Trying Not To Love You

Part Seventy Seven

Chapter Seventy Seven

Evie and Ethan in swim vests were like water nymphs diving in the pool, surfacing, kicking their way to the side then repeating. Martha leaned back her hands supporting her on the warm paving stones that flanked the pool, her feet in the surprisingly not cold water smiling as she watched them. Another idyllic moment she’d remember for a long time.

Hearing a sound to her right she looked up to see Mike emerging from the villa. Despite having stayed at their home many times, she rarely saw him in anything but a suit. He had a high powered job in the City and lived his work as much as he loved it. So it was more than a little disconcerting to see him striding across the patio in what only could be described as a pair of swimming briefs...brief briefs.

                “Bloody hell Mike!”

He laughed, “if you’re getting a tan, you’re getting a tan. You saying you won’t help with sunscreen on my back?”

Half turning he revealed the briefs were actually a thong.

                “I am never going to sleep again...” she laid a hand across her eyes in a faux dramatic way.

Laughing, Mike glanced at her with a smile before diving cleanly into the water. When he emerged the two youngsters were on him and Martha couldn’t help but chuckle as he bobbed under the water chasing both as the squeals echoed around the otherwise quiet and serene place.

After a few minutes he swam across to Martha and propped his elbows on the poolside beside her, “you ok?”

She nodded, “loving being here. Don’t want to go back.”

Mike kicked his legs out behind him, “I know, I feel like that too. The confines of the city versus this...”

She laughed, “the confines of clothing more like!”

Closing his eyes he turned his face up to the sun for a moment before dropping his eyes to her, “so are you going to leave when we do? You can stay here as long as you want?”

Martha had avoided thinking about the future, about what that would entail, she was living in the here and now, and that was as far as she wanted to think. Both men had tried to coax her into making decisions, but she was happier sitting back and acting oblivious.

                “Don’t know.”

He smiled, “surround yourself with people who would walk on hot coals for you. You deserve no less. If they aren’t willing to do that, to be EVERYTHING for you, then maybe you are better making a clean break? And if you don’t want to go back, to your father, to Sonny...well my sister is running a cafe for me, a kind of juice and sandwich bar in Manchester, right in the city. There’s a flat above, I can turf out the tenant, and theres’s a job that yours. If you need it. Ok? She’s always bleating on that she can’t find reliable staff. Don’t go back if you don’t want to. That’s all I’m saying. You have options.”

                “No sign of your shadow this morning? You really HAVE changed Sir!”

Sonny groaned as he entered the almost arctic kitchen. Lucy was sat at the kitchen table with a mug or tea and a half smoked cigarette, since he’d stopped smoking Sonny wasn’t happy with her smoking in his home, the wide open window was their compromise. Moving to the sink Sonny filled the coffee pot then started it up. He hadn’t slept again, the permanent headache he’d had for weeks showed no signs of letting up. When did life get SO bloody complicated? Now he had Lucy chirping at him. Again.