Life Or Something Like It (23 page)

Finn returned a short while later with two pints of beer, three glasses of lemonade and assorted packets of crisps, which the children pounced upon.

‘Cheers,’ he said holding up his glass to Cat.

‘Cheers,’ she replied taking a sip. Maybe it was the effect of the sun, the bike ride or being on holiday but the beer seemed to Cat at that moment to be the most delicious drink she had ever tasted. ‘Now that is good,’ she declared, putting her glass down.

Finn smiled. ‘First of the day always tastes the best.’ He glanced around the room before spying a pile of games on a corner shelf. ‘Now then,’ he said standing up and perusing them, ‘who fancies a game of Happy Families?’

‘Ooh me!’ chorused the girls.

‘Okay,’ said Charlie with a shrug.

‘I’ve never played it,’ admitted Cat. She wasn’t a great one for games but couldn’t say this in front of the kids.

‘You’ve never played Happy Families?’ cried Finn scandalised. ‘Next thing you’ll be telling me is that you’ve never played Old Maid either.’

‘Guilty as charged,’ said Cat, taking another sip of her drink.

‘Right then. Let’s play.’

Cat couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much. The children loved playing games and she was pleased to see how much Charlie was enjoying himself, happy and joking with Finn. Ellie was the sneaky one and Daisy was delightfully honest. They played Old Maid using the Happy Families cards and Finn took great delight when Cat was given the title of Old Maid. She folded her arms and stuck out her tongue at him. An elderly man with sparkling eyes paused in the doorway, grinning at them.

‘How wonderful,’ he declared, ‘to see parents actually enjoying time with their children for a change.’

Finn and Cat exchanged glances before dissolving into renewed giggles. ‘Your round,’ said Finn as he finished his pint.

‘Can we have dinner here, please?’ asked Daisy.

‘I don’t know,’ said Finn.

‘Yes let’s,’ said Cat. ‘My treat.’

‘You don’t have to do that,’ protested Finn.

‘I want to. Please,’ she replied. ‘Another pint?’

‘Thank you,’ he smiled. ‘That would be great.’

Cat felt a surge of happiness as she watched Ellie squirt a family-sized dollop of ketchup onto her chips whilst Daisy neatly tucked her napkin into her T-shirt and Charlie looked up from his burger and thanked her for treating them. She remembered eating out as a child – at the ticklish joy of being able to choose your dinner and the promise of dessert afterwards. She noticed that Finn glanced at her from time to time, a smile never far from his lips. Thankfully, the girls offered the perfect distraction with their excited chatter or occasional need for the toilet.

It was beginning to get dark as they left the pub with the tired but happy children.

‘Wow look at the stars!’ cried Charlie. They gazed up at the sky in awe.

‘They’re so pretty,’ murmured Daisy.

Living in light-polluted London, Cat had almost forgotten what stars looked like. As she stared deeper into the sky, more became apparent and the ones she thought she’d seen seemed to wink at her or disappear altogether.

‘This has been the best day ever,’ sighed Ellie.

‘You said that about your birthday,’ observed Charlie.

‘This is better.’

‘And Christmas.’

‘This is still better.’

‘Why?’ asked Cat with genuine interest.

‘No-one got cross all day,’ said Ellie.

‘Huh. Well that’s definitely a good thing,’ agreed Cat.

Back at the cottage, the weary girls were quickly despatched to bed and Charlie took himself off to his room to listen to music before lights out. Cat went in to say goodnight to the girls after Finn had tucked them in.

‘Night-night,’ she called softly. ‘Sleep tight.’ There was no answer. She turned to leave.

‘Night-night, Mummy,’ sighed Ellie sleepily. ‘Love you.’

Cat paused at the door for a second. ‘Love you too,’ she whispered, smiling to herself before heading downstairs.

Finn was sitting at the kitchen table with his guitar. There was a bottle of dark red liquid in front of him and two small glasses. He smiled as she entered the kitchen. ‘I took the liberty,’ he said gesturing at the drinks.

‘What is it?’ she asked picking up the bottle.

‘Morello cherry liqueur. I bought it from the brewery shop. Not only do they make their own beer but they also distil their own spirits and import wine.’

‘Fancy,’ smiled Cat. ‘Who knew they’d built heaven in this wind-whipped corner of Suffolk?’ She poured herself a glass of water and sat down opposite him at the table. ‘Can I say that if you’re thinking of getting me drunk and picking up the conversation where we left off earlier then you’re out of luck.’

‘Damn,’ laughed Finn, setting his guitar to one side. ‘You’ve seen right through me.’

‘You’re very easy to read,’ she replied with one eyebrow raised.

‘Whereas you, Cat Nightingale, are a complete mystery.’

‘That’s how I like it.’

‘Why?’ He picked up his glass and gestured for her to do the same. ‘Skol.’

‘Skol,’ she replied, knocking her glass against his and taking a sip. It was nothing like liqueurs Cat had tried in the past. There was no acid hit of alcohol; it was warming and pleasantly sweet but not cloying. ‘Delicious.’

‘So, you were saying?’

Cat shrugged. ‘I just don’t feel the need to analyse my life endlessly. It’s really not that interesting and the past is best left where it is.’

‘Oh, so you do have a past then?’

‘Doesn’t everyone? I just choose to leave it there and live in the here and now.’

‘But the past feeds the here and now so you have to acknowledge it.’

‘That’s very deep.’

‘Thank you.’ Finn smiled. ‘I surprise myself sometimes. Seriously though, and I hope I’m not speaking out of turn, but I would say that your past is actually having a big effect on you at the moment.’

Cat sighed. ‘I know but it can be sorted. These things move quickly and I trust Jesse.’

‘Yeah, what is it with that guy?’ They had finished their first drink, so Finn refilled their glasses. ‘Prost.’

‘Prost,’ replied Cat, knocking her glass against his. ‘Jesse is my oldest friend. I met him at uni and we’ve been friends ever since.’

‘And that’s it?’

Cat fixed him with a narrow gaze. ‘You don’t give up, do you?’

‘It’s one of my best and worst qualities.’ Finn grinned.

Cat took a deep breath. ‘Okay, I had a tiny crush on Jesse at uni – we shared a moment but it came to nothing.’

‘And now?’

‘Now he’s married and I work for him. That’s it.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely. We are really good friends. Is that so hard to believe?’

‘I believe you. I’m just not sure I get why he’d pass up the chance to be with you.’

Cat was secretly flattered. ‘You know that he’s married to Alexandra Lorenzo?’

‘The model? She’s fine but I’d rather be with a woman who eats chocolate croissants for breakfast.’

Cat winced. ‘I only do that on holiday.’

‘Well I like holiday-Cat,’ declared Finn. ‘And I would like to propose a toast to her.’ He topped up their glasses again. ‘To holiday-Cat.’

‘To holiday-me.’ Cat grinned. ‘And what about you? What about Angelica?’

‘Yeah, she’s cool. Ronnie can’t stand her but she sort of fits into my world so we rock along pretty well.’

‘Do you love her?’

Finn shrugged. ‘We’re not an item. She’s just always there, you know?’

‘Wow, Finn, that’s really romantic,’ teased Cat.

‘Thank you,’ he laughed. ‘I’m better if I say it with music to be honest.’

‘Well thank you for the music,’ giggled Cat who was feeling quite merry. ‘Right, that’s enough drink for one night. I am going to bed.’ She stood up and stumbled to the sink. ‘Oops! Thanks for today by the way,’ she said turning to face him. ‘I had a really good time.’

Finn gave a gallant nod. ‘Sorry for my nosiness this evening but I enjoyed our chat.’

Cat smiled. ‘Me too. You’re actually quite good company despite being a stickybeak know-it-all.’

Finn put his hand on his chest and bowed. ‘That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.’

She laughed. ‘Goodnight. I need to get some rest as you’ll no doubt have us paragliding off the end of the pier tomorrow.’

‘Yes, that’s after the jet-skiing in the harbour.’ He grinned. ‘Sleep well.’

Whilst Cat got ready for bed she could hear Finn downstairs gently strumming on the guitar. She slid into bed and as her brain began to relax, she remembered that she hadn’t checked her phone all day. It was the first time in her working life that this had happened but instead of sending her into a panicked flurry of activity, she burrowed further down under the covers and closed her eyes, letting the music lull her into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Chapter Sixteen

‘You look different,’ said Andrew, as Cat and the girls met him from the train on Friday evening. It was a tiny unmanned railway station, miles from where they were staying. The hanging baskets and troughs of summer flowers gave it a pleasant air of days gone by.

‘Do I?’ said Cat, smoothing her hair self-consciously. ‘How different?’

Andrew did his best to appraise his sister’s appearance despite the fact that Ellie was hanging off one arm whilst Daisy skipped right in front of where he was trying to walk. ‘Just different. You’ve got colour in your cheeks. Natural colour. It suits you.’

‘Why thank you, little brother.’ She smiled and led him to the car.

Once inside the girls insisted on listening to the
Frozen
CD again. Cat was pleased that she’d paid extra to have separate speaker controls for front and back. This didn’t muffle Ellie’s tuneless singing but it made conversation with Andrew a little easier.

‘How’s Melissa’s dad?’ asked Cat.

‘It could be any day now,’ reported Andrew grim-faced.

‘Poor things.’

‘I know. Mel’s really torn. She wants to be there for her mum and dad but she’s missing the kids a lot. I promised to try and find somewhere to Skype her over the weekend.’ He glanced out of the window and stretched back his shoulders. ‘It’s good to get out of London. Work has been a nightmare lately.’

‘Well I think you’ll find it very easy to relax. You can have my bed and I’ll take the sofa if you like.’

‘Thank you but I wouldn’t dream of it.’ Andrew fixed his gaze on Cat. ‘So? How’s it been?’ he asked with meaning.

‘Actually, much better than I thought.’

‘How’s Charlie?’

‘Apart from one small outburst, he’s been okay.’

‘Good.’

Cat glanced over at her brother. ‘Does he ever talk to you about school?’

‘What about it?’

‘About the other boys?’

Andrew pursed his lips. ‘There was an incident in Year Two with a boy.’

‘Was he called Tom?’

‘That’s the one. His mother’s a governor. The school said they’d dealt with it.’

‘Well I get the feeling it’s kicking off again.’

Andrew ran a hand through his hair. ‘Oh great. That’s all we need.’

Cat was surprised that Andrew’s first reaction wasn’t one of sympathy towards his son but she said nothing. ‘Anyway, I think the holiday’s doing him good. He gets on well with Finn and we had a brilliant time in the pub yesterday.’

‘Finn’s not the smug know-it-all you thought he was then?’ teased Andrew.

Cat raised her eyebrows. ‘Let’s just say we’ve come to an understanding.’

‘Anything I should know?’

‘Yes actually. You should know that if you continue to try to match me up with every man who falls into my path, I will have to push you off the pier.’

Andrew laughed. ‘Fair enough. I’m glad you’re having a good time though.’

‘I always have a good time,’ she said, although she knew what he meant. The drive back to the cottage took them through picturesque villages, over marshland and a river that Cat hadn’t even noticed on her stressful journey earlier in the week. She was pleased Andrew had noticed a difference in her. Cat felt it too. She hadn’t realised how much she’d needed a break and was also surprised how little she missed her social media fix. She’d barely given the situation with her job a thought and apart from the brief exchange earlier in the week, Cat hadn’t felt the urge to check Twitter. It was strange to be without something that had underpinned her life for so long now but she had to admit that she was rather enjoying the alternative. She was beginning to step back a little and realise that it was a habit like any other and that existing without it definitely had its advantages. Cat hadn’t felt so relaxed in years.

She took in the broad expanse of shimmering sky, which opened up in front of them as they turned onto the winding road leading to the town. Pulling up outside the cottage, she spotted Charlie playing football in the park with Finn. She had asked Charlie if he wanted to come and meet his dad but her enquiry was met with an uncertain frown.

‘Or you can stay here with me if you like?’ Finn suggested. Charlie looked relieved and Cat hadn’t questioned him further.

She waved over at Finn as they climbed out of the car. They crossed the road and met them by the hedge.

‘Hey, Charlie. You okay?’ said Andrew. ‘All right, Finn?’ he added, shaking hands.

‘Hi, Dad,’ said Charlie. He seemed almost shy.

‘Having a good game?’ asked Andrew, gesturing at the ball that Charlie was palming from hand to hand.

‘Yeah. Great. Do you want to come and play?’ asked Charlie, his eyes lighting up with hope.

Andrew screwed up his face. ‘I would, mate, but I’m knackered. Can we do it tomorrow?’

‘Sure,’ replied Charlie. He turned away and dropped the ball to the ground, but not before Cat saw how his face fell. She exchanged glances with Finn.

‘How about we take a walk along the seafront, end up at the pub and get fish and chips on the way home?’ she suggested.

‘Sounds perfect.’ Andrew smiled. ‘I’m gasping for a pint.’

‘Daddy?’ said Ellie sweetly.

‘Yes, pumpkin?’

‘Can I have a piggy-back, pleeease?’

Andrew hesitated but couldn’t resist. ‘Okay, come here, you,’ he said turning and bending down so that she could hop aboard.