Katie tilted her head to the side. ‘What kind of scooter do you think I’m talking about?’
‘Don’t care what make it is. They’re all dangerous.Youshouldn’t even be driving one sober.’
She jerked her arm out of his hold, stormed into the corridor, grabbed her pink scooter and scooted it back into the dining room. ‘This is my scooter. Seeing as a six-year-old could ride it quite happily I think you’ll find it’s not beyond my capabilities.’ Sam looked down and blinked. Katie was standing on a neon pink push-along scooter with pink ribbons trailing from the handlebars. Russell had got it for her for Christmas, and although she wasn’t entirely convinced it was intended for adults, it fitted her perfectly and she loved it. Seeing as she only lived five minutes from Rob and Sarah, the scooter came in very handy for nights like this, and she had made many a drunken trip home on it before with no problems.
He opened his mouth, closed it again, looked down at the scooter, and then back up at Katie. After a moment his confused expression cleared, and for the first time since the kids had gone to bed, he smiled.
‘I think that might be the most goddamn ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,’ he said through his smile, and it washerturn to glare athimfor a change. She heard a snort in the background and saw that Sarah had her napkin up to her mouth, her eyes were dancing and her shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter.
‘Well, I think it’s awesome, Katie,’ Lou chipped in through her own wide smile.
‘She scoots to the practice on it, you know. Scoots right into reception and everything,’ said Sarah, having lost her battle with laughter. ‘She even goes to her home visits on it.’
‘Jesus Christ,’ said Sam, his bemused voice threaded with laughter.
‘Right … well, thanks for that, everyone.’ Katie sniffed and gave Sarah the evil eye. ‘Laugh it up all you want but I’m going home.’ The amusement in Sam’s expression died as she started to swing her scooter away. He turned to Rob and Sarah.
‘You’re not letting her roll away on that thing are you? It’s late and she can’t even walk straight.’
‘She’ll be fine, Sam,’ Sarah said gently. ‘She’s used to scooting everywhere.’
He frowned at her in annoyance and then ran both his hands through his hair. It looked like he was fighting some sort of internal battle with himself.
Suddenly he threw his hands up. ‘It’s dangerous to be prancing about on a … whatever the hell that thing is, this late at night. It’s not safe. What if she got attacked?’
‘We live in a safe area, Sam,’ Sarah told him firmly, and he growled.
Yes, he actually growled.
Katie thought this was the most emotion she’d ever seen him display. Totally bizarre. ‘I’m going,’ she said, having had enough of the strange tension in the room.
Sam looked at her, then back at Sarah and Rob like he was hoping for them to step in. When Rob only shrugged and Sarah just looked down into her coffee cup, smiling an oddly satisfied smile, he let out another growl and grabbed onto the front of the scooter to stop her.
‘I’m taking you home,’ he said, and she blinked.
‘W-what?’
‘Driving you and your goddamn ridiculous pink thing home,’ he told her. He was scowling at her again like this was the height of inconvenience for him.
‘For God’s sake, I’m fine,’ she said in confusion. ‘ I don’t need to be driven, I’ve done it a thousand –’
‘Get. In. The. Bloody. Car,’ he bit out, and Katie decided at this juncture not to argue. After all, he was double her size and for some reason he was seriously pissed off. She could handle a couple of minutes in the car with him, surely.
She stepped off the scooter and Sam picked it up, hustling her down the corridor.
As they moved to the front door, Katie heard Lydia shout, ‘Hey! What about me? How am I going to get home?’ Sam’s head jerked in surprise, like he’d forgotten she was even there. He strode back into the dining room dragging Katie’s scooter with him, as if he was afraid she would bolt on her foolhardy mission if he released it for a second. Once there, he pulled a tenner out of his wallet and chucked it across the table at an open-mouthed Lydia.
‘That should cover a taxi home,’ he muttered, before moving back to the front door with Katie and scooter in tow, ignoring Lydia’s spluttered protests.
‘I’m sure there’s a broom you could ride home on somewhere,’ Katie heard Lou say just as Sam closed the door behind them.
*****
‘Um … right, well, thanks for that, I’ll just be …’ Katie trailed off, annoyed with herself for breaking the uncomfortable silence and being too polite to be able to tell him to bugger off and then remind him that she hadn’t actually asked for a lift home in the first place. For his part Sam didn’t even spare her a glance as he jumped out of his Range Rover, slamming the door in her face.
‘Rude,’ she muttered under her breath, then started as her door was wrenched open.
‘You don’t have to –’
