A Brighter Spark (Xcite Romance) by Mary Borsellino

Author:Mary Borsellino [Borsellino, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Xcite Books
Published: 2013-02-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

In the morning, Suzy woke up before Daniel, and found herself nestled snugly with her back against his chest and one of his arms curled around her waist. She’d never been the little spoon before. In fact, she couldn’t actually remember an occasion when she’d been a spoon at all.

It made her feel uneasy, for reasons she wasn’t sure made sense even to her. But she still felt strongly enough that this wasn’t somewhere she belonged that she extricated herself carefully from her spot in Daniel’s arms, sliding out of the bed without waking him.

She slipped her clothes back on, except for the ruined stockings, and slipped out of the room in search of a bathroom and a mirror.

When Suzy had successfully vanquished her bed hair, and gargled mouthwash to escape the dreaded curse of morning breath, she made her way downstairs. There were cartoons playing on the television and two kids seated at the breakfast table.

‘Um, hi,’ Suzy said, any chance of a more impressive opening line deserting her entirely. Which was stupid, really, since she saw a variation on this exact scene three or four mornings a week at home with her own kids, depending on the schedule of which nights they were at her place or at Drew’s. Cartoons and orange juice before school was one of the few disaster scenarios which Suzy could honestly claim to be expertly equipped to deal with.

Or so she’d thought. Of course, that hadn’t factored in that these kids were Daniel’s children, and therefore well behaved and well groomed, unlike her own snarling, filthy monster-children. Also relevant was the fact that she was some weird lady wandering around their house in rumpled clothing and a blouse held together with a safety pin first thing in the morning.

“Awkward” wasn’t even gonna start covering this.

‘Well, this is awkward!’ the girl – Hannah, Daniel had said her name was Hannah – said brightly, getting up from her seat and collecting another plate off the draining board. ‘Pancakes cure awkwardness, though, and luckily I made enough for everyone. Sit.’

Suzy liked her immediately. ‘I like you immediately. Pancakes would be delightful.’

Hannah had the same dark hair and gorgeous skin tone as their father, the same dark-lashed eyes. The puppy-fat plumpness of the old photo Daniel had shown Suzy had started to mature and settle, giving the girl a pretty, pear-shaped figure that complemented her quirky, old-fashioned vibe. She gave Suzy a shy smile and held out a hand for shaking.

‘Pleased to meet you.’

‘You too,’ Suzy replied, smiling in return, and sat down at the table opposite where Hannah’s brother was still seated. ‘Hi there.’

‘Hi,’ Henry said, glancing up at her for the barest instant before returning his attentions to his plate.

Both the kids wore glasses; Hannah’s were a cute cat-eye style, part of a general retro aesthetic she had going in the way she wore her hair and the clothes she’d chosen, and Henry’s were the basic wire frames of a boy in his young teens who could not care less what his glasses looked like.

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