by Nell Dixon
“Good grief, it’s busy today.” Nathalie’s assistant, Gemma, walked past with another bundle of hire suits in her arms.
“Tell me about it.” Nathalie looked up from where she had been working in the back storeroom, checking and tagging some of the other suits, which were ready for the dry cleaner to collect.
Mondays were often busy with weekend hire returns, but that morning had been frantic. Her tummy rumbled with hunger, and she glanced at her watch. Neither she nor Gemma had eaten, and it was almost half past one. “Go and have some lunch, Gemma. I’ll finish these. It seems to have quietened down a little now, anyway.”
Her assistant didn’t need to be told twice. She deposited the clothes she carried on the table next to Nathalie. “Do you want me to get you something?” She slipped on her coat as she spoke.
“I’ll pop out later when you get back.” She knew Gemma wanted to go and see her boyfriend, who worked in a garage across town. Besides, Gemma’s idea of a healthy diet wasn’t the same as Nathalie’s.
“Okay.” Just then, the shop bell rang. Gemma’s face fell.
“It’s all right. You go. I’ll see to these.”
Gemma flashed a grateful smile and left via the back door, while Nathalie walked through from the staff area into the main body of the shop. A tall, familiar figure stood by the window, gazing out on to the high street. She faltered mid-stride, collecting her feelings. “Hello again, Evan. I didn’t expect to see you again before Wednesday.”
He turned to face her. “I hadn’t realised till I looked at your card that your shop was so near my new office. When I knew how close you were, I thought I’d call in on my lunch break.”
Nathalie licked lips that had inexplicably dried. “I’m a little busy right now.” She flushed with embarrassment, realising too late how rude her statement sounded. She hadn’t intended it that way.
Evan let his gaze travel around the empty shop. “Mmm, so I see.”
“I mean, my assistant has just gone for her break, so I’m on my own.” Her inability to conquer her feelings irritated her, and even more so her sudden inability to have a normal, polite conversation.
Nevertheless, his brow cleared. “Have you had any lunch yourself yet?”
“Believe it or not, we haven’t stopped all morning.” Nathalie bent to straighten the hem of a gown on a nearby display dummy, glad of the momentary opportunity to dodge Evan’s piercing gaze.
“It’s almost two now,” he pointed out. “Let me go and get you something to eat.”
“No, really. I’ll have something when Gemma gets back.” Nathalie straightened up, relieved that the heat had died down from her cheeks.
“You never did eat properly.” He smiled at her.
“Yes, well, you sound like Mum.” He’d always teased her like this before, when he had been her brothers’ friend and she’d been the annoying kid sister. It was an old joke between them, and as he smiled at her now with the endearing laughter lines crinkling the corners of his eyes, her heart raced.
“Okay, well, I’d better get back to the office. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
The shop bell pinged, and a customer walked in. Evan raised his hand in a brief goodbye and slipped out of the door.
When Gemma returned, Nathalie was immersed in helping a nervous bride-to-be try on various tiaras and veils. “There’s a parcel for you in the back,” she murmured.
“Parcel?” Nathalie wasn’t expecting a delivery.
“A really handsome guy handed it to me as I came in through the back door. It looks like lunch to me. He gave me a note.” Gemma passed Nathalie a slip of paper.
Gemma took over helping the customer while Nathalie read the note. “Enjoy your lunch. Mum.” Nathalie grinned and went through to the kitchen.
“Bagels, cream cheese, and salmon.” She lifted out the contents of the bag and reached for a plate, still smiling to herself.
****
Evan walked back to his office, deep in thought. His delivery of Nathalie’s lunch reminded him of the times he and her brothers had dropped food off for her whilst she’d worked at numerous jobs to fund her way through college. She worked harder than anyone he knew, except possibly Nate.
When he arrived back at the office, he found Jerome waiting on one of the leather chesterfield sofas in the lobby. “Your secretary said you’d be here soon. I thought I’d call in and see how you’re settling back in to town.”
“Come through to the office. I’ve just taken your sister some lunch.”
Jerome grinned and followed Evan inside the oak-panelled room. “I’m surprised she’s speaking to you.” He glanced around Evan’s office. “Nice place.”
“Yeah, it’s not bad.” He motioned to Jerome to sit down on a carved wooden chair.
“So, you told Nathalie about Laurel and Polly?”
Evan took a seat behind his large oak desk. “I told her everything.”
Jerome raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. “It hit her hard when you disappeared. I know you had your reasons, but I don’t want to see her get hurt again. You might be my mate, but Tali’s my sister—you know what I’m saying?”
Evan looked at Jerome’s sombre face. “I know.” He knew just what Jerome meant. From the bottom of his heart, he wished he’d handled the situation with Laurel differently. He wished he’d told Nathalie about Polly when he’d first received the letter.
But the past was the past, and he couldn’t alter what had already happened. We can still be friends, he’d told her, though the attraction that had burnt so brightly between them in the past was still as strong, at least on his part. It made him wonder if being friends would turn out to be harder to cope with than he’d imagined.
“Listen, I can see you must be busy blowing the dust off all those wills and things, so I’ll push off. I’ll call you for golf at the weekend.”
Evan smiled. Jerome always poked fun at his profession as a solicitor. “I’ll look forward to it, old boy,” he teased in a fake upper-class drawl.
****
“Are you going to tell me who he is?” Gemma asked, the instant Nathalie rejoined her on the shop floor after eating her lunch. The nervous bride-to-be had gone, and Gemma was busy replacing tiaras on the display stand.
“Evan? He’s an old friend.”
“Mmm, I wouldn’t mind an old friend who looked like that. He’s certainly put a smile on your face.” She stepped back to admire her handiwork.
“Really, he’s just a friend.” Nathalie frowned at her in mock-severity.
“Well, come on, spill! Where did you meet him? And how come someone so hunky is just a friend?”
“He’s a friend of Jerome’s. I’ve known him for years. We dated for a short time ages ago, then he moved away.” Nathalie fiddled with a small stack of business cards next to the till.
“Don’t tell me he’s married? All the good ones are married.” Gemma groaned. “Except Carl, of course,” she added hastily, referring to her own boyfriend.
“He’s divorced.” Nathalie tapped the edges of the cards on the counter, lining them up in a neat pile.
“That’s good. Well, it isn’t for him, but — oh, you know what I mean.” Gemma shot her a questioning glance. “It is good, isn’t it? I mean, you can see he’s interested in you, surely.”
She picked up the top card and folded it into little pleats. She wasn’t sure if he was interested — or, for that matter, if she even wanted him to be. She’d had her heart broken once before. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of history between us, not all of it good. He’s got a little girl as well.”
“Single parent, huh? Does he have custody?” Gemma’s face was alive with curiosity.
Nathalie nodded. “Polly lives with Evan. He’s looking to buy a house now that he’s moved back to town.” She didn’t say any more, since she wasn’t sure if the identity of Polly’s mother was common knowledge.
“It sounds as if we’ll be seeing more of him,” Gemma observed.
; “Maybe. His office isn’t far away. That’s why he dropped by.” Nathalie stared at the tiny cardboard fan she held with unseeing eyes.
“I think he’d have found an excuse to drop by even if he’d been five miles away.” Gemma tweaked the card from Nathalie’s hand. “Although it might be kinder on your business cards if he didn’t drop in very often.” She laughed.
“I told you, we’re just friends.” Nathalie shook her head as her assistant walked off toward the fitting rooms, still laughing.
The afternoon bought in a flurry of customers, and Nathalie was late closing the shop. She grimaced as she locked the shop door and pressed the button to lower the security grille. The familiar cramps, which had been held at bay all day by her medication, began to make themselves felt again. She rubbed her abdomen discreetly as she waited for the grille to click into place.
“Can we give you a ride home?”
Evan’s car sat at the kerb behind her, and he hailed her through the open driver’s window. She could see Polly admiring the beautiful gowns in the window through the squares of the security mesh.
“I’m okay, thanks. I don’t live very far from here, so I usually walk home.” She set the alarm and locked down the alarm panel door.
“Polly and I have been to see her new school, and we called to pick up some more house details on our way home. Are you always this late finishing? “
“I sometimes close earlier, but it’s been a busy day. Hello, Polly.” Nathalie smiled at the little girl on the back seat, who still appeared engrossed by the dresses sparkling and twinkling under the halogen lights in the shop window.
“Is this your shop?” Polly asked. Evan smiled at the rapturous expression on his daughter’s pale face.
Nathalie’s heart melted at the tenderness in his eyes as he looked at his child. “Yes, it’s mine.”
“The dresses are so beautiful! Like the ones princesses wear,” Polly breathed.
A plop of icy water hit Nathalie’s cheek as the heavens opened and raindrops began to pelt down on her like silver pennies. Even the elements seemed determined to conspire against her.
Evan opened the passenger door. “Get in the car.”
Faced with a choice of getting soaked or a short, dry ride home, Nathalie obeyed her first instinct and jumped in.
“We were on our way to get something to eat. Would you like to join us?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, you and Polly probably have plans.” Her voice faltered. She needed to take more of her tablets, but she couldn’t very well do that in plain view. She hesitated, trying to decide what to say.
“Daddy promised we could go somewhere with a play area,” Polly said.
Evan smiled an apology at Nathalie. “There’s a family pub just on the edge of town that has a ball pit. It’s nicer than it sounds, I promise.”
“It’ll be fun. You can tell me about the pretty dresses.” Polly looked wistful.
Much to her surprise Nathalie heard herself agree. “So long as I don’t have to get in the ball pit.”
“It’s okay. You and I can sit in the grown-up area.” Evan set the wipers in motion and pulled away from the kerb.
Nathalie watched the blades swish back and forth in front of her, wondering just what she’d let herself in for. An inn with play facilities would usually be the last place where she would want to spend her spare time. Being surrounded by parents and children while she watched everyone play happy families was too painful.
“You’ve gone quiet,” Evan observed a few minutes later.
“Sorry, I’m a bit tired.” She did feel tired, but being with him made her feel unsure of herself. Nathalie wasn’t the kind of person to feel unsure of anything. Normally she was confident and outgoing, more than capable of holding her own in any situation—except, it seemed, where Evan was concerned.
“I appreciate you coming with us.” He lowered his voice and glanced at his daughter in the rear-view mirror. “Polly doesn’t take to people easily, but she seems to like you. I think it helps that she loves princesses and fairy tales. Her favourite thing at the moment is dressing her dolls in wedding dresses.”
“Oh.” Nathalie chewed her lower lip. She felt flattered that Polly liked her, but she distrusted the way he seemed so ready to slot her into a nurturing role for his daughter.
“Here we are.” Evan swung the car into the car park and found a free space as close to the doors as he could get. Rain still pelted down, bouncing off the bonnet and running in streams down the windscreen.
“You go on in, Tali. I’ll get Polly.” He turned up the collar on his dark wool jacket and undid his seatbelt.
Nathalie clutched her bag to her and, jumping down from the car, made a dash for the entrance. Evan followed hot on her heels with his daughter and her doll in his arms.
“Whew, it’s really coming down.” He joined Nathalie inside the entrance and lowered Polly carefully to her feet. The child clutched her doll to her chest and coughed. Her little body shook with the violence of the fit. Evan bent to soothe his daughter whilst coughs racked her thin, doll-like frame.
Nathalie felt helpless as she stood to the side, watching him calm and care for his child. She was filled with sympathy for Polly as Evan patiently helped her take a puff from the inhaler he produced from her little pink backpack. The coughs subsided.
“Do you feel okay now, Poll?” Evan knelt so that his face was level with his daughter’s, evidently uncaring of how the damp carpet might affect the trousers of his expensive-looking suit.
Polly nodded, tendrils of blonde hair tumbling free from her ponytail. Evan got to his feet, brushing the knees of his trousers as he stood up. “We’d better move farther inside. We’re blocking the doorway.” He placed a gentle hand on Polly’s shoulder. Nathalie walked with them into the restaurant area.
Once they were seated and Evan was satisfied that Polly felt better, he went to order drinks from the bar. Nathalie rummaged in her bag for her tablets so she could take them once he returned with her orange juice.
Polly fixed her gaze on the packet in Nathalie’s hand. “Do you have medicine, too?”
Nathalie wasn’t sure how to answer Polly but decided it would probably be best to stick to a simple explanation. “Yes, I have to take medicine like you.”
“I have a puffer. Do you have a puffer?”
“No, I have to take tablets instead.” Nathalie smiled at the expression on Polly’s small face.
“Yuck! I don’t like medicine. Daddy gives me pink medicine from the doctor. He says it tastes like strawberries, but it doesn’t really.” Polly pulled a face to show her just how bad the medicine tasted.
“Polly!” Evan slid a tray of drinks onto the table and stared in amazement at his daughter’s strange expression.
“She was telling me about the lovely medicine you make her take,” Nathalie explained.
“Mmm, I bet she didn’t use the word ‘lovely.’ Last time she had to take some, I ended up wearing more than the amount she swallowed.” Evan ruffled Polly’s hair. “So, what do you two beautiful ladies want for dinner?”
Nathalie slipped her tablets into her mouth and swallowed them with a sip of juice while Evan helped his daughter study the menu.
Polly didn’t hesitate. “I want chicken nuggets, please.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a proper dinner, Poll?” Evan frowned.
Looking at Polly’s face, Nathalie guessed that the discussion had taken place more than once. As someone who’d been a skinny child herself, she had some sympathy for Polly, but she could also emphasize with Evan. The child’s fragile health had to be a constant source of worry to him.
“I’ll have a jacket potato with cheese and beans, please. I’ve got to leave room for a pudding.” Nathalie snapped her menu shut and winked at Polly, who giggled. “Well, we do get pudding if we eat all of our dinner, don’t we?” She looked hard at Evan.
“I suppose so. But I want to see it all gone.” He caught on and
directed his answer at Nathalie, causing Polly to giggle even harder until she broke off into a small cough. Evan waited until Polly had recovered before he returned to the bar to order the food.
“Do you wear princess dresses?” Polly regarded Nathalie with solemn eyes over the rim of her glass.
“I wore one on Saturday”
Polly obviously liked to ask questions. “Cool! Did you go to a ball and dance with a prince?”
Nathalie laughed. “It was my brother’s wedding, and I danced with your daddy.”
Polly took a long slurp of juice, appearing to consider Nathalie’s answer. “Daddy’s not a prince.”
“Who says I’m not a prince?” Evan rejoined them. “I might be a prince in disguise. Then you, being my daughter, would be Princess Polly.”
Nathalie joined in with Polly’s laughter. The next hour flew past as the two of them teased Evan over dinner. To Nathalie’s relief, Polly ate all of her dinner and even managed some ice cream for her pudding.
Evan finished the last of his daughter’s dessert while Polly yawned and snuggled her doll. “I think we’d better go home.”
“I’m not tired, Daddy,” she said, blinking heavily.
“I am, though, and my cat will wonder where I am.” Nathalie stood up, ready to collect her coat from the wooden stand behind Evan’s seat.
“Is it a girl cat or a boy cat?” Polly asked as her father helped Nathalie with her jacket.
“A girl, of course.” She was conscious of Evan’s fingers brushing against the nape of her neck as he straightened her collar for her. At least her fitted jacket flattered her figure a little better than her marshmallow coat. Not that it mattered what she wore, since she wasn’t out to impress him at all, she told herself.
Polly picked up her doll and her backpack. “When we find a new house, I’m going to have a pony.”
Nathalie relaxed when Evan went to help Polly with her coat. Having him so close had felt too intimate and disturbed her senses. When he was around, she found herself slipping into teenage mode. The evening had been fun, but she worried that she might have let her guard down a little too much where Evan and his daughter were concerned. Polly was a sweet little girl, and her daddy was much too handsome for Nathalie’s peace of mind.
