Page 36 of Just the Beginning

When he walked into the hotel reception a few minutes later, Anya looked tired but not as shabby as Issy had been. She glanced up from her screen, the wide, welcoming smile she’d plastered on faltering a little. ‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to visit us again so soon.’

Hmm, not quite the warm welcome he’d anticipated. He held up the tray of coffees even though it was clearly visible. ‘I was getting a drink for me and my folks and I saw the state of Issy, so I thought you might be in need of a caffeine boost after last night.’

‘She told you about them gatecrashing me? That’s why I said not to call.’

He pulled the large latte out of the tray and placed it on the top of the desk. ‘Yeah, I figured as much when I saw the photos last night.’

‘What photos?’

‘Oh, just a couple of group selfies Chloe posted. They popped up on my feed when I was doing my usual pre-bed doomscroll.’

‘Ah, okay.’ She pulled a face. ‘How bad are they?’

‘No incriminating evidence, though they might have been taken before the third bottle of Prosecco Issy was just rueing.’

‘Ha! Well some of us were sensible and had switched to water by that point. My days of waking up hungover when there’s a hyperactive small person to be dealt with are thankfully in the past. Lesson learned, never repeated.’

He grinned. ‘I can imagine. Oh, speaking of Freya, I bumped into Morwenna just now and she mentioned that she isn’t registered with the school yet.’

He could tell he’d made a mistake as soon as the words had left his mouth from the way her expression shut down. ‘Who’s Morwenna, and why were you talking to anyone about Freya?’

Rick took an involuntary step back, his free hand raising in automatic apology. ‘Hey, I wasn’t talking behind your back or anything. Morwenna is the head teacher at the village school and we were chatting about a few things. The topic of school numberscame up, so I pointed out she’d have an addition next term but she said you haven’t registered yet. Don’t worry if you haven’t got around to it; Morwenna said she’d pencil Freya’s name in.’

Anya stiffened. ‘How does she know what name to put down?’

Rick shook his head, completely baffled. ‘She asked me if I knew it, so I told her.’

Reaching up, she rubbed her forehead. ‘Look, Rick, I know you were probably only trying to help out, but I really wish you hadn’t done that. The reason I haven’t registered Freya is because Chloe’s helping me with an application to change our surnames and the final documentation hasn’t come through yet.’

Oh damn. ‘I’m so sorry, I had no idea.’ God, he’d really put his foot in it.

She gave him a slightly tired smile. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort it out with the school when I do the application.’

‘Morwenna’s dropping off some posters with me in the next couple of days. If you want me to mention—’ It took only a raised eyebrow from Anya for Rick to swallow down the offer to help make things right. ‘I’ll leave you to sort it out.’

‘That’d be good, thanks.’ The hint of tension around her eyes softened as she reached for the coffee he’d brought. ‘And thanks for this, because you guessed right. I could do with a boost. I might not have overindulged, but I haven’t had a late night in a while.’

Rick smiled, relieved that he appeared to have been forgiven. ‘It looked like you had fun, though.’

She nodded. ‘It was so nice to have a bit of adult company, though I’m sorry it meant I had to cancel our chat at the last minute. Speaking of which’ – she glanced up at him throughher lashes – ‘Chloe’s volunteered to babysit on Friday night if you wanted to go out and do something.’

‘That sounds great. Do you want me to book us a table somewhere? Or we could just go to the Smuggler’s Den for a drink?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure I’m ready for the local pub. Perhaps we could venture out of the village? I’m happy to drive – Ryan and Helen have put me on their insurance in case I need the car for an emergency, but I’m sure they’d let me borrow it.’

Rick shook his head. ‘I can drive.’ He hesitated, wondering if this was another one of those situations where he was trying to be too helpful. ‘Unless you want to, of course?’

Thankfully, she didn’t take offence. ‘As long as you don’t mind, I’m happy for you to drive.’

‘Great. I know a really nice little Italian over in Port Petroc. We can take the scenic route along the coast. What time shall I book for?’

Anya took a sip of her coffee and he could almost see the cogs whirring as she worked out the logistics. ‘Eight o’clock? I’ll get Chloe to come about half-six so Freya can get used to her being there and then I’ll meet you out the front of Ryan and Helen’s about seven?’

‘Whatever makes things easy for you.’

18

Though Anya had been worried there might be some resistance from Freya about her going out for the evening, when the little girl found out Chloe was coming to look after her, she was too excited to ask many questions. They even had fun choosing something for Anya to wear – thankfully she picked a floaty pale green maxi dress with a pretty floral detail and not the metallic gold catsuit Anya had once worn for a fancy dress party. Like Freya’s too-small frog wellies, Anya had no idea how the catsuit had survived the massive clear-out she’d had before their move. One of these days she’d have to see what else had slipped through the net. She still hadn’t tackled all the boxes and bags out in the shed, and until she did that Ryan and Matt couldn’t get started on converting it into a workspace. A tug of guilt pulled at her. There were so many other things she should be prioritising right now; going out on a date should be way down the list.

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