Page 15 of In Full Bloom
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Vi was always big on having lots of people for dinner.”
“Sadie helped cook, so she really wanted to stay. I think she might also want to give you an update on Porridge.”
Katie grins at that. “That lamb’s going to be smothered isn’t it? Like, with love.”
“Most likely, yes. You might be Sadie’s hero now, since you saved that lamb.”
“All in a day’s work,” she says with a grin, then turns away and leaves me standing there staring after her.
She called me cocky, but I think that word suits her better. It looks good on her though, almost as good as that dress.
I step into the kitchen behind Katie. Sadie is setting the table, but she glances up as we come through the door.
“Katie,” she says. “I fed Porridge again!” Then her gaze lands on me. “Hey Daddy, are you clean now?”
“I sure am. Do I get my hug now?”
“Yes!” She drops a handful of forks on the table and bounds across the room. I scoop her up into my arms and hold her tight. It’s the best feeling in the world.
Sadie kisses my cheek, then wriggles free of my hold andslides back to the ground. “You should go say hello to Porridge,” she says.
Dinner is delicious,as it always is when Violet invites us to stay.
Most of the time Sadie and I eat at our place, but sometimes Violet insists. Tonight, with Katie’s arrival, they’re treating it like a special occasion and I’m not sure if we should have stayed or not.
But when Sadie brings out the cake she helped Violet make, with the proudest grin on her face, I knew I couldn’t have deprived her of this moment. Her smile gets even wider when Katie gushes over how gorgeous the cake is, and how delicious it is. Sadie hangs on her every word and it makes something curl in my chest.
I see Sadie with Violet and Olivia all the time, and they’re just as caring and generous as Katie is with her.
But, I also know they aren’t going anywhere. They’re reliable and trustworthy and aren’t going to break my daughter’s heart. I can’t see Katie in the same light yet. It must be something about last night that gives me the feeling she’s going to let us all down.
It’s not like she was here when Henry passed away, leaving her best friend overwhelmed and grieving. So, as good as she is with my daughter, I can’t trust her not to be like the completely self-involved princess I met last night. It doesn’t matter how sexy someone is if you can’t rely on them.
I tune back into the conversation, refusing to dwell on those thoughts any further, because thinking about Katie’s level of sexiness while sitting across the dinner table from her is a terrible idea. I shift in my chair, hoping to ease the pressure in my pants, but it doesn’t help much.
“When did you meet Scout?” Sadie asks Katie, gazing up at her in wonder.
“Scout came here about the same time I did,” Katie replies. “Her last owner hadn’t been very nice to her, so Olivia’s dad brought her here.”
“Katie looked after her,” Olivia adds. “They’ve been each other’s favourites ever since.”
Katie shrugs and smiles at her friend. “She helped me through some stuff.”
Olivia leans over and drapes her arm around Katie’s shoulder, squeezing tight while Katie leans into her for a moment.
“When did you come here?” I asked, surprising myself by joining the conversation.
“When I was sixteen,” Katie replies. “My mum had just died and I came to live with my grandma, who was friends with Violet.”
“Then she shook up the entire town and left us behind to go take on the world,” Olivia says, pride evident on her features.
Katie snorts. “Barely.”
“I don’t have a mummy either,” Sadie announces to the table and a hushed silence drops over us in an instant. “But she’s not dead.” She turns to me. “Is she?”
My heart might shatter right there and then. My chestaches. I’m never sure how much Sadie remembers of her mother, or what happened to make me a single father.
“No, she’s not dead,” I say quietly, willing my voice to remain steady.
