Christmas at the Waratah Inn by Lilly Mirren

Author:Lilly Mirren [Mirren, Lilly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Lab Press

12

A roast chicken sagged in the middle of the table. Half eaten bowls of potato salad, Caesar salad, grilled prawns, and some kind of quinoa dish formed a half circle around the chicken.

Rob set down his fork and pushed his chair back from the table.

“That was delicious,” he said.

He smiled at Jen, nodded in Neil’s direction. Tension crept up the back of his neck. He could already feel the muscles in the back of it seizing up. He’d have knots in his shoulders tonight, too bad he hadn’t thought to bring his shoulder massager with him. Perhaps he’d book a massage tomorrow at the inn. He saw something about spa treatments in Kingscliff when he’d checked into the Waratah.

Neil ignored him, focused on eating from his second piled helping of Christmas lunch. Rob was grateful for that. The last thing he wanted today was to garner Neil’s attention. All he had to do was make it through the day without causing any kind of friction. So far, he’d managed it.

Daniel tapped on Rob’s knee. He smiled at the boy and pushed his chair out a little further. Daniel climbed onto his leg, nestled against Rob’s chest.

“Can we play soccer, Grandpa?”

Rob grinned. Already Daniel was mad for the game. He loved nothing more than to tear around the backyard after the white ball, tapping it with his small feet as he went.

“Let’s do it,” replied Rob.

He swept Daniel up into his arms and tossed him over one shoulder as he headed for the back door. Daniel squealed and kicked in delight, giggling so hard he could barely draw breath.

They passed Sophie, who was outside already. She stood beside a plastic kitchen, broken in places where the sun had weakened the structure, making the plastic brittle. She held a teacup in one hand and a saucer in the other and was talking to a line-up of teddy bears and dolls seated on the patio beside her. Her earnest voice brought a smile to his face.

“Want to play soccer with us, Sophie?” he asked.

She set down the teacup. “Yeah!” She tore after him, her red-striped Christmas dress flying up behind her, her little legs pumping. She’d ditched the matching white sandals hours ago.

He found the soccer ball in a patch of long grass by the back fence and soon the three of them were engaged in an epic and very serious battle to get the ball either between the legs of the swing-set, or through the space between the rusting Weber grill and the weathered trampoline.

While they played, Rob glanced every now and then at the house, through the glass sliding door. He could hear shouts, wondered what was going on. Ever since he’d arrived for Christmas lunch he’d been on tenterhooks. Jen was nervous, her lips twitching back and forth between a smile and downturned. He thought he’d seen a bruise on her temple, but it was hard to say since she was wearing more makeup today than she usually would. In

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