Marriage Reunited

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He looked up just then and caught sight of her. ‘Uh-oh,’ he said to Toby. ‘Looks like your time’s up!’

‘I’m in bed,’ Toby declared, somewhat unnecessarily.

‘So I see,’ said Georgia, coming into the room and trying not to notice how inviting the space on the bed next to Mac looked. ‘Good boy!’

‘Mac said I should. He said it would be…what was that word again, Mac?’

‘Politic,’ said Mac with a grin.

‘…he said it would be politic if I was in bed before you came up,’ Toby finished guilelessly.

Georgia suppressed a smile at the earnestness in his face as she sat on the edge of his bed. ‘Did he explain what that meant?’

Toby screwed up his face in an effort of memory. ‘That it would make life easier for me if I did what you wanted?’

‘Sounds like good advice to me,’ she agreed, and glanced at Mac, who had swung his legs on to the floor and was watching her, amusement glinting in his navy blue eyes. ‘It’s made life easier for both of us.’

‘Maybe you should take my advice more often,’ said Mac with mock smugness.

‘Oh, you’re an expert on childcare now, are you?’ said Georgia, keeping her tone light in front of Toby.

‘I’m an expert in making life as easy and as comfortable as you can make it under the circumstances,’ said Mac. ‘It’s called making the best of things.’

Yes, he’d always been good at that, thought Georgia. He was good at living for the moment, at living each day as if it might be his last. He didn’t do worrying and planning the way she did. He didn’t agonize about what people thought, or waste any time feeling torn between conflicting demands.

He would have made a lousy woman.

Georgia turned back to Toby and tweaked his nose affectionately. ‘You might as well make the best of things now and go to sleep. You’ve got school in the morning.’

‘I’m not tired,’ said Toby automatically. It was a point of honour never to admit that he was tired, but he seemed quite happy tonight to snuggle down under his duvet.

‘Goodnight, Toby,’ said Mac, reaching down to ruffle his hair gently, and Georgia had to close her eyes for a moment against the tantalising effect of his nearness.

It was a relief when Mac moved away. Leaning forward, she kissed Toby gently on the cheek. He didn’t kiss her back, but it was a big step even to get this far, and Georgia was always very careful not to push it.

‘Sleep well,’ she said.

Mac watched her from the doorway, touched by the combination of tenderness and awkwardness she showed with Toby, and shaken by a contrasting memory of Georgia sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling as she leant forward to kiss him. She acted so cool, but her lips had been so soft, her body so warm.