The Family Holiday by Elizabeth Noble

Author:Elizabeth Noble [Noble, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405934558
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2020-06-24T18:30:00+00:00

33

The allure of the swimming-pool could be ignored no longer. The younger kids had been begging for ages. Eventually, Meredith took matters into her own hands and went upstairs with them to change. They reappeared, Arthur in a back-to-front swim nappy, armbands already inflated and yanked on, just to wrist height. He and Delilah were so excited that they were bouncing from one foot to the other.

Nick admitted defeat and went to put on his trunks. Scott said he’d swim too. Charlie demurred, despite the pester power, but promised to go upstairs and change into his shorts, then come down to the pool and dip his feet into the water. No one had seen Laura for a while, and Heather was apparently going to work on Hayley’s backhand on the tennis court. Hayley might have been less keen on this activity in the midday sun if she hadn’t caught a glimpse of Lucy’s hunky young electrician when he’d parked on the drive. Liking the look of him, she’d seized the opportunity to flip her ponytail and flaunt her brown legs in her short white tennis skirt while he fixed the floodlight. Life was a catwalk.

It was a big pool, for a private house. There was a set of shallow steps at one end, and a small diving board at the other, and halfway along one side a circular Jacuzzi protruded. Nick activated the electric pool cover from the wall while Scott pushed back the doors that opened one side of the pool to the garden. ‘I’ve forgotten my goggles,’ Meredith trilled, running towards the house. ‘I’ll just go grab them.’

Scott was examining the hinging system on the impressive doors. Fully opened, there were no piers or corners. They must have cost a fortune, but they really did achieve the inside-outside thing very well. ‘Heather is taken with these doors.’

Nick thought of Scott’s house in Haslemere. He’d only been there a couple of times. ‘You haven’t put in a pool?’

‘Not yet. She’s taken with the pool, too.’ Scott smiled ruefully.

Nick laughed.

‘We could have a pool at home, Daddy!’ Bea chimed in excitedly.

‘Where, darling?’

‘In our garden.’ She gestured at the Jacuzzi, arms echoing the shape. ‘We have room for one of these!’

Nick tilted his head to one side. ‘Not really.’

She put her hands on her hips defiantly. ‘We could move the climbing frame.’

Nick kissed the top of her head. ‘The one Daddy spent three days putting up? You love that climbing frame.’

Bea pondered the dilemma. She did love the climbing frame. ‘Then we need a new house. With a much bigger garden.’ The men laughed.

‘You can go and live with Uncle Scott and Auntie Heather, if you like. They’ve got bags of room for a pool and a climbing frame.’

‘Can I, too?’ Delilah’s eyes widened with excitement.

He ruffled his younger daughter’s head. ‘Oh, the loyalty. Charming, Lila.’

There was a sudden loud splash.

Arthur, undetected, had waddled down to the deep end, and jumped straight in.

His armbands had not been on properly, and one bobbed alarmingly to the surface, floating free.

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