Page 64 of Take My Hand

“That sounds good. Sounds like she seems nice. Although, you looking like your dad makes me feel like I might vomit.”

“I hope you think I’m prettier than him.”

Zak’s laugh trailed off. “Much prettier. Gorgeous, in fact.”

The butterflies started up again and I wasn’t sure what to say. I went for, “I’d better go before they come back from the bedroom.”

“Fromwhere?” he asked, shocked.

“He’s just showing her the spare room,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “You and your dirty mind.”

Zak laughed and I had a sudden desire to see him. “Want to come over later?”

“Won’t it be late?” he asked, and I could detect a hint of excitement at the idea.

“Well, I’ll call you when we’re back and you can decide then.” I bit down on my lip, waiting anxiously.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe persuade them to skip dessert.”

More relief flooded through me at his idea. Surely it meant that he wanted to see me later. He wouldn’t say that if he didn’t want to, would he?

“I’ll call you later, then.” I tried to make it more like a statement than a question, conscious of sounding like I was desperate.

“Definitely,” Zak replied. “Speak to you later.”

“Okay, will do.”

“Oh, and Maddy,” he added.

“Yes.”

“It’s okay to say I’m your boyfriend, because I am.”

As my heart thudded loudly in my ears, I barely heard Zak say goodbye. All that I could think of was the fact that I was his girlfriend.

It was official: my dad was halfway to being in love. In fact, he might already have reached the point of no return. It was the way he gazed at Maya, a bit like she was made of twinkling diamonds, and he couldn’t quite believe it. To be fair, she wasn’t much less obvious in her feelings for him either. I could honestly say that not everything Dad said was hilarious, but Maya appeared to think it was. Her laugh had tinkled like a little bell all evening.

They were quite sweet, really. At first they’d tried desperately to not appear too besotted with each other, avoiding eye contact, talking mainly to me, but I wasn’t fooled. Within ten minutes Dad had moved his chair closer to Maya’s and they were holding hands on top of the table, stealing glances at each other and being generally cute. It didn’t even induce sick in my mouth—they were so adorable.

“So, you want to be a social worker,” Maya said, her little finger linked with Dad’s while her spare hand held onto the stem of her wine glass.

“Yes, I do.” I glanced at Dad who already had a raised eyebrow. “I’m planning on doing my degree from home. Open University.”

“My friend did her teaching degree with the OU,” Maya replied. “She said it was great, loads of boozy parties at Summer School.”

“Shit,” Dad groaned. “And there was me thinking at least if you didn’t go away, you would never end up in A&E with alcohol poisoning.”

“See, Dad, there are benefits to staying at home. I only end up getting my stomach pumped once a year.”

“I still think Edinburgh or Lancaster are the best options,” Dad said with a sigh. “I hear their emergency departments are top notch.”

“You don’t want her to stay at home?” Maya asked.

I rolled my eyes. “We’ve been having this battle for months,” I told her. “He wants me to have the full uni experience, but I want to stay at home.”

“She thinks I can’t cope without her.” Dad cocked an eyebrow making Maya giggle. She’d giggled a lot during the last hour or so.

“And do you think you can?” she asked him.

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