Page 4 of Teacakes & Tangos
He’d been thirty-three when he met mum. She was several years younger and it had been love at first sight. Now, Dad was sixty-two, although until he’d hurt his back, he’d been as fit and energetic as a man in his fifties.
‘Dad, you’re not old.’
‘I’m going on for seventy.’
‘No, you’re not! That milestone iseight whole years away. And anyway, haven’t you heard? Seventy is actually the new fifty.’
He laughed at that, and the mood in the car lightened as we continued on our way.
‘Datingisa bit scary after what I’ve been through,’ I admitted after a while.
‘I know.’ Dad nodded slowly. ‘I can understand why you’d be wary after what happened. Of course I can. But you know, not all men –’
‘Are scumbags,’ I finished with a grin. ‘I know. And you are a case in point. Mum hit the jackpot when she met you at that nightclub way back when.’
His eyes crinkled in a sentimental smile. ‘Love atalmostfirst sight can happen, you know. I am the living proof. Just imagine if I hadn’t gone out that day. I might never have met her.’ He looked over with a quizzical expression. ‘What if you don’t meetthis fella online who’d be perfect for you because you’re scared he’ll be a wrong-un? But it turns out he would have been your soulmate?’
I laughed. ‘You’re talking about ahypotheticalman online, I assume?’
‘Yes. But you get the idea. There’s probably a guy online right now who’s wishing he could meet someone exactly like you.’ He grinned sheepishly. ‘For goodness’ sake, Anika, you can’t disappoint the poor man.’
I shook my head in mock despair. ‘Look, if it makes you happy, Dad, I promise I’ll investigate the dating apps, okay?’
‘Don’t do it for me.’ He shrugged. ‘Do it because you want to. You deserve to be happy, love.’
I gave an exasperated sigh. ‘I’m a modern woman, Dad. You do realise I don’t actuallyneeda man in my life to be happy?’
‘Touché. Look, this probably seems ridiculously old-fashioned to you, but I just want to see you settled with a nice bloke before I shuffle off my mortal coil.’
‘Dad!’ I stared at him in horror. ‘I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.’
‘Don’t worry. I’m not planning on croaking any time soon, I promise you. But I’m not getting any younger, you know, and...’
‘Right, that’s enough!’ I ordered. ‘Just stop talking now, please.’
‘Okay.’ He smiled.
‘Good.’
We exchanged a sideways smile and drove on in silence.
After a while, I looked across at him.
‘I’ll think about it, okay?’
He was right, of course. I’d been avoiding all possibility of romantic entanglements since last summer when Les told me the wedding was off.
I’d been with Les for five years – and living with him for the last two – and we were happily planning our wedding, when one day Les came home from work, sat me down and told me he’d been offered a promotion that meant moving to Paris to set up a new office there a week or so after the wedding.
It had sounded exciting, and I’d been all set to move to Paris with him.
It meant leaving Dad but I knew he would never want to stand in the way of me having an adventure, and France was hardly the ends of the earth so I’d be able to visit often. Also, it was only going to be for a year.
But then less than a fortnight before we were due to say ‘I do’, Les got cold feet and dropped the bombshell that he wasn’t ready to get married. What’s more, he’d also decided he needed to ‘find himself’ and he wanted to move to Paris alone.
It was all such a sad cliché.
When Les uttered the classic words, ‘I’m so sorry, Anika, but I really feel like I need tofind myself, you know?’ I almost burst out laughing. I probably would have if I hadn’t been so completely numb with shock at what he was telling me – thirteen days before our wedding!
