Read Online Eggshell Days by Rebecca Gregson - Free Book Online

we could—”
    â€œStop. Right now. Everything is fine, everyone’s happy, we’re all pinching ourselves at being lucky enough to … you know.” He put his hand to her hair and pulled a strand away from her face. “It’s just colder inside than out, that’s all.”
    Emmy changed the subject. “Did you say Murphy? You’ve got to be joking.”
    â€œPaddy Murphy’s the man, builder par excellence.”
    â€œExcept we’ll have to use local tradesmen, or you won’t get served at the pub.”
    â€œGood thinking.”
    â€œWhat are you doing in here, anyway? I thought Kat wanted you to hump furniture.”
    â€œI’ll hump later. How’re the kids?”
    â€œSee for yourself.” Emmy gestured.
    â€œDon’t do smug.”
    â€œI’m not. But look, Asha’s fine. She’s completely forgotten about it. They make too much of it. She’d be fine if they just ignored it.”
    â€œThat’s great. Just don’t forget that everyone has a different way, that’s all.”
    There were a few words implicit in his comment. What he meant was “everyone has a different way from us .” Emmy bristled with pleasure.
    â€œIt’s all about diversion, isn’t it? It’s such an easy trick.”
    â€œDivert me, then.”
    Emmy didn’t bother to take him up on it—she’d 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.
    â€œLook at that. They say that one man’s junk is—”
    â€œAnother man’s treasure?”
    Maya heard his voice and looked up. Niall blew her a kiss.
    â€œYou haven’t been too hard on her, have you?” 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.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œGo easy. It’s new for us all.”
    â€œI know, but tell me it’s not just me who thinks it’s odd that Asha’s got all the trappings of security she could wish for, and she can’t say boo to a goose, and then there’s Maya, who’s been dragged up without a father, with a mother who lurches from one emotional crisis to the next…”
    Niall put his hand in his old cord coat pocket to find his cigarettes, and shook his head. “That’s not right, though, Em, is it?”
    â€œIt is.”
    â€œNo, it’s not.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWell, for a start, we both know you think Maya’s better off without a father.”
    â€œI do. I’m not ashamed of that.”
    â€œNor should you be, but don’t do all that ‘dragged up without one’ thing. Not to me, anyway.” He was sailing close to the wind. “Because I know you think you have the more rounded child as a result—that given the choice you would actively advocate single parenthood.”
    â€œI do. I think it does you good to have the corners knocked off you at an early age.”
    â€œYou don’t have to be the child of a single parent for that to happen.”
    â€œI know, but you get less attention, and that has its benefits.”
    â€œDo you?”
    â€œMaya does.”
    Niall didn’t think so, but he didn’t say so. “You’d hate to share her, wouldn’t you?”
    â€œYou try it. It’s bloody hard work.”
    â€œThat’s not in dispute, but c’mon, Maya is hardly deprived of stability, and what are your emotional crises? A couple of useless boyfriends? She’s one of the lucky ones, and you know it.”
    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