you okay?”

“Shall we investigate this food situation?” I said through gritted teeth.

“Ha, come on.” He put his arm around me. “It’ll take a lot more than your mother’s comments to have me running for the hills.”

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Zack asked on the drive home. He insisted on driving.

“It wasn’t too bad, my mother walking on eggshells the rest of the afternoon was quite funny. You handled that well.”

“Your mum’s harmless.” He chuckled. “Anyway, you survived your first experience of vegan cuisine. What did you think?”

“It was all right,” I said. “Off the record, though, I am bloody starving.” I smiled at him, and he took his eyes off the road for a second to glance back at me. I loved his smile. “Anyway, how did you get on? I saw you chatting to my brother for ages. I wanted to be nosy and see what was so interesting between the two of you, but I was otherwise engaged.”

“Yeah, I noticed you’d been roped into a game of hide-and-seek with Sam. He’s adorable.”

Sam had been hiding behind a tree for ages, his arms wrapped around it, which meant it was glaringly obvious where he was, but he really believed I couldn’t see him. If his arms weren’t giving his position away, his infectious giggle was.

“It was fun, but I admit, I was trying to stay away from my mother. She kept trying to make me hold the baby again. I mean, yes, Cora is incredibly cute, but I prefer them when they can talk.” Zack laughed. “Do you know what I mean though? Babies are silent, you never know what they’re thinking or when they’re going to spit up on you.”

“You might feel different when it’s your own in the future.”

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