A Family Holiday: A heartwarming summer romance for fans of Katie Fforde. Bella Osborne
to the door. ‘I don’t know…’
‘Please,’ added Felix and Charlie let the door go. Maybe Charlie wasn’t the most tactful of people but she wanted him to understand that she was trying to protect the children.
Ted was sitting at the kitchen table spinning a coin repeatedly and staring at it intently. He picked it up and put it in his pocket as Charlie and Felix entered the room. Ted sat up straight, narrowed his eyes and stared at Felix.
‘It’s very quiet. Have the children run away?’ asked Charlie, as she filled the kettle.
‘Last time I looked they were trying to put clothes on Wriggly for a fashion show.’
‘Not again! Ted, can you stop them, please? Last time he went outside wearing a teddy bear’s Arsenal kit he peed all over it. See if you can interest them in playing something outside with Uncle Felix.’
‘I can try,’ said Ted as he stood up and shrugged at Felix.
‘Best thing to happen to an Arsenal kit,’ chuckled Felix.
‘Arsenal fan,’ said Ted, pointing at Charlie, and he idly swatted at a fly as it flew past.
‘Argh!’ shouted Charlie as the fly flew near her face. She grabbed a tea towel and started wildly thrashing it around her head. ‘Did I get it?’
‘No, it’s gone out of the window. Thank goodness it wasn’t a spider!’ Felix laughed.
‘Spiders I can cope with,’ said Charlie, shuddering as she shut the window. ‘Tea?’
‘Coffee please.’
Felix stood awkwardly by the table, and when the silence got too much he got a yo-yo out of his pocket and started to expertly spin it. Charlie raised her eyebrows but didn’t want to show him that she was impressed with his yo-yo skills, as it didn’t exactly automatically qualify him as a capable guardian.
‘Where do you live now?’ asked Charlie as she passed Felix his coffee and he flicked up the yo-yo and returned it to his pocket.
‘Oh, I’m staying in a hotel for a bit while I’m here. I can give you the details if you like.’
The fact that he had sidestepped the question did not go unnoticed. ‘No, it’s okay. Where’s home?’
‘I’m a bit… nomadic. How’s the job-hunting going?’
‘What the …’ Charlie was wrong-footed by the question and the sound of the tribe hurtling down the stairs thankfully drowned out her other words. Led by Ted the children all ignored Felix and ran shouting and hollering into the garden. Felix stared open-mouthed after them.
‘Are they always like that?’
‘They’re children; it’s what children do. Sure they’re playing up a bit to their new audience, that’s you by the way, but it’s to be expected. What do you mean job-hunting?’
‘I thought…’
‘You thought wrong. Have you met with Ruth yet?’
Felix’s attention was now outside as he saw the shady figures darting in different directions. ‘Yeah, we’re trying to work something out.’
Charlie was getting increasingly frustrated with everyone’s lack of communication. ‘Who is going to talk to the children about that? Don’t you think they should be included in any big decisions?’
Felix briefly looked away from the window. ‘No, not really. It’s not like we’ve got a lot of choices.’
‘Ruth or you, is that it?’ She couldn’t help but think, ‘The devil and the deep-blue eyed…’ But her thoughts abruptly trailed off and he was speaking again.
‘Ruth is keen to be the trustee but I’d like her to do a bit more than just look after the finances.’
‘Good luck trying to persuade Ruth,’ laughed Charlie and Felix turned to stare at her.
‘I can be very persuasive,’ he said with a beaming smile. It was the first time Charlie had seen him look happy. His previous frowns couldn’t exactly make him look ugly, but a smile like that lit up his whole face.
The noise from the garden reached a crescendo.
‘Do you not think you should check on them?’ asked Felix, straining to look out of the window, but with the garden raised higher than the kitchen it was hard to see.
Charlie could feel the annoyance rising within her. ‘They’re fine.’
‘I think someone should go and take a look.’
‘Be my guest,’ said Charlie, leaning back against the worktop and mentally rearranging her ‘Kipper List’.
He glared at her, roughly put down his coffee mug and walked outside and up the steps to the garden.
Charlie smiled to herself, sipped her coffee and waited. There was a brief pause in the noise before the screaming erupted again. Charlie got the kitchen roll out of the cupboard and picked up a damp cloth. She counted to three and, right on cue, Felix stumbled down the steps and tumbled into the kitchen as mud pellets showered down on him. He quickly shut the door behind him and leant against it like a scene from the Wild West as a banshee-like Millie hurled a large mud pie at the doors, hitting the glass with a tremendous thump, making Felix jump and turn round. Millie stuck out her tongue at Felix and stomped back up to the garden, where the rest of the tribe were whooping in celebration.
Felix took a deep breath and turned to face Charlie. Mud dripped from his once blonde hair and trickled off his chin. ‘They’re feral!’
Charlie couldn’t contain her grin any longer. ‘They’re great, aren’t they?’ she said handing him the cloth and kitchen roll.
Felix looked decidedly rattled as he wiped himself down. ‘Was that some elaborate initiation ceremony?’
Charlie thought for a moment. ‘They hosed me down when I first came. So, yeah, I guess it’s their way of welcoming you.’
‘Ruth said they were out of control but I hadn’t realised it was this bad.’
Charlie felt a flash of anger rampage over her. ‘Children are not meant to be CONTROLLED, especially not kids that have had their world turned arse-up!’
Felix shook his head and a lump of mud plopped onto the floor. ‘They could kill each other,’ he said, snatching some kitchen roll and smearing the mud into his once-white rugby shirt. Charlie’s temper hitched up a notch.
‘You’re such a drama queen! They’re only playing. Have a sense of humour, will you? Nobody’s going to get killed by mud.’
Felix looked even more irritated as he appeared to realise the uselessness of his rubbing. ‘Have you any idea how much bacteria is probably in this?’ he said, showing her the muddied kitchen roll.
‘Nope, but seeing as they play in it a lot, I’m guessing they must be immune. I do hope you don’t catch anything deadly,’ she said with a smirk.
Felix glared at her. ‘I need a shower.’
‘You can’t have one here,’ Charlie said, without thinking. After all, it was his brother’s house, he had every right to use the facilities, but right now this was Charlie’s territory and he was the invader.
Colour rose in Felix’s cheeks and he screwed up the used kitchen roll and threw it, with force, into the bin, making the muscles under his rugby shirt show up. ‘I’ll be back,’ he said as he headed for the front door, leaving a trail of muddy footprints. Charlie threw an imaginary kipper at the back of his head.
Charlie