Lola and the Single Dad by Kelly Hunter

Author:Kelly Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781957748771
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2022-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Children’s birthday parties were exhausting. Or maybe it was the fact that later in the evening, after most of the parents with kids had gone home, it really did turn into a wake. Conversations began with, “Do you remember when …” and that was the problem because Ned remembered every bit of it. But he’d wanted connection and people wanted to talk, so he sat and listened and nodded every now and then and cradled his beer until it grew warm and eventually got up the courage to tell a story of his own. A memory of Eloise and a cranky pair of swans sitting on a nest in a rapidly drying up waterhole. She’d joined half a dozen water hoses together, turned the tap on and headed towards them galoshes and all. They’d chased her all the way back to the house.

“I’m so proud of you,” his mother had told him after the last of the guests had left. She was heading for the guest room. His father was already there. “That was a beautiful speech you gave earlier and a worthy memory you shared too. You’re healing.”

“Am not.” Mothers could make a man revert to childhood with a glance. He was sure of it.

But his mother simply smiled. “Goodnight, Edward. We’ll see you in the morning. We want to get away by eight.”

“You’re welcome to stay longer. You know that.”

“Next time.”

Once his parents had retired for the night and Ned had checked on a sleeping Ollie, he walked the rooms of his house, too full of memories for sleep, too restless to stay still. He started in the attic where all Eloise’s belongings were stored, before moving to the second floor where they’d knocked down a wall and combined two bedrooms to make a large workspace that would have one day been the hub of their small business empire. Eloise had wanted to become an art dealer specialising in metal sculptures. This house and garden would have been their gallery. They’d added more windows to the north and east and had bench seats custom built beneath them. The ornate, freeform sconces to either side of the seats were some of the first he’d ever made, and he loved them still. This was where his art pieces would have been displayed, had Eloise lived, once he’d carved out the time to spend creating them.

But there was no time these days for any of that.

Maybe if his sister lived closer, she would have helped, but she had her own family to raise, and a husband born and bred in northern Queensland so that was where they’d ended up.

Maybe his parents might have helped more had they not relocated to the coast so that they could more easily access the medical services his mother needed.

It’ll get better, you’ll see. So many people had told him that tonight, and he wanted to believe them. Find a way forward and let happiness guide him.

Stepping from the room he made quick work of

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