Page 58 of For Love or Money
‘Yes,’ Rafe said, his eyes flicking to Stella, ‘you could have arranged a play date for them.’
So he was going to be like that about it, Stella thought, her heart sinking. But Peterhadmade her sound like a child he needed to keep amused.
Peter gave his son an admonishing look. ‘It’d be nice for Stella to have another girl her own age around.’
Girl. She cringed at Peter’s use of the infantilising word. Butof coursethat was how he thought of her. She was in the same age bracket as his sons, after all – hisboys.
‘Anyway, Lesley will be there now,’ Peter said brightly.
‘Lesley?’ Rafe frowned.
‘Al’s girlfriend,’ Peter told him.
‘That’s new.’
Peter nodded. ‘We had lunch with them last week. She’s lovely.’
‘What about Mum?’ Rafe asked. ‘When’s she coming out?’
Peter hesitated, throwing Stella a cautious glance. ‘I’m not sure she’s going to make it this year,’ he said casually.
Rafe raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s a shame.’ His eyes flicked to Stella.
‘Yes, such a pity,’ she said, lifting her chin. ‘I was looking forward to meeting her.’
She excused herself to get dessert, hoping they’d have moved on from the subject of Jane when she returned. She was lying when she said she’d been looking forward to meeting her. She’d been shocked to discover there was any question of her joining them in France, and hugely relieved that she was probably choosing to stay away. She knew she’d have to meet Jane some time – as the mother of Peter’s children, she would always be part of his family – but she was in no rush for it to happen.
She didn’t know if Peter had said something to Rafe, but there was no more mention of Jane when she returned to the dining room. She relaxed as they ate grilled peaches with honey and yoghurt, and the conversation turned to the neutral topic of the Dublin property market.
Stella wassurprised when Rafe came into the kitchen as she was stacking the dishwasher and suggested going to the pub for a nightcap.
‘Oh.’ She straightened. ‘What about Peter? Is he coming?’
‘No, I’m not,’ Peter said, coming into the kitchen carrying a handful of dishes, ‘but you should go, darling. It’d do you good to get out. And you can have a proper drink without worrying about making me jealous.’
She had to admit, itwouldbe nice to go out for a change.
‘Okay, then. I suppose we could just go for one,’ she said.
‘Just the one!’ Peter laughed, shaking his head. ‘God, I miss that.’
‘You could come,’ Stella said. ‘One drink wouldn’t do you any harm.’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve never had just one drink in my life, and I’m not sure I’m up to learning new tricks at this stage. Best not to chance it.’
‘Okay, then,’ Stella said. She was nervous about being alone with Rafe, but if he was making an effort to be friendly, she wasn’t going to do anything to discourage him.
‘Besides,’ Peter said, ‘it’ll give you two a chance to get to know each other. As long as you don’t take the opportunity to tell Stella what a terrible old reprobate I am and warn her off,’ he added to Rafe.
‘She hardly needs me to tell her that,’ Rafe said. ‘A quick Google search would give her enough reason to run for the hills, if she’s so inclined.’
‘Which I’m not.’ Stella smiled at Peter. ‘Just let me finish clearing up this lot and I’ll go get changed.
‘You go,’ Peter said. ‘I’ll finish up in here.’
Stella ran upstairs and quickly changed out of her jeans and T-shirt. They were only going down the road to the local pub, so she didn’t need to get dressed up, but she didn’t want to wear the clothes she’d been cooking in all day. She threw on a short green shift dress that showed off her long, tanned legs, tied a matching scarf in her hair and touched up her make-up.
‘You look gorgeous, darling,’ Peter said when she came down the stairs.
