He also left with a full heart and the absolute certainty that he’d made the right decision.
And if spotting Gabriella skidding into the driveway as he left made him press his foot down on the accelerator, ensuring he had gone before she had the chance to flag him down and sow a seed of doubt in his mind, well – one step at a time. He was still pretty new to all this sharing and caring family stuff.
* * *
Emma
‘Your father told me you’ve got news to share.’ Mum plonked a huge plate of roast potatoes down, right in front of me, and, with one satisfied scan of the table to check all was present and correct, took her seat at the far end, opposite Dad.
‘Are you going to tell us, or do we need to say grace first?’ she asked, eyebrows arched.
I gave Bridget a side glance, expressing what I felt about her dobbing me in to Dad. She only shrugged in reply, pulling a face to let me know that she’d not said anything.
‘It can wait until we’ve eaten.’
‘No, it can’t. We fill our plates, then you talk while we eat.’
We passed the plates of food around, my family barely noticing what they were dumping on their plates in their hurry to get to the gossip. Moses said a quick prayer of thanks, and, instead of the usual diving in, no one so much as picked up a fork. Eleven pairs of eyes were on me.
Bridget offered a smile of encouragement, but before I could put them out of their misery, Mum pointed at Sam.
‘Sam, why is your plate empty? What is happening?’
Sam shrugged, as all eyes swivelled to him. ‘It’s not empty. Look, I’ve got everything apart from sweetcorn. You know I hate sweetcorn.’
‘Well! I did not know that. Do you also now hate chicken parmigiana, and potatoes and carrots? Or is it onlymyfood that you now dislike so much you are eating less than your eight-year-old daughter?’
‘Mamma, you know I love your cooking. I’m sorry, I don’t have much of an appetite at the moment.’
‘Are you unwell?’ Mum gave Dad a worried glance. ‘Have you been to the doctor about this? You won’t recover if you don’t eat.’
‘He’s not ill,’ Orla snapped. ‘That’s plenty of food for an energy output of practically zero. Jim says that once you slump into a rut, your body feels tired all the time because it’s on snooze mode. Nothing that getting up off your backside and doing something productive won’t fix.’
‘Orla, do not say backside at the dinner table!’ Mum said.
‘Who’s Jim?’ Paolo asked.
‘Good question,’ Bridget said.
‘Being a teacher is a full-on job,’ Sofia said. ‘Every teacher I know is exhausted most of the time. Maybe if you worked together to support each other through the recent changes in your lifestyle—’
‘Oh, please. Don’t start pastoring us.’ Orla rolled her eyes. ‘If we want a counselling session we’ll book one in. With someone else.’
‘If you don’t have an appetite and feel more tired than normal, maybe you should see a doctor?’ Bridget asked, her face pinched with worry. ‘Best to check it out, just in case.’
I was worried, too. But what concerned me more than Sam’s grey face was that he couldn’t be bothered to handle Orla. Normally he’d speak up when she crossed the line into rude.
‘Daddy, are you poorly?’ Oscar asked, while trying to stab a floppy carrot baton.
‘I’m fine, sweetheart.’ Sam looked up at his kids. Lottie was watching him with round eyes, while Harry stared moodily at his plate. ‘I’mfine.It’s been a busy year, and I’m ready for the summer holidays. Auntie Sofia’s right, all teachers get tired. That’s why we’re allowed weeks off to recover.’
‘Maybe you should—’
‘I said I’m fine,’ Sam said, in his no-arguments teacher voice. ‘Didn’t Emma have some news?’
Thankfully, my news had to wait even longer as at that point Annie video-called. We spent another ten minutes catching up on not-a-lot-since-last-week, Mum filling Annie in on the food she’d cooked while the rest of us ate. ‘Yes, Mamma, the focaccia looks lovely. I can’t wait to be home to try some.’
Bridget and Paolo updated her on the wedding plans, now the invitations were out so it was official. ‘So, have you booked flights yet?’ Bridget asked. ‘I want to make sure I’ve got time to see you before I go off on honeymoon.’
