a sensitive age. ‘What about your father? Do you get on with him okay?’ she probed, hoping she wasn’t venturing too far onto sensitive ground.
‘Stepfather. And no, I don’t.’ A shadow crossed Laura’s face. ‘He’s loaded, old money, you know, inherited from his parents; imagines himself entitled because of it. He didn’t want to marry my mother, but she managed to manipulate him into it.’ She paused, drawing in a long breath. ‘You can see why I ran scared of marriage, can’t you?’ She sighed amusedly.
‘You’ve never been married then?’ Sarah enquired, casually she hoped.
Laura shook her head. ‘My job always took up too much of my time. I just never met the right person. I lived with my last boyfriend for a while, but it didn’t last.’
‘Do you mind if I ask why?’ Sarah didn’t want to appear to be grilling her. She hoped Laura would understand that she just wanted to know her better.
Laura hesitated. ‘He was impossibly controlling,’ she said quietly, ‘so …’ Stopping, she shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Sarah noted the hurriedly downcast gaze again and guessed it was a big deal. It certainly would be to her. She could understand Laura’s discomfort. No doubt she would be thinking that people might judge her. Sarah’s mum had been in a controlling relationship with her father, who’d constantly undermined her until she’d lost faith in herself, as she’d confided once Sarah was old enough to understand. She’d felt worthless, she told her. Eventually, with the help of a friend, she’d found an exit strategy. It hadn’t been easy to explain to a child, she’d said sadly.
Sarah understood now what the attraction to Steve would be. Perhaps that was why she’d felt safe with him herself. He was anything but controlling. He just didn’t see that in allowing her to make all the decisions in their relationship – about where they lived, household maintenance, arrangements for Ollie – he was also leaving her with all the responsibility. Steve hadn’t been her Mr Right. He might be Laura’s, though. The woman had her own house, so she was obviously a doer. They could actually be good for each other, in an opposites-attract sort of way. She might even shake him out of his commitment-phobic tendencies. And if there had to be someone involved in the joint parenting of Ollie, Laura seemed capable, sensible. Nice, she thought, albeit a bit reluctantly.
‘But that’s all history now,’ Laura went on, smiling brightly – for her sake, Sarah guessed. ‘I’d much rather talk about little Oliver and … um …’ There was a flicker of doubt in her eyes. ‘If that’s all right with you, that is?’
‘Ollie.’ Sarah smiled. ‘And yes, it is.’ She’d come here to find out more about Laura. To fish around for any deep, dark secrets she might have. Once she’d started talking more fluently, though, Laura had seemed fine sharing information with her. Sarah had come expecting not to like her, but she found she actually did, perhaps because of her vulnerability. She was nothing like she’d expected her to be. She had a naturalness about her, an openness, which was surprising, considering she too might have had her guard up. It could all be a ploy to win Sarah over, of course, but she felt it was genuine.
‘He’s three, isn’t he?’ Laura asked. ‘Up to all sorts of mischief, I bet.’
‘Almost four, and definitely.’ Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a naughty child, but I won’t pretend he’s not full-on.’
‘He’s obviously an intelligent little boy.’ Laura smiled reassuringly.
‘Oh, he’s definitely that. He’s usually one step ahead of me.’ Sarah smiled tolerantly. ‘I struggle to keep him entertained sometimes. He gets bored with his toys so easily, apart from his Lego, which keeps him occupied for hours. Mind you, I think I’ve found the perfect thing for his birthday. It’s part of the Geometric Magicube range, which are fun, hands-on toys designed to help develop motor skills and, hopefully, stretch the imagination. I thought the dinosaur set would be perfect, as he’s big into them.’
‘Sounds brilliant,’ Laura enthused. ‘He obviously needs a mental challenge. I can’t wait to meet him. Does he look like his mummy or his daddy?’
It was an innocent question, a perfectly understandable question – Steve was blonde, Sarah was dark – but even so … ‘Has Steve not shown you a photograph of him?’
‘He only has baby photographs. He said you were the photographer,’ Laura said with