‘A little birdy tells me that you like the water?’
Nancy jumped and nearly dropped her book into the pool where she and Jack were dangling their feet. ‘Oh God, you scared the life out of me!’ She placed her hand onto her chest as her heart pounded. Jack was so quiet next to her that she had fully immersed herself in the story and she hadn’t heard him approach.
‘Sorry.’ Cameron smiled and sat down next to her, putting his feet in too. ‘Is it OK to sit here?’
‘Of course,’ Nancy replied, folding the corner of the page that she was up to and placing the book down. A glance over to Jack to make sure he was OK, and then she turned her attention to the gorgeous man who she had spent the last few hours thinking about. It was weird because she hadn’t so much as looked at another man since Pete had walked out, but meeting Cameron yesterday had orchestrated a huge change in her. He wasn’t the first good-looking man to approach her, but maybe this was a sign that she had finally put Pete to rest in her mind. For the last year, she had been waiting for him to turn up, wondering how she would feel when he did. And when he had shown up and she’d felt nothing but anger, frustration and loss of respect, it had seemed to almost free up her mind and emotions and she found herself taking more notice of everything around her. And Cameron was one of the things that caught her attention.
‘What are you reading?’ he nodded his head towards the paperback, which had seen better days and was thumbed to within an inch of its life.
‘Oh, it’s the latest one from Martina Cole.’
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. ‘Hmm, you strike me as a romance novel type of girl.’
‘Why’s that then? Because I’m a woman?’ She tried to hide the smile as she teased him, knowing full well that wasn’t what he meant.
‘No, no, no, I didn’t mean that, I just meant you seem like you enjoy reading about love, that’s all.’ He shook his head and smiled. ‘It was a lame attempt at getting to know you. Sorry, let’s start again. Martina Cole, that’s great. Do you read a lot?’
Nancy laughed, he was sweet. ‘I read when I get the chance. It’s hard when you have children to actually find the time to read. I mean, you’ll understand that being a parent.’ She then looked around them and back to Cameron. ‘Speaking of children, where’s Aiden?’
‘He’s in the water with my sister and his cousins. Don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned him.’ There was that cheeky smile again – it made her stomach tingle, a feeling she hadn’t felt for quite some time now. She was out of touch with all this flirting business. In the lead up to Jack’s diagnosis, her relationship with Pete had been pushed to the limit as the pair of them dealt with unexplained outbursts, irrational tantrums and lashing out for what felt like no good reason. The stress seeped into their daily lives like poison and as a result, all elements of fun, flirting and sex completely vanished, leaving both of them feeling even more distanced and out of sync. Shortly afterwards, Jack had been diagnosed and their marriage slowly but surely fell apart.
‘You like it here then?’ Nancy asked, and Cameron looked confused. ‘Weren’t you here yesterday too?’
‘Yeah, we were, and the children had so much fun we agreed to come back today. I have a feeling this will be a regular thing for us now – if the kids get their way.’
He swished his feet in the water and Nancy couldn’t help but smile. ‘How many children are you away with?’
‘Three including Aiden. My sister has one on the way too.’
‘Wow, another niece or nephew – how exciting.’ Nancy couldn’t imagine having another baby, not when Jack took up so much of her time and energy. She just wouldn’t be able to do it. Not that she ever thought she would be able to trust a man enough again to have children with him. Thanks for that, Pete!
‘Yeah, she’s due in September. Although I hope her hormones settle down because I’m not sure I can take much more of her mood swings – how her husband deals with it on a daily basis, I don’t know.’ He rolled his eyes and Nancy couldn’t help herself, she gave way to the laughter, and noticed she was swishing her feet in the same way Cameron was doing.
He leaned forward to look at Jack. ‘How’s little man doing?’
Nancy turned back to look at Jack for herself. He was watching his favourite programme and she noticed he had begun to swish his feet too. It was comforting to see. ‘Yeah he’s doing OK. He’s not keen on the heat but we are getting through it.’
‘The heat can be tough if you’re not used to it. Aiden used to hate it when he was younger. His mum used to—’ He stopped suddenly, realising what he had said and decided against continuing. They sat quietly for a moment. Nancy desperately wanted to ask where Aiden’s mum was, but it wasn’t her business. The two were clearly separated – no big deal there – although looking at Cameron it was hard to understand why anyone would ever leave such a good-looking man!
‘Well, I’d better get back to the others – don’t want to give my sister any more reason to bite my head off. It was nice seeing you again, Nancy.’ He stood up and left abruptly, leaving Nancy wondering if it was something she’d said. Maybe Cameron’s break up was fairly new and he was still struggling with it, but he’d been the one to bring up the conversation so he couldn’t blame her for that. Maybe she was better off single. Not that dating anyone would be easy with Jack. And Pete was back on the scene now, wasn’t he? She didn’t want him back, but he wasn’t going to make things easy for her. Her life was a bit of a mess.
‘It’s your turn,’ Harriet panted as she plonked herself down onto the lounger and exhaled noisily. ‘Oh my word, that is hard work.’
‘What is? Playing in the water?’ Nancy laughed and shook her feet off as she stood.
‘That little one had me going up and down those slide steps fifty million times.’
‘You know, if you actually go down the slide, you only have to do the steps one way.’
‘I am not going down that death trap – I swear, I would go over the edge. Do you see how fast they go? Not for me, thank you. Did you get drinks?’
‘Um, no. I was chatting to Cameron.’ She slipped her shorts and top off as she spoke, revealing her royal blue swimsuit which had a hole cut out in the back.
‘So, he did come over and speak to you.’ Harriet smiled, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
‘I might have known you had something to do with it.’
‘I simply said you were sitting over here, that’s all.’ Nancy rolled her eyes and tied her long brown hair up into a bun. ‘Oh, and that you were a single parent.’
Nancy dropped her hands to her sides with a slam against her thighs. ‘Are you having a laugh? Please tell me you’re joking?’
‘What? It’s no secret? You’re here, with a child, and no fella – it’s not rocket science!’
‘I could just be on a girls’ holiday with my friend and her children. Not everyone goes away with their other halves all the time. What if my partner worked in the army or away at sea – then I would have to holiday without him, wouldn’t I?’
Harriet pulled herself up onto her elbows and looked at Nancy. ‘Do you know, I didn’t even think of that? That’s a good point. Which could mean that he might not be a single parent, just because I haven’t seen a woman about.’
‘Actually, I think he is. He’s here with his sister and her husband.’
Harriet sat bolt upright. ‘Oooh, so you had a proper chat then. What else did you find out? Where’s he from, what’s he do, what does he look like with his kit off?’
‘Harriet! The children!’
‘Sorry bubs,’ she said to Isla who was jiggling on the spot, desperate for Nancy to hurry up and take her back into the water.
‘We didn’t really talk much; he went a bit weird at the end to be honest and rushed off. Anyway, enough of this, I’ve got some water slides to go down. Isla, are you ready?’ She gave her thumbs up and Isla squealed, running off towards the water.
‘OK, don’t rush back – I’ve got some tanning to do.’