10

Alan zipped up his holdall and looked at Sophie, who was sitting on the bed watching him.

‘I’ll only be gone a few days,’ he said.

‘Take as much time as you need.’

Alan’s mum had fallen and broken her hip, and because his dad wasn’t in good health either, Alan had decided to go and stay with them for a few nights to help out.

‘Sorry to abandon my cowgirl,’ he said ruefully.

Sophie snorted. The children’s school was holding a barn dance fundraiser for parents that evening and they’d booked a babysitter weeks ago so that they could enjoy a rare night out together. They’d even ordered cowboy boots and hats online and had been having a hoot putting them on and gleefully ‘yee-hawing’ around the house, much to the embarrassment of the kids.

‘I’m sure I’ll find me a lonesome cowboy to dance with,’ she told him.

‘As long as he doesn’t sweep you off your feet.’

‘As if! Unless he’s Brad Pitt circa Legends of the Fall, in which case I need to tell you that I will be running off to Montana with him to live in a tipi.’

‘Fair play to you, love. Even I wouldn’t turn down Brad Pitt.’

They headed downstairs so that Alan could say goodbye to Tom and Katie, who had been making ‘get well soon’ cards for their granny. The kitchen table was covered in a sheen of glitter and torn up bits of paper and the children proudly handed their offerings to Alan. He hugged them both and they followed him outside and watched as he climbed into his van and, with a toot of his horn, disappeared down the road. Sophie couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent a night without Alan and felt strangely bereft. At least she had the barn dance to look forward to.

‘Tom, Katie, I’m going upstairs to get ready for this evening,’ she told them. ‘Do you want to come up and keep me company?’

The children grabbed their iPads and followed her upstairs and into the bedroom, where they flung themselves onto the bed to play games while Sophie hunted around for the hair straighteners. Thirty minutes later she was ready to go.

‘You look cool, Mum,’ Tom said, looking up and observing her plaid shirt, jeans, hat and cowboy boots ensemble. She gave him a thumbs up, sprayed herself liberally with perfume and headed downstairs to let the babysitter in. Once she had briefed the sitter and said goodbye to the children, she let herself out of the back door and through the gate into Angie and Jack’s garden so that they could walk to the dance together.

‘Howdy, pardner!’ she called to Jack as she entered the kitchen and saw him leaning up against a kitchen cupboard drinking a beer. He tipped his hat when he saw her and gave her a wink. Her stomach gave an involuntary little flip. He may not be her cup of tea, as she kept telling everyone, but he was a bloody good-looking man and he looked particularly sexy in his cowboy get-up. She looked away quickly and said loudly, ‘Angie getting ready?’