Page 38 of Her Kensington
“Cassie,” Harrison prompts.
“Hi,” she spits before removing herself from her dad’s arms and sitting back at the island.
The room’s silent as every set of eyes looks between Cassie, me, and then Harrison.
“Cassandra,” he warns. “Be polite.”
“It’s fine,” I try to argue, but the look he pins me with stops me.
They stare each other down for a few seconds before she mutters, “It’s nice to meet you.” It’s anything but sincere but I think it’s the best I’m going to get.
My stomach churns with dread as she turns her focus on her plate. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Harrison’s shoulders drop in disappointment.
Stepping away from his dad, Alfie walks up to me. “Just give her some time. She’ll come around,” he whispers, sounding much older and wiser than his twelve years.
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to getting to know you both.”
“You’d better be quick. I’m sure we’ll be shipped off to Madrid soon, then school will start.” He rolls his eyes before walking away.
My chin drops but I’ve got no response. The disappointment is written all over his face. Harrison’s words from last night come back to me about wanting them to live with him and attend a different school. From what Alfie just said, I think I want the same thing.
“You okay?” Harrison asks, his arm coming around my waist.
“Yeah,” I whisper unconvincingly.
“She’ll come around. Just give her some time,” he says, thinking it’s Cassie’s reaction to me that’s caused the color to drain from my face.
“I know.”
“Come on, it looks like Danni’s made waffles.”
Harrison
I feelsick the second Cassie turns her back on Summer. I bite back my immediate response to drag her back here to greet her properly, knowing that my hormonal daughter just needs a little time to get used to the idea. Shouting at her isn’t going to help right now. She needs to see that Summer’s not just a fling for me. She needs to understand that we’re a family, and this is how it’s going to be from now on.
Placing my hand in the small of Summer’s back, I guide her towards the island so we can join the twins and Danni for breakfast.
I was nervous as fuck the entire drive here. Not knowing how Alfie and Cassie were going to react to Summer had apprehension racing through me. Something told me laid-back Alfie would be okay, but Cassie has a little of her mother in her.
I can’t help the smile splitting my face as I look at the three most important people in my life all sitting having breakfast together.
“We’re spending the weekend as a family,” I announce as every set of eyes turns to me. “Summer wants to walk down Royal Mile and see Buckingham Palace—”
“And she gets what she wants,” Cassie mutters under her breath. But unfortunately for her, it wasn’t quietly enough.
“That’s enough, Cassie. We’re going to do something for everyone this weekend. What would you two like to do?”
“It’s Chelsea vs. Arsenal tomorrow. I’d love to go,” Alfie says excitedly. I want nothing more than to agree but as I look between Summer and Cassie I can’t help but think leaving them together could be a bad idea.
“I need a new school bag, and I’m not going to any bloody football match,” Cassie says.
“Language, young lady.” Her response is to just roll her eyes at me. Her attitude resembles Rebecca’s more and more—one of the many reasons I hate them spending time with her. I don’t need her raising a little mini-me. One Rebecca is more than enough.
After thanking her for keeping an eye on the twins overnight, Danni disappears back down to her flat. She hot-footed it out as soon as she could; I don’t think she wants to be stuck in between Cassie and me if things kick off.
“Right, go and get ready. We’re going out in thirty minutes.”
“Do we really have to?” Cassie complains.
