Mums Just Wanna Have Fun. Lucie Wheeler

that this wasn’t going to happen overnight. But it was difficult to not let the frustration seep in. She suppressed the feeling, as Jack sat down at the base of her chair and resumed his watching. Nancy walked over to the little boy. Sitting next to him she took Jack’s place and put her legs into the pool as he had done.

      ‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said. ‘Jack struggles a little bit with talking to new people.’ She smiled at the boy who smiled back, his whole face lighting up and Nancy couldn’t help but warm to his friendly nature.

      He shrugged. ‘That’s OK,’ he chirped. ‘I just saw him sitting on his own so didn’t want him to be lonely.’

      Her heart melted. ‘How old are you?’

      ‘Seven.’

      ‘Seven? Wow, you are very grown up for seven.’

      ‘That’s what my dad says; he says I’m like an old man sometimes.’ He giggled, and the sound was fresh, carefree and just how little boys should sound.

      ‘Well, I think it’s lovely that you wanted to make friends. Jack just finds it hard sometimes.’

      ‘Does he have friends at home?’ The little boy swished the water with his feet.

      ‘Not really.’ She shook her head. He had children he played with – or should she say, alongside – but that was because Nancy was friends with their parents. And at school he just kept himself to himself.

      ‘It’s OK; some people just like to be on their own.’

      Nancy looked at the boy, lost for words. How did this seven-year-old have such a mature outlook on life? She moved her gaze back to her feet in the pool, her brightly painted pink toenails making shapes beneath the water.

      ‘Is this a private party or can anyone join?’

      Nancy jumped slightly at the male voice behind her and glanced over her shoulder. She stared for a second at the tall man peering down at them and then realised she was staring at his chest which had some kind of tattoo on it. She coughed to regain herself as she diverted her eyes towards his face. He had a nice face with a cheeky smile, made slightly sexier by the small amount of stubble around his mouth – standard holiday stubble. He had the most gorgeous full head of blonde hair which was long enough for her to run her hands through. She batted away the thought the instant it fell into her head. Embarrassed, as though he could read her mind, she averted her gaze nervously.

      ‘Daddy! I was talking to this lady’s boy as he was sitting on his own, but he didn’t want to talk so the lady is talking to me now.’ He swished his feet again.

      Nancy panicked; she didn’t want this man to think Jack was rude. She stuttered a little. ‘Sorry, um, he’s just not very good at talking to new people,’ she added hastily.

      The man laughed and sat down on the other side of his son. ‘It’s not a problem, honestly.’ He smiled, and Nancy felt a twinge of attraction as he did. He had the most beautiful deep blue eyes. She was definitely an ‘eyes’ person, she was starting to realise. It was always something she noticed on people.

      ‘I take it you’re staying at this complex?’ He swished his feet in the water like his son and Nancy found herself smiling. ‘What?’ he asked, the smile spreading across his face.

      ‘You and your son do exactly the same thing in the water with your feet – the exact same movement.’ She realised she must sound like a right weirdo for noticing this fact, so she self-consciously added, ‘It was funny. And yes, we are staying here. Me, my son and my friend and her two little ones.’ She pointed over her shoulder and saw Harriet was back and sitting on the sun lounger next to Jack who still had his nose in the iPad. The guy’s face creased in confusion as he looked at them and Nancy added, ‘Her two are in the kids’ club. Jack, um, wasn’t too keen to go today.’

      The guy smiled. ‘I don’t blame him; I think I would rather be out in the sunshine too.’ He gave Nancy another friendly smile and she couldn’t help but smile back. ‘I’m Cameron, by the way.’ He pointed at his son. ‘This guy is useless at introducing me to people. Call yourself my right-hand man!’ He nudged him and the boy giggled again.

      Nancy found herself giggling. ‘I’m Nancy,’ she said as she shook Cameron’s outstretched hand. ‘My son is Jack and that’s Harriet, who is clearly listening to every single word.’ She pointed to her friend who looked up from her phone and waved, at which Nancy giggled again.

      Harriet always managed to look stunning. Even now, her black swimsuit was styled in such a way that she looked like she was about to step onto the London catwalk and her hair was poker-straight, with not a strand out of place. Her designer sunglasses and a chunky necklace nicely finished the look. Nancy – on the other hand – had on her trusty swimsuit of the last two years, a deep shade of emerald, hair pulled up into her usual mum bun and zero jewellery on. She wasn’t really an accessories person. Simple and easy was her fashion style, if you could call it a style. Usually Nancy was comfortable in her own skin and was happy being the less glamorous one in their friendship, but she felt a tad self-conscious right now with Harriet looking so presentable next to her own Mrs Plain Jane look, as she was introducing this hot guy. Maybe she should make a conscious effort to dress up a bit more, look after her appearance now that Pete was well and truly off the cards.

      ‘I’m not, I just heard my name.’ Harriet poked her tongue out and Cameron laughed.

      ‘Nice to meet you guys. And this is Aiden.’ He tapped his son on the leg. ‘Right Mr, it’s time we made a move. We have a waterpark to go to.’

      The little boy jumped up excitedly. ‘Yeah! Let’s go, bye!’ he called over his shoulder as he ran off to where his clothes and towel were.

      ‘It was nice to meet you, Nancy,’ Cameron said as he shook her hand again. ‘Hopefully I’ll bump into you again if you’re here for a while?’ Another huge smile, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth. He had one of those faces that instantly made a person feel relaxed and at ease.

      Nancy nodded. ‘We only arrived yesterday.’

      ‘I’ll see you around then.’ He saluted and smiled before running off to where Aiden was. ‘Last one to the room has to pay for dinner!’ he called and Nancy could hear Aiden’s giggling again.

      She pulled her feet out of the water to walk back over to Harriet, and she couldn’t help but smile.

      ‘Look at you all smiley. Does someone have a crush on the hot guy?’

      ‘Shut up,’ Nancy said as she plonked herself down onto the sun lounger.

      ‘I will not. I want to hear everything.’ She put her phone down.

      ‘I’m pretty sure you did – pretending not to hear and then making the rookie mistake of responding when we talked about you.’ She laughed and shook her head.

      Harriet giggled. ‘I know! I could’ve kicked myself. But I didn’t hear everything; I was at the bar remember?’ Harriet picked up Nancy’s new sangria and passed it to her. ‘I think you’ve earned this.’

      She took the glass, ‘What? For talking to some guy?’

      ‘Yes, for taking some time for you and enjoying yourself with a hot guy, something you haven’t done in I don’t know how long. It’s about time you forgot about that loser Pete and put yourself out there!’ She picked up her phone again and started tapping away.

      ‘Hari, I chatted to some guy, I’m not about to marry him. Or even date him. This isn’t an 18-30s holiday where I am looking to hook up and get my leg over. My marriage ended a year ago!’

      ‘Oh come on, you’re not exactly going to let Pete back in, are you? So why not explore your options?’

      ‘Hari, I am here for a holiday with my boy and my friend. Nothing else.’ She leaned back onto her sun lounger and pulled her sunglasses back down over her eyes. ‘And anyway, we’re too old for an 18-30s holiday.’