Dune Road - By Jane Green Page 0,100

her emotion threaten to run over, and tears fill her eyes.

“I can’t believe you guys,” she says, pulling Tory in for a group hug. “Did you know about this all along? ”

“Yeah.” Tory smiles sheepishly. “We helped organize it with Dad.”

“I chose the cake,” Buckley says, looking up. “I wanted an Indiana Jones ice-cream cake from Carvel but Dad said no.”

Kit looks at Adam and laughs. “I’m glad to hear it. Adam, are you behind all this? ”

“Well, not just me. Everyone helped.” Adam smiles.

“Especially Aunt Annabel,” Tory says.

“Thank you.” Kit continues looking at Adam, the smile in her eyes genuine. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

And with that, everyone sits down to eat.

Chapter Twenty-five

It should, perhaps, feel more strange than it does, sitting at a table to celebrate her birthday with her ex-husband and her new boyfriend, but in fact Kit is perfectly comfortable, and thrilled that so many people have gathered together in her honor.

The thought that went into this quite blows her away.

Particularly, that this was clearly Adam’s idea. Steve is holding her hand under the table, but she is watching Adam, sitting next to Annabel at the far end, and with clarity she realizes Adam is indeed quite smitten with her. She recognizes his behavior, from those very early days when Adam was smitten with Kit.

His ready laugh, his enthusiasm, his witty banter. He is very much “on,” and Adam is only “on” when there are clients, or, it seems, women, to impress.

She thinks of Annabel’s comments about Steve being an “older man” at the tennis match, and hopes Adam doesn’t embarrass himself too much, flirting so obviously with someone so young.

There are close to fifteen years between them. Adam is almost, but not quite, old enough to be her father. Kit remembers when a friend got her first au pair, a gorgeous eighteen-year-old called Anna, from Sweden.

Everyone teased the husband and told the wife to watch out, that the husband would disappear with the au pair. But Anna was such a child, it was inconceivable that the husband, or indeed anyone their age, would ever seriously consider it.

Of course it happened to other people, with these young girls working for them, but Kit had never understood it. Youthful glow, long, burnished limbs aside, what could they possibly have to talk about? Were those men really that shallow?

There was a woman in town whose husband left her for a nanny known, to this day, as the Brazilian Bombshell. Kit had heard about him for months before actually meeting him a year ago, at a birthday party for one of Buckley’s friends.

Someone pointed the father out, whispering that he was the one with the Brazilian Bombshell, and she was entirely unsur prised, for the father had clearly been giving her the eye for the past hour. She wasn’t sure if this was because he knew she was divorced, or because he was sleazy, slimy and a serial philanderer. She suspected it was the latter, and that had she given him the slightest sign of encouragement he would have jumped at the opportunity.

No wonder the Brazilian Bombshell was taken in by him. Anyone with an ounce of maturity would have spotted him instantly for the slimeball he was.

And okay, Annabel isn’t exactly eighteen, but she is only twenty-eight, and Kit doesn’t want Adam to embarrass Annabel, never mind embarrass himself.

“You’re staring,” Charlie mutters under her breath.

“Oh God? Am I? ” Kit turns to her.

“Yup. Am I going crazy or do you still have the hots for your ex-husband? ”

“What?” Kit attempts to splutter with laughter, except it doesn’t quite come out like that.

“So why are you staring, then? ” Charlie leans forward, whispering conspiratorially, close to her ear. “You haven’t been able to take your eyes off him for the past hour, and that’s despite having the new boyfriend sitting on your other side.”

“Actually, I was just wondering if he was flirting with Annabel. I was hoping he wouldn’t embarrass himself because, let’s face it, she could practically be his daughter.”

“Well, only just. And Annabel’s a big girl. From everything you’ve told me—rehab, drugs, and so on, and so on—I’m pretty certain she knows how to take care of herself. Anyway, she doesn’t look like she’s having a bad time.”

“Do you think she’s flirting back? ”

“Why? Are you jealous? ”

“No! ”

“Sure? ”

“Sure I’m sure. Just curious.”

“Well, I have to admit it would be more than a little weird for your ex-husband to have a thing with