Helping Sarah

Chapter 30

Michael

"Are you ready?" Sarah's finger hovered over the doorbell of the red-bricked, two-storey house that was no more than ten minutes on foot from her flat.

Pushing back my hair, I breathed in deeply and tugged on my collar. Sarah had assured me that a tie would be too much, but I had chosen my best dark trousers to go with a freshly pressed, white shirt, buttoned all the way up to my throat.

I had never before met the parents of one of my girlfriends, mostly because there hadn't been many of those, and I was unaccountably nervous. Helen and Benji Graves might not be Sarah's real parents, but she thought of them as such.

I swallowed hard and tried to nod, but it was a rather stiff movement.

Sarah chuckled and reached up to undo the top two buttons, her fingers grazing the underside of my jaw. Then let her hands glide down over my chest. "Better?"

I nodded again, this time much easier and able to fill my lungs, but before I could kiss her, as I had wanted to since our last kiss, the door was flung open and Helen appeared besides us, again – or maybe still – grinning from ear to ear.

"Hi, Michael. It's wonderful to see you again. Please come in." She grabbed my hand and somehow the petite woman who was a grey-haired head lower than me managed to tow me into a large hall.

Looking over my shoulder, I was thankful to see Sarah following us, her eyes dancing. Well, she was used to Helen.

"Mummy." Charlie came racing from somewhere in the house with his arms held out towards his mother, his face split in a grin the exact replica of his grandmother's.

Sarah crouched down to hug him, but he didn't have time for more than a quick kiss on his cheek before he turned to me, held up his arms and demanded, "Up."

His loving mother rolled her eyes as she stood, but I complied and settled him on my arm. "Hi, Charlie. Did you have a good day at the nursery?"

"Yes, and Sammy throw stones and Miss Haines be mad. We have eggs for luns and I don't like boccoli and Gramma come for me."

I tried to keep up with his flow of words, but ended up simply nodding in what I hoped were the right places.

Helen laughed. "Easy now, Charlie. Give Michael and your mum a chance to arrive. Where's Grandpa? Will you tell him they're here?"

"Yes, Gramma," he said and wriggled until I put him down, then raced back the way he'd come, hollering for his Grappa.

"How's he been?" Sarah asked, hanging her jacket on a peg and then followed her mother-in-law into a living room with one long wall of overflowing bookcases opposite a long row of windows showing a garden filled with flowers.

"Perfect as always."

An indelicate snort escaped Sarah, but Helen only laughed. Then looked at me with gleaming eyes. She might as well have rubbed her hands together with a gleeful smile.

"I'm so glad you wanted to come today, Michael."

"Thank you for inviting me."

Helen gestured for me to sit on the sofa as she sat in the armchair opposite, her hands clasped in her lap. To my relief, Sarah sat beside me. "Sarah didn't mention how long you've known each other?"

"Er, not long."

"And how did you meet?"

No words came when I opened my mouth. As far as I knew, Helen and Benji had no idea about Lenny, and telling them that Sarah had hired a private detective was not up to me. I looked to my side.