Page 31 of Sunsets and Happy Ever Afters

CHAPTER 17

“Your dad’s here, Chloe!” Heather called up the stairs.

In response, there was a burst of giggling and then a shout: “Okay, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Sam walked through to the kitchen and sat down at the table, while Heather placed his dinner in front of him. His sister was a godsend, because with thirteen weeks of school holidays annually, and Sam only having around five weeks’ paid annual leave, it left a lot of time where Chloe needed minding. Heather couldn’t look after her the whole of the week leading up to Easter; he’d had to put Chloe into some clubs run at the sports centre. It would be easier and cheaper once she was older, but he hated the idea of wishing his daughter’s life away.

“Well, have you had any dates yet?” Heather looked at Sam expectantly.

“You’d know if I had. I’d have asked you to babysit, Heather,” Sam said, hating how he sounded. He was snapping at his sister because he’d had a long day at work, wanting to finish everything so he could relax over the long Easter weekend. He wanted to get away from work early tomorrow.

“You know what I mean. Are you messaging anyone?”

“One or two…” Sam ran a hand through his hair. He picked up his knife and fork. The smell of roast beef, with roast potatoes, parsnips and a mix of steamed vegetables, wafting up from his plate made his mouth water. Gravy puddled in the Yorkshire pudding. He was starving, only having had time for a cheese and tomato sandwich and a bag of crisps out of the office vending machine at lunchtime.

Heather stared at him intently. “Aren’t you going to tell me about them?”

“There’s nothing to tell.” Sam had messaged a few women, but the conversations had fizzled out. There had been no one he fancied meeting up with. The only woman he’d clicked with online was Maya, and she didn’t know it was him. He needed to remedy that, but he was afraid if he did she would blank him completely, and he didn’t want to risk it. He also had a feeling she was seeing someone. She wasn’t on Find My HEA much and hadn’t messaged ‘Peter’. None of this he would admit to Heather.

“Oh, you are boring. I wanted some juicy details.” Heather sat down opposite Sam with a mug of tea. She wrapped her hands around it.

“Heather, a gentleman never kisses and tells.”

“I know, I know. But you are seriously looking, aren’t you? You are giving this online dating thing a proper try? Don’t let what happened with that woman all those years ago put you off.”

Truth be told, he wasn’t making much of an effort, but Heather didn’t need to know. He still wasn’t sure if he was ready.

“Yeah, yeah…” Sam sighed. “Yes, I am. Where’s Tom?”

“He’s working late tonight.” Heather glanced over her shoulder at the kitchen clock. It was ten past six. “He said he wouldn’t be home until after seven. He got called out to some job earlier, and he’s rung to say he can’t leave until he’s fixed the problem. That’s the downside of working for himself. So, all set for the weekend?”

“Yes. What about you?”

“Yes, we’re looking forward to a long weekend,” Heather said. “It’ll be great to catch up with Joe. I wonder how Rhianna puts up with him.”

Sam chuckled, shaking his head. They had thought their brother Joe would never settle down. While Sam had been the sensible one, studying hard at school, Joe had been sloping off every minute he had to party. Where Sam had been classed as nerdy, Joe had been too cool for school. Heather had appeared to get the balance right, still getting her grades and being popular. “Yes, it’s going to be great to catch up. Let’s hope the weather holds, hey?”

“And the weekend after, have you made arrangements with Maya?”

Heather did not miss a trick. Definitely the smartest of the three of them. “Yes, she’s agreed to come out for the day with Amber and her son. I still can’t think where to go; it’ll all depend on the weather.”

“That’s great!” Heather patted his shoulder. “I’ll have a think for you.”

Shattering the calm, the three girls hurtled into the kitchen, the door swinging and Chloe chasing her younger cousins, hands outstretched, wiggling her fingers. “Tickle, tickle, tickle.”

Scarlett and Daisy screamed and giggled playfully, each running to their mother and wrapping their little arms around her legs.

“Whoa!” Heather said. She looked as if she might topple over. Chloe tickled her much smaller cousins gently.

“Chloe, be careful, please,” Sam said sternly.

“Before you leave, Chloe, would you like a drink?” Heather said, prising the two children from her jeans and picking up Daisy to rest her on her hip. Daisy gave her mum an ecstatic cuddle, wiping her face into Heather’s T-shirt, still giggling.

“No, thanks,” Chloe replied, sitting herself next to her dad. Sam stroked her hair. Dark strands were everywhere, and it looked knotty at the back. He really needed to make her tie it back if she insisted on keeping it long. Jade would have been plaiting it…

“Right,” Sam said, trying to shake off his maudlin thoughts. He pushed his knife and fork together once he’d finished the delicious roast dinner. “We’d best leave you to it. See you Thursday night.”

Heather retrieved his plate, still balancing Daisy on her hip. Scarlett had snuck off, and by the sounds of it she had turned the television on and was watching CBeebies.

Sam and Heather gave each other a goodbye kiss on the cheek. Heather kissed Chloe while Sam attempted to kiss Daisy, but she hid her face in her mum’s shoulder, so he ruffled her hair instead.

Back home, Sam allowed Chloe to sit up in bed and read her book for a bit, wanting her lamp off by nine. It might be the holidays, but they had an early start for kids’ club, and he knew the weekend would be full of late nights for the both of them.

Downstairs, he poured himself a glass of red wine and opened up his laptop. With the memory of his sister nagging in his ear, and remembering Jade wouldn’t want him to be alone, he perused Soul Mate Search to see if there was anyone worth getting into conversation with. Sam replied to a couple of women who’d messaged him, but he couldn’t find anyone he fancied contacting. Why couldn’t he shift Maya out of his thoughts? He opened Find My HEA and hovered over the message thread.

This was stupid. He should text her as Sam and not hide behind Peter. He grabbed his phone and started to draft a text: Hey, I’ll have a think about where to take the kids next weekend. Chloe is looking forward to it — wherever we decide to go. Have a great Easter holiday. S x

Should he put the kiss? He removed the S and the x and pressed send.

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