My Year of Saying No - Maxine Morrey Page 0,20

are you?’ he asked as Humphrey wriggled in pleasure and snuggled himself against Dad’s cashmere jumper.

‘Don’t ever let Sally see you cuddling him in that jumper she bought you? She’ll go up the wall.’ I pulled a face as I gave him a hug, temporarily pinning my dog between us.

Dad put a finger to his lips. ‘Our secret.’

I loved my sister, but my idea of casual and hers were two completely different things. She didn’t exactly object to Humphrey, but he had to stay in the kitchen if we visited her place, which, as we generally sat elsewhere, I and he hated. It felt like he was being punished for something he hadn’t done, so, now, if I visited, I’d either leave him at home, or drop him off at my parents’ place for a bit. In lieu of any grandchildren, they were always thrilled to have their granddog to visit. They’d ummed and ahhed over the years about getting a dog themselves, but they did quite often like to drop everything and go and do something, which, thanks to Sally, sometimes involved little trips abroad. A dog wouldn’t really work with that lifestyle, so they stuck to what they knew and just enjoyed Humphrey’s visits.

‘What have you been up to then, love?’ Dad asked, as he tucked my arm into his, my other one was holding Humph’s lead, his toenails tapping on the pavement as we began our walk into the next village and the food fayre.

‘Well, last night I went dancing.’

‘Did you, darling?’ Mum leaned across from the other side of Dad. ‘What, at a club?’

‘No. Those lessons I was saying about.’

‘The lessons you’ve been talking about for years?’

I wobbled my head. ‘Yes, all right. I took a long run-up.’

Dad grinned and gave my arm a little squeeze. ‘So, how was it?’

‘Good. Jess and Harry have started too.’

‘Oh, that’s nice.’ I could hear the bright tone in Mum’s voice and knew there was something else. ‘Did you go with someone else too?’

‘Nope. Just me.’

‘So, who did you dance with?’ Dad asked.

‘I danced with the delightful Mario.’

Mum’s head popped back around dad again. ‘Mario?’

‘Yes.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’

Mum gave me a look. ‘I might be old, but I’m not daft. Spill.’

The hot breath from my laughter billowed into cooling clouds in front of me as I replied. ‘There’s nothing to spill.’

‘He’s called Mario. Of course there is!’

Dad tilted his head towards me. ‘She’s always had a thing for Italian men.’

‘I have not!’ Mum gave him a little push.

Dad slid his eyes to me and waggled his brows.

‘OK, what do you want to know? Remember I only met him last night though.’

‘So, what do you know about him?’

I gave a shrug. ‘He loves to dance, he came over from Italy six years ago, works in graphic design, is very astute when it comes to people and has a wicked sense of humour.’

‘Is he good looking?’

‘Yep. Very. Tall, dark, Italian. The whole caboodle.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’ I tried to ignore the hopeful look on Mum’s face.

‘Are you seeing him again?’

‘Yep. Next week at class.’

‘Not before.’

‘No.’

‘Why not? It sounds like you got on well.’

‘We did. But he’s my dance partner. That’s all.’

‘Darling, I know you’re happy with Humphrey, but I don’t want you to think that just because some things haven’t worked out, that there isn’t hope.’

I caught Dad’s eyes and rolled my own. ‘I don’t think that, Mum.’

‘Good. Good. So, you like this Mario?’

‘Yes. He’s very nice. We went out after class to a bar for a drink.’

‘You did?’

‘Yes. Me and Mario and Jess and Harry. And Andy.’ Time to put Mum out of her misery. Or plunge her into it. Either way, it had to be done.

‘Andy? Was he from dancing too?’

‘No. Andy is Mario’s partner.’

Dad snorted a laugh which he expertly morphed into a cough. Mum absentmindedly patted him on the back.

‘Thanks,’ he mumbled, keeping his eyes diverted from mine. We were the big gigglers in our family. Sally and Mum had a level of control Dad and I had entirely missed out on. We both knew that if he looked at me now, it was over.

‘Partner?’

‘Yes.’

‘As in… boyfriend.’

‘Yep.’

‘Oh. Well. That’s nice. And what was he like?’ Mum said, trying to recover from the disappointment.

‘Really lovely, actually. Much quieter than Mario, but they fit well together.’

‘Good. Good. Well, it’s nice that you have someone you like at the class. I imagine Jess and Harry are quite tied up with each other. I just didn’t want you being left out.’

‘I wasn’t left out, Mum. It