Page 55 of Unwanted
I very, very much doubted that was the case, but I kept my mouth shut and gave Harry another closed-lipped smile. “Honestly, I’ll just nip out to the site and check some things. It’ll save me a tonne of time tomorrow. I was meaning to go there anyway.”
Harry’s eyebrows went up and he glanced out of his floor-to-ceiling window which was streaked with rain then back at me. “You want to visit the sitenow?”
“It’s just a shower I can–”
“I’ve just watched you blow dry your hair and apply make-up for over an hour. There’s no way you’re going out in this.”
I straightened my spine and skewered him with a look that would have had my junior architects peeing their pants, but just seemed to glance off Harry. “I’m not that high maintenance thank you very much.”
Harry smiled. “Yes, you are.” He moved to me then. I took a couple of steps back, but I wasn’t fast enough. He plucked my handbag out of my hands, putting it on one of the stools then his arms came around me and he pulled me into him.
“Harry I’m–”
He cut me off with a brief but firm kiss on the lips then pulled back to search my face. “It’s just my mum, love. You don’t have to be nervous.”
I bit my lip and looked away.
“You’re not really nervous, are you?” he asked, then let out a surprised laugh. “I think this might be the first time I’ve seen you less than two hundred per cent confident. She’s a small, older woman. I’ve seen you bust the balls of at least five CEOs in one board meeting. I’ll explain about everything that happened back at school. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“I know, but listen, Harry. I think you should talk to her first because–”
“Yoohoo!”
I started in surprise and my eyes widened at the voice from the hallway and the slamming of the front door. Harry rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his mouth as he turned to the entrance to the kitchen. We were still standing in each other’s arms when Harry’s mum swept in then stopped dead on seeing us.
“So, Mum,” Harry said as I pulled back, only to have him sling his arm around my shoulder and pull me more firmly into his side, “when you said you were ‘in the area’ did you, in fact, mean you were outside my door?”
Mrs York, who’d been staring at me with a shocked expression on her face, blinked a couple of times and then focused on her son. “I thought you said that… I mean is this…?”
“Mum, you remember Verity Markham, don’t you?”
“But she dumped you,” Mrs York snapped, and I felt my chest tighten but powered through. I wasn’t sure which was the worst of my crimes – dumping her son, or the damage my family did to hers all those years ago. I smiled tentatively and moved forward to offer her my hand.
“It’s lovely to see you again, Mrs York,” I said. She stared at my hand for a moment before woodenly moving to take it. After one shake she snatched her hand away. Okay then, maybe I was not going to win her over. Harry was frowning at his mum when I glanced up at him. He stepped forward and gave her a hug, which she managed to unfreeze enough to return, then he moved back to me and pulled me into his side again.
“I’ll put some tea on,” Mrs York said into the uncomfortable silence and bustled off towards Harry’s kettle. I pulled away from Harry to move back to my stool at the kitchen island. He moved with me, gave me a brief supportive kiss on the temple before he walked around the island to his mum, who was fiddling with the mugs with her back to us.
“Mum?” he asked, laying a hand on her back. “What’s with the–?” He was cut off by the front door slamming open again and loud voices in the corridor. “What the–?” he muttered as he walked away from his mum’s stiff back and towards the voices. Two men and a woman entered the kitchen with three small kids in tow. I recognised Mr York from school, he was a greying, older version of Harry. The other could only be his brother – same build and dark hair as Harry, just a little older. The woman was pretty, make-up free and wearing jeans, her light brown hair up in a messy ponytail.
“Unca Hazza!” shouted a little girl with lopsided bunches who charged into the kitchen and slammed into Harry’s legs. “I have sooooo much to tell you. I found two frogs in the garden, and youknowhow much I love frogs. Mummy says that I can’t take them into school cause…” She broke off as her attention caught me where I was standing off to the side and her eyes went wide. “Who areyou?” she shouted, abandoning her uncle who was hit with the two small boys who’d followed her in but weren’t fast enough to get to Harry first. Harry winced as the larger of the two boys’ heads collided with his groin. The little girl was standing in front of me now. Her hands were on her hips and her head was tilted to the side. I smiled down at her.
“I’m Verity,” I said, crouching down to her level.
“What are you doing in Unca Hazza’s house?”
“Tilly,” the pretty brunette chided, as she moved over to where we were standing. “That’s not polite.”
“Jeez, I was just asking her a question,” Tilly grumbled, as I straightened to greet the brunette.
“And don’t say jeez.”
“Bloody hell,” Tilly muttered, and the brunette rolled her eyes. “This is why I keep having to have ‘chats’ with your teacher, Mrs Coast.” She gave me a small apologetic smile. “Hi there, Verity. I’m Steph, Harry’s sister-in-law. This is John, my husband.” I shook Steph’s hand and nodded to John who was eyeing me curiously. “You’ve met Tilly and these other two maniacs are Mikey and Jake.” The two boys also abandoned their uncle to come and stand in front of me.
“You’re pwetty,” said the taller of the two.
“Mikey!” snapped Steph. “Say hello first before you comment on someone’s appearance.”
“We York men get right to the point,” said John, smiling as he strode over to shake my hand. “And he’s not wrong. Anyway, I said the very same thing to you the first time we met, Steph. Andyoudidn’t seem to mind that much.” He slung his arm over his wife’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
