Six weeks in, and the best part of being unemployed was spending time with my family. Even if we couldn’t all be together. Neil and Olivia and I were about to spend a quality dinner together when my phone made the tinkling noise I’d assigned to Facetime.
Neil brought our plates to the table, pausing to kiss Olivia’s head as he passed. “What happened to no phones at the dinner table?”
“It’s El-Mudad!” I shrieked, flapping my hands excitedly.
Neil pretended to be disappointed as I answered. “I suppose we can break the rule, just this once.”
“Sophie!” Just the sight of El-Mudad’s gorgeous face was enough to bring an entire species of butterflies to my stomach. The excitement in his voice was just icing on those butterflies.
Which would probably kill a butterfly. But I couldn’t think straight during the “new love” phase.
“I’m here, as well,” Neil called, pretending to be hurt.
“I knew you would be. You’re the inseparables,” El-Mudad joked. I spied the rear window of a car behind him, and the fact that he was in transit somehow drove our separation deeper, as though he were driving even farther away from us.
A pang of longing tugged at my heart. “I wish we could all be inseparable.”
Neil stood behind my chair, stooping down to fit himself into the conversation. “In two weeks, we will be. For a short time, anyway.”
“Ah, yes. That’s why I’m calling.” El-Mudad’s face fell, and my heart went with it.
“No,” Neil said softly. “What’s happened?”
“I need to return to Bahrain. Some family business has become complicated. I do wish to see you, but unfortunately, it seems that will be put off until Christmas.”
“I do hope it’s nothing serious?” Neil asked.
El-Mudad shook his head. “No, no. Not serious. Inconvenient.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I couldn’t follow my own orders. Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Oh, my love. Don’t. Please, I can’t stand to make you unhappy,” El-Mudad said sorrowfully. “We will be together soon. I promise.”
“Not soon enough.” From the tone of Neil’s voice, I knew he was already planning an emergency trip to meet El-Mudad somewhere. “When will you be back in France?”
“That, I can’t say. Not yet.” The car door opened, and he looked up. “Ah, I must go. We can speak more about this later.”
“Of course.” Neil tried his best to sound upbeat. “We’re just sitting down to dinner, anyway.”
El-Mudad nodded and ended the call, and Neil went to his seat in silence. Olivia seemed to have picked up on the mood; she looked between us with her big eyes full of concern.
The kitchen door burst open, startling all three of us. In strode El-Mudad.
That bastard!
He grinned hugely and held out his arms. “Is there a plate for me?”
I jumped up from my seat and ran to him, and Neil scooped Olivia from her high chair to join us in a tight four-person hug.
Olivia squealed, reaching for him. Despite having only met him on a few occasions—most of them via Skype—she already loved him.
“That wasn’t very nice of you,” Neil scolded El-Mudad, handing Olivia over.
El-Mudad shifted her onto his hip. “No, it wasn’t. But isn’t it nice that I’m here?”
“And early! Does that mean you’re leaving sooner than before?” I hoped not. If we could get extra time with him, we would take it.
“Not unless you get tired of me and send me away.” He kissed my cheek. We were still not quite sure how we would handle displays of affection in front of Olivia, but a little peck was allowed. “Bijou took the girls for a six-week retreat in India. So, I’m yours for a month.”
Neil’s eyebrows rose. “Well, we did say we wanted to try out living together as a family.”
“That we did.” El-Mudad kissed Olivia’s forehead. “One day, perhaps my girls will be with us, as well.”
“So, three kids,” I said, my jaw suddenly going numb. That was a sign of a stroke, wasn’t it? Three kids. When I hadn’t wanted any.
“I think Sophie might have a panic attack,” Neil quipped. He was immediately apologetic. “I shouldn’t joke about that.”
“You shouldn’t,” I agreed. “What you should do is get El-Mudad something to eat. And then we can all sit down to a lovely dinner together.”
El-Mudad’s gaze caught and held mine. “As a family.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. Despite all the challenges our unconventional little group would face, love would ultimately make them worthwhile.
“As a family,” I echoed.
And it fit me, far better than any life I’d lived so far.