Ballet And The Beast

Chapter Fourteen

We arrive at the park and I see why Mason wanted to come. There's a huge park for Maddie to play on, a gorgeous lake with ducks, tons of breathtaking scenery and it's not too busy. On top of this, there's a person singing with his guitar which fills the entire place. I keep my sunglasses on and my head down, hoping no one recognises me.

We find a spot fairly close to the park for Maddie then get the blankets out to sit on. I don't think I've ever just been and spent a day at the park.

"Have you been to Bath before?" Richard asks me.

"No but I've always wanted to. I love the Roman architecture." I reply. "And just spending the day outside at the park is amazing, I've never done anything like this." I laugh at how stupid I must sound.

"You must have been to a park. Everyone has." Maddie states very matter of factly, clearly not believing me.

"Well I have been to a couple but I didn't get to play on them. It was for work." I tell her.

"Come on you have to come and play on the park with me, everyone needs to do it." She grabs my hand and pulls me up towards the park. The others just laugh as I'm pulled excitedly by a seven year old child.

"So what are we doing first?" I ask and she takes me over to a climbing frame.

"You need to climb up these rocks with the rope, run across the bridge, through the tunnel and down the slide. It's easy follow me." She instructs as we make our way up the rocks. I have to admit, I am having fun.

We spend the next hour or so in the park before she finally gets tired and we head back to the others. It didn't even bother me that I was the only adult on the climbing frame, it was nice to let loose and have fun.

"How was that?" Mason asks with a laugh as I sit down next to him.

"It was different." I joke, leaning my head against his shoulder.

"I couldn't tell who was enjoying it more. You aced the monkey bars." He mocks and I nudge his shoulder playfully.

"Thanks for going with her Brooke, she loved it." Linda tells me and I just smile in response. She really doesn't have to thank me, I've just had a great time.

"So where are you initially from?" Richard asks, capturing Masons attention as I don't think he knows either.

"Well I was born in London then when I was about eight we moved over to the states, only coming back for family events or work really." I respond.

"Oh wow, have you travelled a lot?" He asks.

"Yeah loads, I'm quite lucky really." I laugh thinking of all the places I've been.

"Yeah she's pretty much fluent in spanish just from being there so much." Mason adds in for me.

"You could teach Mason a thing or two, we went to Valencia last year and he could barely say hello." His mum laughs.

"It's not my fault they talk so fast." He defends himself and even Maddie laughs at him.

"Anyway, whose hungry?" His dad jumps in, rescuing him from the mocking torture.

"Always." Mason responds opening the cool bag and getting everything out.

"I don't know where he puts it." His dad jokes gesturing to his slim build.

"Those cookies are the best Linda." I gush as I finish one, not even caring how many calories were in there.

"It's a family recipe that's been passed down four generations now." She tells me with a sense of pride.