‘I seriously could not do that job even if you paid me a million quid.’
Nancy looked over to where the children’s entertainer was and laughed at Harriet’s facial expression. ‘Are you kidding? Jump around a bit and sing some songs and it’s like £100 per hour.’
‘Shut up, is it really?’
‘Well, I looked into booking some magic guy for Jack before I realised that he wouldn’t really do well having a party – and the guy wanted nearly £200 for two hours!’
‘Daylight robbery!’
‘I know, although looking at what these entertainers have to do and thinking about getting up at the crack of dawn, even with coffee, and being so bouncy, I’m not sure I could do it.’
‘What about if you’re having a shit day and you feel really miserable – if you’re hungover – and you have to go and be like heeey kids!’ She waved her hands like a clown and plastered on a huge fake smile. ‘I don’t think I could do that even for a million quid.’
‘I don’t think you’d get booked very often if you showed up smelling of tequila from the night before and asking for a million pounds.’
‘That’s a good point.’ Harriet turned her attention back to scrolling through her emails.
Nancy watched the entertainer prance around by the pool, singing and dancing and then pull out a balloon kit and start making balloon animals for the children. She looked over to Jack who was still sitting with them. Isla and Tommy had moved to sit closer to the balloon guy.
‘Jack?’ Nancy asked, surprised that he didn’t have his headphones on. He turned in response to his name. ‘Do you want to go closer?’
He shook his head.
‘It might be fun, you could get a balloon?’
Another shake.
‘Is it because he’s very loud?’ A nod. ‘Well, I’ll tell you what.’ She stood up and grabbed his ear defenders and his hand. Leading him over so that they were closer to the guy but still at the back of the group, Nancy sat down and sat Jack on her lap. She then put his ear defenders on and tried to cuddle him to relax him. The tiled floor was very warm from the sunshine and Nancy had to shuffle her bum about a few times to adjust. Jack squirmed and climbed off, choosing to sit behind Nancy instead. He still didn’t like being cuddled like that then. Nancy looked over her shoulder. ‘Jack, you won’t be able to see from there.’ She started to move but he put his hand on her back.
‘Stay there, Mummy.’
She listened to him. Well, she thought, at least he was sitting here. Even if he was behind her. The things parents had to do.
After twenty minutes of watching the entertainer, Nancy came to the conclusion that she most definitely could not do this job.
‘Are you enjoying the show?’ Cameron sat down on the ground beside her and crossed his legs. He had just his swim shorts on and no top and Nancy had to use every ounce of self-control to not stare at his chest. He wasn’t particularly muscly but he clearly paid attention to his appearance and maintained a healthy physique. His arms had some nice definition to them and as he spoke, she could see a bicep flex slightly, like a twitch. She instantly looked away, so he didn’t catch her eyeing him up.
‘Well, you know, when you have kids you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.’
Cameron looked around her and laughed. ‘So … which one of these kids is yours then?’
Nancy pulled a face. ‘What are you talking about, Jack’s behind me.’ She shook her head at his silly comment but then noticed he was still smirking. ‘What?’
‘Look behind you.’
She did and Jack wasn’t there.
‘Where is he?’ she panicked, feeling her heart jump into her throat. Cameron pointed back to Harriet who waved and laughed, Jack perched up next to her. ‘Little monkey! How long have I been sitting here on my own?’
‘About fifteen minutes.’ He chuckled as Nancy laughed and put her head in her hands. ‘So … my question still stands, are you enjoying the show? Does it make you laugh when the guy pulls the rabbit out of the hat or do you just prefer the balloon animals kind of guy?’
She pushed his arm and stood up. ‘You can shut up! I was doing it for Jack.’
‘Yeah?’ He stood up and walked alongside her. ‘Seems like he really enjoyed it.’
Nancy reached the sun loungers and sat down next to Jack. ‘Didn’t you like it?’
He shook his head. ‘It was boring. I wanted to see my iPad.’
Nancy exhaled. ‘Sweetheart you can’t just sit on your iPad the whole time we’re here . It would be nice to explore some bits, hey? So you have stuff to talk about when you go back to school.’ She knew that was a long shot because Jack wouldn’t exactly be willing to do a show and tell about his holiday in front of the class, but still, she did want him to create some memories from the trip.
Jack just shrugged and put his headphones back on. She was going to have to be more creative about what to do with him. Cameron’s voice pulled her attention away from her thoughts and back into the here and now.
‘So listen, about that dinner.’ Cameron stopped to correct himself. ‘Sorry, let me start again, about us eating alongside each other one evening.’ Nancy sniggered and Harriet looked confused. ‘I was wondering if you were free tonight?’
Nancy smiled. ‘I might be, what time are you thinking?’
‘About 8ish?’
Nancy looked to Harriet who piped up. ‘Oh, I see, you’re wanting to swan off and leave me again, is that right? After saying I work too much?’
Nancy felt bad, she had a point. ‘You’re right.’ She turned back to Cameron. ‘Maybe another time.’ She then felt a towel hit her on the back of the head and spun round confused. ‘What the…’
‘Are you having an actual laugh? I’m bloody kidding … go, drink, be merry or whatever it is that you will be doing.’ She held up her hands. ‘And no, I don’t want details. There are children present.’
Cameron laughed but Nancy was mortified. ‘Hari!’
‘Oh shush, we all know what you’re both thinking when you look at each other. It’s natural, part of human nature.’ She cackled, knowing full well what she was doing to Nancy.
‘I can’t believe you sometimes!’ Nancy gasped. ‘Honestly, its fine. You’re right; I’ve already left you once.’
Harriet stood up and pulled Nancy to one side. ‘Stop being so stupid, I was joking. There is a hot guy asking you to dinner, just go will you! I won’t take no for an answer!’
‘Fine.’ Nancy whispered and Harriet poked her tongue out. ‘OK, 8ish is perfect. Where?’
‘There’s a really nice place down by the seafront called Banningtons – shall I book us in?’
Nancy frowned. ‘But that’s off site.’
‘Yeah?’
‘That won’t be part of our all-inclusive thing though.’
Cameron smiled. ‘I know – but rather than just sitting alongside me, I’d like to take you out to dinner. What do you say?’
Nancy felt a flutter in her stomach as he smiled at her. ‘Sounds good,’ she said quietly.
‘Great, I’ll see you there.’ He winked at her and threw a ‘bye’ over her shoulder to Harriet before turning and leaving.
Nancy sat down on the sun lounger and laughed.
‘What?’ Harriet asked, poking Nancy with her toe.
‘Looks like I have a date.’
‘I think this calls for a selfie.’ Harriet said, angling round and pulling Nancy in for a picture. She gave the biggest smile, all the while singing in her head that she was finally moving on emotionally and letting herself have some fun for once. It didn’t have to amount to anything; she wouldn’t do that to Jack after promising it would just be the two of them. But a bit of holiday fun – nothing wrong with that, surely?
‘Big changes are happening with this one,’ Harriet said as she typed. ‘Hashtag – she’s going to get her leg over.’
‘Hari!’ Nancy gasped.
‘I’m kidding. Hashtag – making memories.’ Better?’
‘Better.’