pick her up from school. She’s playing on my guilt.’
‘Really?’ Abi wasn’t so sure. ‘She can manipulate you like that at her age?’
‘You’d better believe it. She knows exactly how to play me. I think she gets that from her mother. She’s an actress and Summer has definitely inherited the dramatic gene from her.’
‘She’s an actress?’
‘Yes. And quite a good one.’
‘Is that why she’s gone to New York?’ Presented with the opportunity, Abi couldn’t resist asking some questions but she busied herself looking for napkins and plates so that Damien hopefully didn’t feel as though he was being interrogated.
Damien was nodding. ‘She got called in for an audition for a television series and, as usual, she didn’t worry about any pre-existing commitments, just dropped everything and went.’
‘Have you heard from her?’
‘Not directly. There was a message on my phone, asking me to collect Summer, but of course I was in Theatre so I didn’t see it. She’s never understood that I can’t monitor my emails or even check my phone constantly throughout the day. Brooke exists in her own world and has never made an attempt to put herself in someone else’s shoes. This isn’t the first time she’s changed plans without consulting me, but her world is all about her and she refuses to consider others, even her own daughter.’
Abi felt her sympathy for Summer strengthen. She knew what it was like to have a mother who did not have her children as a priority. Whether it was because they couldn’t or wouldn’t cope wasn’t the point. Either way it left the children feeling neglected and unloved and that was no way for any child to grow up.
‘Did she say when she’d be back?’
‘No. She wouldn’t consider that I would need to know that.’
‘But what about Summer?’
‘Brooke will expect me to handle it.’
Abi found the whole situation incredible. It was obvious that Damien and Brooke had some issues with their channels of communication but that wasn’t really any of her business—unless Damien made it a habit to involve her. At this stage she couldn’t get involved but that didn’t stop her from wanting to know more about their situation. She knew she shouldn’t care but Summer was so sweet and Damien was so gorgeous and she had to admit she was wondering what sort of woman would catch his eye. If Summer’s mother was an actress she was probably beautiful. There must be something special about her if Damien was letting her get away with treating him so disrespectfully, but in Abi’s eyes that didn’t excuse her behaviour, particularly towards Summer. Damien said it wasn’t the first time Summer hadn’t been collected. Why did he let her get away with it?
Damien had only talked about ‘Summer’s mother’, he hadn’t mentioned a wife. Were they divorced? Never married? What was the state of their relationship? Now and previously. Abi’s curiosity was piqued but she couldn’t ask those questions.
‘You didn’t ask?’ Abi wanted to know more but Damien wasn’t answering. He was watching Summer and Abi guessed he didn’t want the conversation to be overheard.
‘Summer, would you like to brush Jonty while we wait for our pizza?’ she suggested, knowing that Summer wouldn’t refuse.
‘She’s been asking for a dog but I really don’t think we have the time to devote to one,’ Damien said as his daughter headed downstairs to the utility room to look for Jonty’s brush.
‘I know. She told me,’ Abi replied.
Damien shot a glance Abi’s way, a worried look in his dark eyes. ‘What else did she tell you?’
‘Actually, she did tell me one thing that I think you should hear.’ Abi moved around the kitchen bench to take a seat at the counter beside Damien. She needed to tell him what Summer had said but she felt she needed to be closer. What she was about to say felt a bit like spilling a secret and she couldn’t do it from across the kitchen bench. It needed to be said quietly, as if saying it loudly would make it real. Although Abi had a suspicion that what Summer had told her was true.
‘She told me that her mother didn’t want her.’ Even repeating Summer’s words made Abi’s heart ache and seeing Damien’s expression just made it worse. He looked sad and resigned but not surprised, and Abi realised that her suspicion was correct. Summer had been telling the truth.
Damien was nodding his head. ‘I know. Brooke never made any secret of the fact that her career was going to come before anything else and we weren’t planning on having kids when she fell pregnant, but I always hoped that she’d embrace motherhood once the baby arrived. But Brooke has never bonded with Summer. She enjoys dressing her up and taking her out but she seems to think of her as an accessory rather than her daughter. A child takes a lot of time and energy and Brooke prefers to spend that time and energy on herself. I knew she didn’t want children but I still can’t believe that she’s told Summer that.’
In Abi’s opinion Brooke sounded nothing like the kind of woman she imagined Damien to have chosen.
‘What if she gets this job in New York?’
Damien shrugged. ‘I’ll worry about that then.’
He tried to sound relaxed and unconcerned but the reality was the idea terrified him. If Brooke got the offer of a permanent gig on the other side of the country, how would that affect him and, more importantly, Summer?
But Abi voiced his concern. ‘What if she wants to take Summer?’
‘I can’t imagine she’d want to do that. She really doesn’t have one maternal bone in her body.’ That had become perfectly clear in the demise of their marriage. ‘She has no time for Summer and Summer is definitely not Brooke’s priority. Unfortunately she doesn’t even try to pretend otherwise. But I will always do what’s best for Summer and I would fight tooth and nail to keep her with me.’
Damien hated the fact that he’d been unable to make his marriage work. He hated being a failure, even though he knew that he and Brooke were both to blame. But it was irrelevant now. Marriage was not something he intended to try again. His focus was elsewhere. Summer was his number one priority, followed by his career.
* * *
Summer was yawning as Damien finished off the last slice of pizza. He wiped his hands on his napkin and said, ‘It’s getting late. We’d better go.’
Abi and Damien stood up from the kitchen bench at the same time. They were inches apart and Abi could feel the air crackling around them, surrounding them in a field of electricity.
She could feel herself being drawn in by his eyes, so dark it was impossible to fathom what was going on behind them. She could see the shadow of the day’s growth of his beard, dark on his jaw and chin, and along with the strong straight line of his nose there was something totally masculine about him. He looked powerful yet she’d seen how gentle and kind he was with Summer. He projected strength but also sensitivity and he was utterly gorgeous to boot.
She forgot all her rules, all her reasons why she was single and staying that way. Damien had captured her imagination and she wanted to know more about him. Where he had come from, why
