‘If he’s important to you, of course we would.’
Mia swallowed again, trying to ease the tightening in her throat. ‘He is important to me.’ With that she stood and, heart in her mouth, walked towards the door.
When she stepped outside, both Dave and Luke turned to look at her.
‘Hey Mia.’ Dave smiled. ‘I’ve been chatting to Luke. He says he knows you.’
She raised her eyes to Luke’s. ‘He does.’
‘I told him I own the bar round the corner,’ Luke supplied, his gaze not leaving hers.
A ball of emotion rushed into her throat as she realised what Luke was doing. Pretending they were casual acquaintances.
Clearly oblivious to the undercurrent between them, Dave carried on talking. ‘I don’t know what owning a bar is like, but if you ever fancy a change of jobs you’re a bloody marvel at calming tetchy babies.’
Luke smiled, and it was only because Mia knew him so well that she could tell it was strained. ‘I’ve had one of my own. Tried every trick in the book.’ He glanced down to where Jacob was now fast asleep, nestled in his arms. ‘Grace would only settle when I held her like this and rubbed her tummy.’
‘Ah, how old is your daughter now?’
‘She’s sixteen.’ Mia could see Dave’s dawning shock as he worked the ages out in his head. ‘I was a young dad,’ Luke supplied with a wry smile. ‘Though thanks for the look of surprise. It’s a killer when people don’t bat an eyelid and assume I’m forty-odd.’
Mia could see Dave ready to ask another question so she cleared her throat. ‘Luke, have you got time to come inside?’ She made sure to catch his eye. ‘I’d love you to meet my sister Elle and my parents.’
Those bright green orbs widened, but still he didn’t smile. ‘Are you sure?’
She held his gaze steady with her own. ‘I’m sure.’
His face lit up, the joy so visible it made her curse that she’d made him doubt how important he was to her.
As Dave went to open the door, Luke shot her a dimpled grin. ‘What are we waiting for? I’ve always wanted to meet Papa Smurf.’
Mia burst out laughing and as she threaded her arm through his, happiness flowed through her. She hadn’t broken what they had. That fact that he’d come to confront her when he knew her family were here, rather than sulking, showed that he was open and straightforward. More than that though, it proved they’d built something over the last few months that could withstand lapses in judgement on either side.
For the first time, Mia started to believe the nerd and the cool kid might actually have a shot at making this thing work.
Chapter Thirty
Sat on a picnic blanket, his arms around Mia, Luke watched in contentment as little Caitlin chased Grace round the duck pond. On the other side of the blanket sat Elle and Dave, a gurgling Jacob flat on his back between them, arms and legs waggling in the air. Behind them, sitting on two deckchairs Luke had managed to find in the depths of his junk cupboard, Mia’s parents were shouting encouragement to Caitlin. Luke had found her dad quiet but with a ready twinkle in his eye. Her mum, on the other hand, was a riot. It wasn’t hard to see where the daughters got their forthright sense of humour from.
Yesterday he couldn’t have imagined this scene. When Sandy had practically shoved him over to the café to meet Mia’s family, he’d not had a clue what he was going to say. Or how she’d react.
Yet somehow it had all worked out. A fact Sandy had gloated over when he’d returned to the café and admitted he’d not only met Mia’s family, he was joining them for a picnic lunch the following day.
Oh and Mia had suggested he invite Grace, too, because his daughter might find it easier to meet her in a group when there was also a baby and a three-year-old to create distractions.
‘Grace is really good with her.’ From her position on the other side of the picnic blanket, Elle smiled over at him.
‘She doesn’t get to see tots too often. She’s enjoying playing with the squirt.’
Mia dug her elbow into his ribs. ‘You can’t call my niece that.’
‘She likes it.’
Elle laughed. ‘Yes, thanks for that. She spent the rest of yesterday going round saying I’m a squirt in a proud voice to everyone she met.’
Luke chuckled. ‘Grace was the same when she was that age. I used to call her a pickle and when people would say, “Grace, please come here,” or whatever, she’d turn around and say, “I’m not Grace, I’m a pickle.”’
The woman in his arms started to shake with laughter and he hugged her closer, resting his chin on Mia’s head, breathing her in. Enjoying her. ‘Is that why the rabbit’s called Pickles?’
‘Whoa.’ Elle put up a hand. ‘What rabbit?’
‘Pickles is a dwarf lop,’ he explained. ‘For her tenth birthday, Grace insisted she wanted a rabbit. Her mum wasn’t keen on the idea, thought rabbits should be outside, so I was the sucker who bought Grace one. She was the crazy person who called it Pickles.’
Elle cleared her throat. ‘Is this the part where I pretend I don’t know that Grace and her mum, who’s called Freya, live next door to you and instead ask if they live in a flat, too?’
Mia groaned. ‘Excuse my sister, she’s so embarrassing. But okay, as she’s so subtly pointed out, I will admit I tell her pretty much everything.’
Luke thought of his own relationship with Phil. ‘I’m the same with my brother. That’s what siblings are for.’
‘Don’t forget parents like to hear everything, too,’ Mia’s mum piped up, her attention temporarily diverted from her granddaughter. ‘I hope you’re better at keeping yours informed than Mia’s been recently.’
Luke’s stomach dropped as he searched for how to reply but thankfully Mia spoke into the silence. ‘That’s not fair. I know everything I say to Elle gets back to you, so there’s no point repeating myself.’
‘Umm, but now and again we like to hear what’s happening first hand. Especially if it’s important.’ Mia’s mum looked over at him. ‘Do your parents have to hear about your relationships from your brother?’
Damn, seemed he wasn’t going to escape this after all. ‘I’m afraid they do.’ He knew from the shocked expression on Mia’s mum’s face, the way Elle stilled, that he couldn’t leave it there. Still, this wasn’t an area of his life he wanted to discuss with the very people he wanted to impress. ‘We had a falling out a while ago. Phil’s still part of their lives but I’m…’ Not wanted, not liked. ‘I’m no longer in touch with them.’
‘Is this the part where I pretend I’m not interested and change the subject?’ Mia’s mum smiled gently at him as she repeated Elle’s words from earlier. ‘I hate to disappoint you but I’m nosey, so that’s not going to happen.’
He let out a choked sound, part laugh, part shock. ‘Noted.’
‘So what was the falling out about?’
Mia shifted so she was no longer sitting between his legs but facing him. ‘Mum’s nosey but you don’t have to reply. You can pretend your phone’s vibrating with an important call, or you need to take a pee, or—’