‘Yes, it is my car, but your mother is right, mate.’ Seb shook his head. ‘I would have felt just awful if I had hurt your dog. I only just managed to turn away in time. Were you supposed to be making sure he didn’t make it to the road?’
There was a nod but, from the way the boy’s bottom lip was quivering, Seb took the initiative and moved to a different question. He was not used to children at the best of times and he certainly didn’t have the training to handle tears.
‘Tell me about the other dog. The younger one. Where does he live?’
The little boy glanced back towards Ella and Milou, twisted his mouth from side to side, made a decision, and replied in a big gush, ‘Milou is really old now, but Wolfie is a puppy and lives next door at the farm and comes to see us sometimes. Want to see where Wolfie gets through the fence?’
Dan’s eyes brightened and he clutched at Seb’s sleeve. ‘Maybe you can help fix the fence? That way Milou won’t squeeze out in the gap? Can you? Can you fix it? Please?’
‘Dan! Please don’t pester Mr Castellano,’ Ella whispered in a kind voice, but Dan had taken firm hold of Seb’s sleeve and clearly needed a reply.
Seeing as a working knowledge of hand tools and do-it-yourself carpentry were not skills that Seb considered priorities in software and communication systems design, he decided that mending fence panels was not a job he was qualified to undertake. Besides, Mr Ella Martinez would probably be back from his day job or whatever other task took him away from home on a Thursday afternoon, and could no doubt do a far better job.
So he replied with the first thing that came into his head.
‘Why not wait for your dad to come home and then you can fix the fence together? I’m sure he’ll do a far better job than I can.’
There was a sudden intake of breath from the tiny brunette sitting at the table, and as Seb glanced up her hands had stilled over the peas and her lips were pressed tight together as she stared intensely into the basket.
This was not a good sign.
Then Dan was shaking his head at him and tugging at his sleeve more urgently, demanding his attention.
‘My daddy is in heaven! And Milou is very naughty! Aunty Nicole is having a party. And there are going to be lots of cars and vans and things and that means…big trouble.’.
Dan sighed twice between these two final words and released Seb to lift both hands in the air.
Seb paused for a second in appreciation of the simple, devastatingly logical thinking of a small boy. Whose daddy was in heaven. And whose fence was broken, and probably had been broken for quite some time.
Perhaps he could apply the same simple childlike logic to the simple request for help? This was Nicole’s house. He was Nicole’s former stepson. In a strange way that sort of made him responsible in Nicole’s absence. Not that he wanted to be responsible but…?
Decision made. Seb swung his legs down from the recliner and nodded. ‘I can see that could be a problem. How about you show me how Milou made his escape? Then maybe between the two of us we can come up with a plan to keep him safe from now on. What do you say?’
The little boy glanced back towards Ella and Milou, twisted his mouth from side to side, made a decision, and said, ‘My name is Daniel. What’s yours?’
‘Well, back in Australia my friends call me Seb. How about that?’
‘Okay,’ Dan replied with a shrug as he meshed his little fingers into Seb’s open hand and tried to drag him off towards the barn.
Seb stood in silence and glanced down at Dan’s small fingers clasped tightly around his. He hadn’t been expecting that. Some of his team were married with children but the majority of the technical experts who worked with him in design were single men. He was not used to having children around him in his workplace or his daily life.
Especially children who insisted on holding his hand. He could not recall that ever happening before.
This was going to be a first. But he was up for new experiences. He could handle it.
‘Come on, Seb,’ Dan called out, and tugged at his hand. ‘Or Wolfie will break Milou out again.’
Ella watched as Seb paused for a second, dumbfounded, before closing his fingers around her son’s relatively tiny fist and walking slowly back out to the sunlit garden. Dan’s little dark head kept glancing up as he chatted nonstop about the fence and the gaps between the trees, and how his mum and Yvette had fixed them high on one side, but Wolfie had jumped on the fence when he came to see Milou and it all just went squish, and.
Seb nodded but did not reply. He had opened up a personal organiser one-handed and was probably looking for the telephone number of a local odd-jobs man at that very minute. This of course was what she should have done. If she had thought of it.
How could he get a word in? Dan had said more than enough for both of them.
Oh, Dan.
Ella hadn’t been expecting that outburst about his dad. Dan was wonderful with adults he knew, but he sometimes found it difficult to approach men. Especially strangers he had never met before.
She sat and watched the unlikely pair for a few seconds in silence. The tall business executive in the designer clothing, wearing shoes that cost more than her week’s wages, was giving his full attention to a little boy who was revelling in the simple fact that he had a man to talk to for once.
A man who did not have other children to deal with and play with.
A man Dan could talk to and keep all to himself. Even it was only for a short while.
And her heart broke for her fatherless child who would never know the love his father had felt for him. One day she might find someone who loved both her and Dan, but in the meantime she could only hope that Dan did not become too attached to Seb in the short time that he was going to be with them.
Perhaps having Seb in the house for a few days was not such a good idea after all?
SEB turned over in bed, pulled an overstuffed pillow over his head and decided that there was no way he could go back to sleep.
His body clock was still set on Sydney time, and it was too dark and quiet in his old room for his brain to calm itself long enough for sleep. His mind was still racing with the exhilaration of the events of the last two days and he had tossed and turned most of the night. Twice he had reached out to the bedside table and typed a couple of notes on his personal organiser.
He was totally exhilarated at the prospect of completing the deal with PSN Media—but more than a little frustrated that he had come all the way out here to see Nicole only to find her still on holiday. Both of which had conspired to rob him of sleep.
Seb tossed aside his pillow.
Back in Sydney Nicole was famous for being the least sporty person he had known, which was quite an achievement in that city. And now she was trekking in Nepal? She certainly had changed in the last three years—it would have been nice to catch up. But unless Nicole managed to get back to France in the next thirty-six hours, he was going to leave without seeing her. And he was sorry for that.
But now it was time to make a move.
Untangling himself out of the mess of twisted bedcovers, Seb tested the temperature of the cool floor tiles on his bare feet and shuffled across the room in his T-shirt and shorts to open the window. It would not take him long to repack his hand luggage.
It had made sense for him to stay here overnight but he could work a lot more effectively back in Montpellier with Matt and a hard wire connection