we couldââ
âStop. Right now. Everything is fine, everyoneâs happy, weâre all pinching ourselves at being lucky enough to ⦠you know.â He put his hand to her hair and pulled a strand away from her face. âItâs just colder inside than out, thatâs all.â
Emmy changed the subject. âDid you say Murphy? Youâve got to be joking.â
âPaddy Murphyâs the man, builder par excellence.â
âExcept weâll have to use local tradesmen, or you wonât get served at the pub.â
âGood thinking.â
âWhat are you doing in here, anyway? I thought Kat wanted you to hump furniture.â
âIâll hump later. Howâre the kids?â
âSee for yourself.â Emmy gestured.
âDonât do smug.â
âIâm not. But look, Ashaâs fine. Sheâs completely forgotten about it. They make too much of it. Sheâd be fine if they just ignored it.â
âThatâs great. Just donât forget that everyone has a different way, thatâs all.â
There were a few words implicit in his comment. What he meant was âeveryone has a different way from us .â Emmy bristled with pleasure.
âItâs all about diversion, isnât it? Itâs such an easy trick.â
âDivert me, then.â
Emmy didnât bother to take him up on itâsheâd heard it all before. Sexual innuendo from Niall had very little to do with whether he was attracted to you.
The girls had freed the bicycle and were rubbing the cobwebs away, feeling its tires, emptying rubbish from its basket.
âLook at that. They say that one manâs junk isââ
âAnother manâs treasure?â
Maya heard his voice and looked up. Niall blew her a kiss.
âYou havenât been too hard on her, have you?â he asked accusingly.
Only he could suggest such a thing. Emmy knew that he knew she was sometimes too hard on Maya, that she leaned too hard, punished too hard, loved too hard.
âNo.â
âGo easy. Itâs new for us all.â
âI know, but tell me itâs not just me who thinks itâs odd that Ashaâs got all the trappings of security she could wish for, and she canât say boo to a goose, and then thereâs Maya, whoâs been dragged up without a father, with a mother who lurches from one emotional crisis to the nextâ¦â
Niall put his hand in his old cord coat pocket to find his cigarettes, and shook his head. âThatâs not right, though, Em, is it?â
âIt is.â
âNo, itâs not.â
âWhy?â
âWell, for a start, we both know you think Mayaâs better off without a father.â
âI do. Iâm not ashamed of that.â
âNor should you be, but donât do all that âdragged up without oneâ thing. Not to me, anyway.â He was sailing close to the wind. âBecause I know you think you have the more rounded child as a resultâthat given the choice you would actively advocate single parenthood.â
âI do. I think it does you good to have the corners knocked off you at an early age.â
âYou donât have to be the child of a single parent for that to happen.â
âI know, but you get less attention, and that has its benefits.â
âDo you?â
âMaya does.â
Niall didnât think so, but he didnât say so. âYouâd hate to share her, wouldnât you?â
âYou try it. Itâs bloody hard work.â
âThatâs not in dispute, but câmon, Maya is hardly deprived of stability, and what are your emotional crises? A couple of useless boyfriends? Sheâs one of the lucky ones, and you know it.â
He watched the girl climb over an old tractor seat and jump down the other side. He might be the only one who could get away with talking to Emmy like that but he also knew
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