Page 85 of The Suitcase Swap

Mike choked on his coffee, setting it down quickly before he spilled it. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Language,’ Noah murmured.

‘Sorry,’ Rahul mouthed.

Noah handed Archie to Amaya, then took the seat next to Mike. ‘What your two children are trying to say is that they love you, they know something is wrong, and you don’t need to pretend it’s not in order to protect them.’

Mike stared at all of them in turn, his hands shaking for some reason.

Noah placed a hand gently on Mike’s arm. ‘I think we’ve made it very clear, Mike that we’re very invested in your drama, and unless you want to be cancelled in season two, you’re going to need to start opening up and dropping the juicy bits.’

‘I didn’t understand half of that,’ Mike said.

Amaya cuddled Archie, keeping her tone sweet for the baby even if her words were not. ‘What he means, Dad, is stop with the stiff upper lip bull—” She cut herself off, glancing at Stella. “Uh, stuff, andtell us what the ffff…fudge is going on.’ She threw Rahul a sympathetic glance. ‘Sorry. It’s surprisingly difficult to watch my own mouth, apparently.’

Mike tried to tell them he was fine. He really did. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t quite make himself say the words. Then finally,finally, something deep down inside himsnapped, and everything came bubbling up, the barrier shattering so completely that he didn’t think he’d ever be able to put it back up again.

‘I fucked up,’ he said simply. ‘I think I really fucked up and I’m not sure how to fix it.’ He glanced guiltily at his granddaughter. ‘Sorry, Stella.’

She patted his leg. ‘Papa says bad words are okay when you’re hurt.’ She leaned in close, peering at him with a worried expression. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Very much.’

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Then no time out. Daddy says it’s a loophole.’ She turned to Noah. ‘Papa, what’s a loophole?’

Rahul made a choking sound and turned his head, hiding his expression.

Noah managed to keep a serious expression on his face. ‘I’ll explain later, love. Right now, we’re talking to Grandpa Mike.’

As everyone in the room watched him expectantly, Mike took a deep breath and told a highly edited and sanitized version of what had been happening.

By the time he’d finished, they’d moved into the kitchen and everyone else was eating what appeared to be a very nice breakfast while Mike held his head in his hands and thought seriously about climbing under his kitchen table and never coming out.

‘You know,’ Amaya said, spearing the end of a sausage with her fork, ‘you said a whole lot of words there, but I didn’t hear the important ones. I bet she didn’t, either.’

Mike looked up at her, confusion on his face.

Noah rolled his eyes. ‘Men.’

Rahul looked at him. ‘Youaremen.’

‘I know,’ Noah said glumly.

Amaya made an exasperated sound, set down her fork, grabbed one of her father’s hands and pushed it down to the table. ‘Dad. Do. You. Love. Her?’ She enunciated each word slowly and crisply.

‘Oh god, so much.’ His hand was still shaking slightly as he wiped his mouth. ‘But that seems – doesn’t that seem fast to you?’

Rahul shrugged as he grabbed a cloth and wiped Archie’s face. ‘Time has always seemed pretty meaningless in these things. I knew I wanted to marry Noah five minutes after I met him.’

Mike frowned at him. ‘You did? You never told me this.’

Now it was Rahul’s turn to frown. ‘I’ve told you how we met.’

Mike shook his head. ‘But not the part where it was practically love at first sight.’

Stella perked up. ‘Story time?’ When Rahul didn’t immediately start speaking, she added a drawn out, ‘pleeeeassssse?’

Noah threw them all an apologetic look. ‘Sorry, this is one of Stella’s favourites.’

---