In Bali with the Single Dad by Annie O'Neil

Author:Annie O'Neil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-03-03T21:08:13+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘BYE, NAN. HAVE fun and be safe. Love you.’

After a wave and an air-kiss, Rebecca ended the video call, slipped her phone into the pocket of her backpack and gave Noah at not entirely apologetic smile.

‘Sorry about that. Just doing my daily check-in.’ She rubbed her hands together in a show of excitement. ‘Okay! Let’s go and see this monkey temple.’

It was a Saturday afternoon. When the girls had joined Rebecca at the pool for a morning swim—something they’d taken to doing most mornings before school—they’d discovered that Rebecca hadn’t yet been to the Sacred Monkey Sanctuary.

The girls had run back to the villa and dragged Noah out to the pool, along with a pile of notebooks so he could make a list of all of the places they thought Rebecca should see, and then they’d insisted he take them all out.

So here they were, backpacks filled with sunblock and water, all set to head off to the sanctuary. It was the closest to a family outing Rebecca had ever had as an adult, and it was impossible not to remember the moment when the girls had asked Noah if she was his girlfriend. And then, of course, the moment he’d made it very clear that she was in The Friend Zone.

‘Everything all right at home?’ Tiny lines of concern fanned out from Noah’s eyes.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard Nan so happy,’ Rebecca admitted, smiling her thanks to Noah who, gentleman that he was, had just opened the Jeep’s passenger door for her. The girls were already in the back, ready for their outing. When Noah had climbed into the driver’s seat she continued. ‘She and Nathan are off to visit an art gallery.’

Nathan Parker was her Nan’s new beau. A widower and retired civil engineer, Nathan had moved to the seaside to be near his daughter and grandchildren. The pair had met at the library, when they’d each reached for the same copy of Jane Eyre and it had been, according to her Nan, love at first sight.

‘It’s a bit further down the coast from her village and it’s rumoured to have the best tearoom in Cornwall. Apparently, the carrot cake is to die for.’

‘Are they going for the art or the cake?’ Noah asked as he pulled his own door shut and clicked his safety belt into place, after triple-checking that the girls had done the same.

Her heart gave a little squeeze. He was obviously trying not to smother the girls with protective measures, but clearly had a safety-first checklist going on in his head. Bless him... She adored the girls, but she could also see insta-parenting from Noah’s perspective. Panic-inducing. Proper ‘in at the deep end’ stuff.

It did make her wonder... Would he ever want children of his own or, now that he had the girls, was he drawing a line under that possibility? The fact he’d properly Friend Zoned her probably meant she should make her hormones do the same. She wanted children. At least the option to try.

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