Right Here Waiting for You: A brilliant laugh out loud romantic comedy. Rebecca Pugh

her and Esther for a roast dinner, and it felt nice to have company. Esther had told Harry to sit down beside her and was having fun making him watch all her favourite movies. Sophia had hardly heard a peep from them since.

      ‘Now wouldn’t that be nice? They’d be true childhood sweethearts, wouldn’t they?’ Sophia’s face was melting from the heat. The kitchen window was steaming up and she swung round to open it. Fresh air rushed inside, bringing with it cool relief.

      Michael was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, watching the children through the doorway. He’d made numerous offers to help with the cooking but Sophia had turned each one of them down. There wasn’t much longer to go now, thank God. Any longer and there’d be nothing left of her besides a puddle on the floor.

      ‘How’s Harry doing?’ asked Sophia. ‘Is he sleeping better now?’

      ‘Yeah, seems to be.’ Michael ran his hands through his brown hair and shrugged, but Sophia knew it meant more than that to him. ‘No more nightmares, and he hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night for a while either. He stays in his own bed right the way through until morning, which is definitely progress. And he hasn’t had a bed-wetting episode for such a long time. He’s like a different kid these days.’

      Sophia smiled. She was pleased for him. For both of them. Michael had had a tough year since splitting up with his ex-girlfriend, Tanya, Harry’s mum. Michael had discovered she was having an affair with one of his best mates who he worked with as a labourer. After everything had blown apart and Tanya had packed up and left, Michael had struggled with suddenly becoming a single father, so he’d turned to Sophia for help and guidance. Not feeling like much of an inspiration in the parenting department, Sophia had tried to help him as best she could.

      Over the months following the separation, he’d muddled through, figuring out new ways of doing things with his son without Tanya by his side. Now, father and son seemed to be in a routine that worked perfectly for both. Harry went to bed on time, he allowed Michael to bath him without fuss, and the nightmares that had been plaguing him and causing him to cry out in the night had finally stopped. Alongside this, Michael was still able to work as a labourer, only now part-time rather than full-time. He didn’t mind losing the hours if it meant he could spend more time bonding with and caring for his son. It seemed the worst was over and it showed. Michael was happier, calmer and more at peace with life, himself, and the hand he’d been dealt.

      ‘Have you heard from her? Tanya?’ Sophia peered across the room at him.

      ‘Not a peep. I’m not expecting to hear from her, to be honest. The last I heard, she and Tommo were moving abroad together, Spain or somewhere like that. Good riddance, I say.’ He swallowed a mouthful of his drink before meeting Sophia’s gaze. ‘What?’ he asked, when he realised she’d been watching him.

      ‘Nothing,’ she shrugged, turning back to the pots and pans bubbling away. ‘I’m just happy for you. For both of you. It’s nice to see after how tough it was before. It’s like you’re finally free of it all and it shows.’

      ‘Thanks, Sophia. I really appreciate it, and all your help. It’s been hard work but I feel like we’re both in a good place now. A better place. I feel more than capable of being Harry’s father and of doing a good job of it.’

      ‘You do an excellent job.’ She meant every word. Anyone who didn’t know Michael personally would be more than likely to take one look at his appearance and judge him by it. Because of the physical work, he had a bulky and muscly physique. He often towered over people, and it could be intimidating. But inside, beneath all of that, he was kind, hard-working, and totally capable of love, despite not believing so himself. Just after Tanya had left, taking Michael’s heart with her, he’d turned up on Sophia’s doorstep with Harry. She’d hurried them both inside from the cold and, once Harry had joined Esther in the lounge, she’d asked Michael what was wrong. His whisper had been almost inaudible. ‘What if I can’t love him? What if I wasn’t made to be a father? What if I do it all wrong and end up ruining him?’

      It had crushed her heart to see him so broken down and with so little faith in himself. But now, radiating confidence and happiness, he was a pure joy to behold. Tanya hadn’t deserved such a man, Sophia had always thought as much, and she didn’t deserve Harry either. He was such a sweet little boy and finally seemed at ease with the adjustments to his life. He also adored Esther, and they were very good friends. Sophia would normally meet Michael and Harry outside the school gates in the morning and the little boy’s face would light up when he spotted Esther running up the path to greet him.

      They’d grown to be such good friends in the time they’d known each other, which had been about four years now. Michael and Tanya had been a firm couple when they’d first arrived in the town. Sophia had often seen them dropping Harry off at school together in the mornings. It wasn’t until Tanya stopped showing up at the school drop-offs that Michael had started to speak to her, which had made Sophia wonder if Tanya was the controlling type, not allowing Michael any female friends. He’d sidled up to her one morning with Harry and struck up a conversation about how lovely the school was, saying Harry had mentioned Esther at home and how much he liked her. It hadn’t taken long for the conversations to become a regular thing, and it became clear to Sophia that Michael wanted someone to talk to. He could be found standing by himself usually, not getting involved with the other parents chatting among themselves. But one morning, Michael had arrived and invited her to have a coffee with him in the café in the high street.

      At first, he had danced around the topic of his and Tanya’s relationship, as if afraid of getting too close to it, and Sophia had felt a bit bewildered by the whole thing, wondering what he was trying to get at, and if it had anything to do with Tanya’s disappearance from the playground. She hadn’t said anything though. She wanted Michael to tell her about what was going on only if he felt he wanted to. It hadn’t taken long for him to fully open up about it and, once he did, that had been the beginning of the end for the couple. After that, their meetings in the coffee shop were mostly focused around updates on Tanya and what she’d been getting up to behind Michael’s back.

      It had gone from bad to worse for Michael as he tried to come to terms with the reality of it all, but Sophia had tried to be there for him as much as she possibly could. That had been over a year ago, and a lot of progress had been made since then.

      ‘Have you thought any more about the school reunion?’ Michael asked as he took another sip of tea. He eyed her over the rim of the mug.

      ‘No, not really,’ replied Sophia, her back to him as she turned the food down slightly. She’d told Michael about the invitation earlier in the week but wished she hadn’t now. He was badgering her incessantly and it was beginning to drive her mad, mostly because she hadn’t yet made up her mind about whether she would be attending or not. ‘I think it could be fun and it would be lovely to see some old faces if they decided to show up, but… Oh, I don’t know. School wasn’t exactly the best time for me.’

      ‘Everyone says your schooldays are the best days of your life but I don’t think it applies to everyone. Mine were shit too, but don’t you think it would be interesting to see how your old friends turned out? Find out whether any of them became famous or, I don’t know, became millionaires?’

      Sophia laughed. ‘I suppose so, although I doubt, if any of them had become millionaires, they’d come back to little old Worthington Green for a school reunion. It’s hardly the place to be for the rich and famous.’

      ‘I still think you should go,’ Michael pressed. ‘We can go together, if you feel you want someone there with you? I don’t mind tagging along. I can be that plus one you mentioned.’

      Sophia gave the vegetables a poke with a fork while she gave the whole thing some more thought.

      It was kind of Michael to want to support her but he had no idea what had happened back then. It was more than simply going to a reunion and enjoying herself. It made her nervous and sent wings of panic beating in her chest. ‘Thanks for the offer, Michael. Just give me a little more time to think about it and I’ll let you know, okay?’

      She