Author's note : First, I hope you enjoy reading this. I'm very interested in any feedback anyone has for me so please leave a comment or get in touch with any thoughts you have on what is good and what could be done better. All votes and comments are much appreciated.
*
Tom drummed his fingers absent mindedly on the armrest of his seat. Cursing his luck he checked the time again. Somehow he felt he should have known that having offered to pick up his wife's daughter from the airport that her flight would inevitably be delayed.
Still
, he thought,
better me sitting here than Kate, she's got enough to stress her out as it is.
The thought of his wife cheered him up as it always did.
They had found each other less than a year ago, both of them with failed marriages behind them and little hope ahead of them. Their paths crossed through work and from the first meeting there was a chemistry between them that kindled a thrilling few months where they rediscovered the joy of sharing their lives with someone. The days since he met her had been the best of his life.
Then, out of the blue, a few weeks ago Kate had received a takeover approach for her company. The money she stood to make from the deal would set them up for life, the opportunity was too good to refuse but came at the cost of a few months of frenetic meetings and negotiations. They knew the reward would be worthwhile but at times it seemed impossibly remote as the number of business trips and late nights increased. That was why tonight, when Kate was at home and had a free evening for the first time in weeks he had been happy to do the airport run and let her relax while she had the chance.
Her daughter, Claire, was returning from travelling around the world in a gap year of her studies. Consequently Tom had not met her before. Both having failed marriages, he and Kate had not had any desire for a lavish wedding and didn't feel they needed to wait on Claire coming home for the ceremony.
Tom perked up as he saw a swarm of people round the corner of the terminal. Getting to his feet he scanned the crowd and located the tired face of his step-daughter. She saw him thread his way towards her through the throng.
"Welcome home," he said, giving her a hug and a friendly smile.
"Thanks," she said, rubbing her dark eyes tiredly. "And thanks for sitting about to wait for me all night. I thought we would never get out of Prague, it was just one delay after another."
"No problem," he said, grabbing a bag in each hand and setting off toward the exit. "So how was your year around the world?"
The drive home passed by smoothly as Claire recounted various tales from her travels. Immediately before flying home she had criss-crossed various European cities, before that she had been in Egypt and Israel.
When they reached the house they found Kate had gone to bed early. Tom dumped Claire's suitcase in the hall, sank onto a sofa and stretched, muscles cramped from hours of sitting uncomfortably. Claire followed him in and headed to the kitchen.
"I need a drink to unwind a bit before I sleep," she said, peering over her shoulder at him. "Do you want one?"
"I better not," he said. "Early start tomorrow."
"I insist," she said, returning to the room with a couple of glasses and an uncorked bottle of wine. "You deserve it after wasting your evening."
"Alright then," he conceded. "Just one glass."
She poured two glasses and settled back into an armchair.
"I'm glad you two got together," she said. "Mum really needed a man in her life after all the years as a single parent."
"I'm glad too," he said. "Meeting your mother probably saved me from careering into a stereotypical mid life crisis."
Claire smirked knowingly. "How's she coping with the whole work takeover?"
Tom sighed. "She'll be fine when the deal is done but until then she''ll keep stressing herself over the details, wants to supervise everything herself and be everywhere at once."
"Maybe she's worried about letting go of the company, it's been her life for so long."
Tom shrugged and finished his glass. "Could be but when she closes the deal she'll be able to do what she likes, nothing to stop her starting up another one if she gets bored of a life of leisure."
Claire nodded and bent forward to refill his glass but Tom shook his head. "That's enough for me, I better get some sleep."
"Another glass wouldn't hurt," she said. "You've got plenty of time to sleep."
"I'm a terrible riser," said Tom, standing up. "Need all the sleep I can get, believe me."
Claire gave an acknowledging shrug. "Good night then."
"Good night."
* * *
Kate was busy cooking by the time Tom got back from work the next day. He walked into the kitchen and gave her a quick kiss.
"How was your day?" he asked, peering over her shoulder to see what she was cooking.
"Good, finally got Jones to agree to preserving all the supervisor jobs for 24 months. Boy can that man talk, I was on the phone for 3 hours. Food's just about done, can you set the table for me?"
"Sure, is Claire eating with us?"
"No, she's gone out to catch up with a friend," she said, dishing up two plates of chicken curry and moving to the table. "She seemed to think you were annoyed at having to wait for her last night."
Tom's fork paused on the way to his mouth.
"Really? Why?" he said.
"Said you shot off to bed and left her to it when you got in last night."
"Maybe I was grumpier than I thought," he said. "You know what I'm like in the morning, I wanted to get a good sleep in."
"I want you two to get on," Kate said wistfully. "We've never had a real family and I've always wanted her to have a father figure."
"I know," he said. "I'll apologise for being a grumpy old man."
Kate smiled wanly. "It's important to me."
"I know," he repeated, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand. "Tell you what, I'll phone her and offer to pick her up when she's on her way home to show I don't mind her being around."
Tom felt the butterflies in his stomach he still got every time a smile lit up Kate's face and thought playing chauffeur to her daughter was a small price to pay to get to see it.
"Thank you," she said.
* * *
Later that night Tom waited in his car for Claire to emerge from the bar she was in. After a few minutes she came out with a group of other young people, wearing a t-shirt at least three sizes too small for her. Waving to her friends, she sauntered over to the car and got in.
"How was your night?" he said as he drove off into the road.
"Fantastic, I didn't realise how much I'd missed everyone until now. I've met some fascinating people and had a lot of great times in the last year but it's just not the same as being around your old friends."
Tom glanced in the mirror as he turned into a side road.
"Planning on staying a while then?" he asked.
"Haven't decided yet," she said. "I don't want to be in the way."
"You wouldn't be, we'd both love to have you around. Speaking of which, your mother tells me I came across as annoyed last night. I really wasn't, just tired."
Claire gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have mentioned it, did she give you a hard time?"
"Nah, she's just anxious that we get on."
"It seems to me," she said with a grin. "In the interests of keeping her happy you'll just have to listen to me the next time I tell you to do something."
