Page 55 of Love, Accidentally

‘Percy, I think,’ Will says eventually.

Isaac laughs dismissively. ‘But he’s just a little engine,’ he scoffs. ‘Gordon’s the biggest and fastest.’

‘Yes, but Gordon was built to be big and fast, wasn’t he?’ Will counters. ‘Plus, he’s not always very nice. Percy may be little but he always tries hard, and that’s more important than just being good at what you were made to do, I think.’

Isaac is patently unused to having his views on the subject challenged, and stares at Will open-mouthed. Will may have passed the knowing-what-he’s-talking-about test, but Isaac isn’t really old enough to be good at accepting different points of view yet.

‘I suppose Percy’s OK,’ Isaac says eventually.

‘And Gordon is pretty cool too,’ Will offers, which obviously pleases him.

‘Do you want to finish the episode before we go?’ I ask Isaac.

‘Only if Will watches with me,’ he replies firmly.

‘Of course. I’d like that very much,’ Will tells him, earning himself a beam from Isaac in return.

‘I’ll stick the kettle on then, shall I?’ Tash suggests. ‘Tea or coffee, Will?’

‘Tea, please,’ he replies as she presses the button and the action starts again. ‘White with no sugar if that’s OK.’

‘Squash,’ Isaac adds.

‘Squash…?’

‘Squashplease,Mummy.’

‘Yes, your lordship. You can come and help, Tills.’ She takes my hand and practically drags me out to the kitchen while Isaac begins to explain what’s happening on-screen to Will.

‘Where the hell have you been hiding him?’ she demands as soon as she’s sure we can’t be overheard. ‘He’s gorgeous, and his eyes! They’re contact lenses, right?’

‘No. His father’s are the same.’

‘Bloody hell. I’ve never seen eyes that colour before. I could spend hours staring into them. They’re kind of the same blue that you see in pictures of ice caves, aren’t they? Extraordinary.’

‘He has got nice eyes,’ I agree.

‘I mean, the rest of him is pretty good too, plus he’s a complete natural with kids. Five minutes and he’s got Isaac eating out of the palm of his hand? That’s unheard of. You must marry him immediately.’

‘Slow down, Tash. For all we know, the reason he’s so good with kids is that he has a whole secret family somewhere. I’m not falling into that trap again.’

‘You know that isn’t true. He’s the real deal, Tills. If Luke was sent to test you, Will’s your reward for doing the right thing. I went to Catholic school. I know these things.’

‘I went to Catholic school too, and I don’t remember that concept ever being mentioned.’

‘You probably weren’t listening for that bit. Anyway, the point is don’t let what happened with Luke get in the way of finding true love.’

‘And you’ve decided, based on nothing more than his eyes and the fact that Isaac likes him, that true love for me is Will-shaped.’

‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’

‘Well, thank you for your carefully considered opinion, dear sister. I will ponder it in my heart. However, we’re just friends and, even if I were interested in him, his dad kind of warned me off.’

Her face turns thunderous. ‘Really? Why? If he thinks his precious boy is too good for my big sister, I’ll be having a word.’

‘I don’t think it’s that. He just said Will was more vulnerable than I might expect, and to be careful with him.’

‘What does that mean? Bad break-up, do you think?’

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