Page 16 of Seven Letters

Mia glared at her father, who avoided her eyes and looked at Sarah, the ‘nicer’ daughter. ‘I know it’s a bit of a whirlwind romance, as they say, but we get on well and have fun together, and I want to make an honest woman of Olivia.’

‘So this was your idea?’ Mia folded her arms across her chest and eyeballed her father.

‘Of course it was.’ Olivia pretended to be insulted. ‘I hardly twisted his arm. Charlie proposed very romantically, over breakfast in bed.’

‘After sex, I presume.’ Adam laughed at his own joke. ‘The feel-good hormones carried you away, did they?’

‘Adam!’ Sarah thumped his arm.

Olivia giggled. ‘I’ll tell you this and no more. Charlie is a very fit man.’

Charlie blushed, but looked flattered at the same time.

‘Jesus, I need a stronger drink,’ Johnny muttered.

‘Stop! Enough! We don’t need the sordid details.’ Mia got up from the table and headed to the Ladies. Her feet were like lead and her head was spinning. She felt a hand on her arm.

‘OMG, we need to talk.’ Sarah hurried her into the powder room. Mia plonked herself down on the chair in the corner.

‘What is he doing?’ Mia said. ‘She’s a pain in the arse.’

‘I agree.’

‘Talking about sex with our dad!’

‘Well, Adam did wind her up.’

‘Did you see Dad’s face?’

‘He looked proud of himself about the sex. Oh, God.’ Sarah squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Do you think it’s the boobs?’

‘I guess so. But I thought you were either a boob man or a leg man. Mum had no boobs and good legs, so I presumed Dad was a leg man,’ Sarah said.

‘Well, he seems to like boobs now. He’s always staring at Olivia’s.’

‘They’re hard to miss in those plunging tops.’

‘Don’t.’ Mia covered her eyes.

‘To be fair, although she’s a pain he has been happier since he met her,’ Sarah said.

‘Fine, so date her and shag her, but don’t marry her!’ Mia slapped her hand on her thigh.

‘She’s an operator. She knows exactly what to do and she’s played him like a violin.’ Sarah pulled at her face in the mirror.‘He likes being looked after – all men do. She fusses over him and he loves it.’

‘Do they?’ Mia chewed her lip. Did men like being fussed over? She never fussed over Johnny and he seemed fine. Did he really want her spoon-feeding him and making ‘yummy’ noises while flashing her boobs?

Sarah turned away from the mirror to face her sister. ‘Absolutely. Adam loves me to fuss over his sore back or tell him how wonderful he is for working so hard or to cook his favourite dinner.’

Mia sat back in the chair. She couldn’t remember what Johnny’s favourite dinner was. Was it steak and chips? Or roast lamb? Maybe roast chicken. She actually didn’t know. But she’d never fussed over him. She loved him and supported him and encouraged him and looked after him if he was sick, but she definitely wasn’t a fusser. Maybe she should fuss more. Then again, given how tired she was most days, she could barely speak when she got home, let alone fuss.

‘What are we going to do? Will we try to get him to have a long engagement?’ Sarah asked. ‘I’m worried he may regret it. I think he needs to get to know her better.’

‘Averylong engagement.’

‘I don’t want to upset him, though,’ Sarah said. ‘He does like her a lot.’

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