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“I thought she was meant to be your friend?” Sam cursed himself for speaking. Why couldn’t he just shut his mouth, eat his dinner in silence, and keep out of trouble?
Cat rolled her eyes. “She is my friend, dummy.”
I give up. Eyes down, Sam made sure he kept his gaze on his food for the rest of the meal. The problem was that the silence only left more room for his troubled thoughts—the broken-down car, the workload at the resort, Maya being back on the scene, the second job aging him faster than Dorian Gray glancing at his painting, and now Ben’s tax bill bombshell.
Chapter
Five
Can you pass the milk?” Maya asked.
Her mum reached over and handed her the jug. “Here you go, sweetheart.”
“So,” her dad said, turning on the TV across the kitchen to display the news. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Omar,” her mum said, shooting him a death stare that would kill a lesser mortal. “At least let the girl eat her breakfast first.”
He shrugged. “I’m just interested, Yvonne.”
Maya stirred her tea, shrugging. “Oh, you know. Ending the recession, solving third world debt, stopping climate change, and achieving world peace.” She tore into her toast for effect. “Then I’ll see how I feel after lunch.”
He had the decency to give her a small smile; then his serious face slid back into place. “I didn’t hear job searching on that list.”
Yvonne narrowed her blue eyes. “Omar.”
“Just interested,” he said, holding up his hands.
Maya let out a high-pitched laugh, fiddling with her charm bracelet and trying to ignore the tightening in her stomach. She reached over and tossed her dad some more toast. “Here you go. Put that in your mouth.”
Omar raised an eyebrow, his gaze being drawn back to the news. “Is that an effort to shut me up?”
“No.” Maya shook her head in an exaggerated manner. “Absolutely not.” She glanced at her mum and nodded behind her dad’s turned head, mouthing yes.
Yvonne let out a short laugh, and Omar turned to look at them, his dark eyes narrowed. Maya lifted her mug of tea to hide her expression, breathing away the constricted feeling in her gut.
He went back to watching the news, and Maya wiped a hand across her brow, mouthing phew across the table at Yvonne and eliciting a stifled noise from her mum in return.
Yvonne reached over to touch Maya’s hand. “Have you heard from Elise? Are she and wee Jack coming home for Christmas?”
A cold prickle of sadness ran through Maya’s veins, as if her blood had become infused with tiny icicles. “I think so. She said they were going to head up here a few weeks before Christmas, but she hadn’t decided on a date yet.”
Omar kept his eyes on the TV. “She’s done well for herself, Elise. I like to think she followed in my footsteps after she did her work experience at our surgery.”
Yvonne rolled her eyes. “Not everything is a reflection of you, sweetheart.”
Omar sipped his tea. “I know. I’m not saying that.”
Yvonne looked at Maya. “How’s Elise coping? It must be six months now, since Harry died.”
Maya nodded. “Yeah, around that. She’s still signed off work. Last time I spoke to her, she was trying to make sense of how she’ll get back to her job, plus take care of Jack on her own.”
Omar shook his head. “A widow so young. It’s terrible. She should come home so her parents can support her.” He glanced at them. “We all can help out. I’d take her on at our surgery.”
Maya studied her dad, her insides warming. As much as he was a pain in the arse, he did have a heart of gold when it came to rallying around others in the community. She just wished he’d champion her in the same way, but it was like he had double standards where his daughters were concerned.
“Right,” Omar said, standing and kissing Maya’s cheek, then Yvonne’s. “I’m off to earn a living.”
“Enjoy your clinic, Dad,” Maya said, chewing on a mouthful of toast. “Don’t let any of them cough on you, because I don’t want to catch the flu before Christmas.”
