Page 39 of Her Kensington
“Yes.”
She begrudgingly heads upstairs and I’m not stupid enough to think I’m not going to have a fight on my hands to get her to come around to the idea of having a new stepmum.
“We can do Buckingham Palace another day. I’m not bothered,” Summer says once we’re alone.
“No. Like I said earlier, we’re doing something for everyone this weekend.”
“What are we doing for you?”
“Spending the weekend together. There isn’t anything else I need.”
Stretching up on her tiptoes she presses her lips against mine. “You’re too cute.”
“I’m anything but cute, beautiful. Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she admits, slipping her feet into her trainers, looking about as apprehensive as I feel.
The day is pretty much as I expected. We walked around the city, Summer’s eyes darting everywhere as she took everything in while Alfie and Cassie trailed behind us. Alfie looked bored but tolerant whereas Cassie looked downright pissed off the entire day.
“I thought we all got to do what we wanted today?” she sulks as I let us into our house later that evening.
“I said this weekend, not today.” I rustle her hair but she shrugs me off and goes to climb the stairs. “Where are you going?”
“To hide.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Haven’t we already had enough forced family time?”
“Not even close. Go and get changed, do whatever, but be back down here in thirty minutes.”
She rolls her eyes at me and continues up the stairs. I get a sympathetic look from Alfie before he follows, hot on her heels. I can only hope he’s on my side and talks some sense into her.
Summer’s busy making coffee when I fall down onto one of the stools in the kitchen. “She’ll come around,” she says, sounding a lot more confident than I feel.
“Cassie’s just as stubborn as her mother. We’ve got our work cut out.”
