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‘Nothing wrong with ht’
‘You shouldn’t be so quick to put your hand up for call’
Darcie grumped, ‘Says the woman orks more hours than the rest of us’ Then she cheered Ally up with, ‘You can et back to town As of thisfound her own place’
‘Great, that’s cool’ Darcie was fast becoht about it But right this ood to have a friend onside when she was feeling ner picture This was the loneliness she’d learned to cope henever she’d been shuffled off to yet another foster ho people who’d always eventually packed her bags and sent her away
‘You still there?’ Darcie asked
‘Did you get called in today?’
‘I’ve just finished an urgent caesarean, and I’ to eat’
‘I’ll leave you to it, then Thanks for the bed I’ll definitely take you up on that’ After saying goodbye, she shoved her hands deep into her jacket pockets and began striding to the farthest end of the beach, feeling better already Being alone wasn’t so bad when there were people at the end of a phone At least this way she got to choose which side of the bed she slept on, what she had for dinner, and when to move on to the next stop
A ball caht for her and she lined it up, kicked it back hard, ai a foot at it andit better
‘Girls can do anything better’ She grinned and continued walking a fewhappier by the loomy out here? The beach was beautiful, the air fresh, and she had a new job in theWhat else could she possibly need?
The sun began dropping fast and Ally stopped to watch the a the sky and water into oneHer throat ached with the beauty of it
Thud So solid slammed into her For a ht she’d keep her balance But another shove and she toppled into an ungainly heap on the sand with the heavy weight on top of her Aof no y breath sprawled across her
‘Hey, get off ht onto her backside
One paw shoved her back down, and the dark, furry head blocked out all vision of the sunset The rear end of the anih the air
‘Sheba, come here’ A male voice came from somewhere above them ‘Get off now’
Sheba—if that was the naave Ally’s chin a final lick and leapt sideways, avoiding an outstretched hand thatfor her collar
‘Phew’
Her relief was pre lay down beside her as close as possible, and farthest away froed down on her stos
So ‘Sheba, you’re funny’
The sweet childish sound of pure enjoy up to look round for the source A cute little boy was leaping up and down, giggling fit to bust
‘Sheba Sit now’ The ’s behaviour
Ally stared up at the guy looht I’m fine, really’ She even smiled to prove her point
‘I’m very sorry Sheba bowled you over She doesn’t understand her own strength’ As he glanced across at the child his annoyance was quickly replaced by soe her’
‘But it’s funny, Dad’ The boy folded in half, still giggling
Ally clarinned ‘What is it about kids and giggling? They don’t see the boyhad loped across to bu
nt hihter threatened to bubble up from deep inside her stomach
The guy was shaking his head, looking be’
Ally winced Slapping the sand off her left hip just made it sore Sheba must’ve bruised her
‘Are you all right?’ the ise again I hope you haven’t been hurt’
‘Look,’ she used his word back at hi playful and if I hadn’t been staring at the sunset I’d have seen her co’ She stuck her hand out ‘I’m Ally That’s Sheba, and your boy’s called Adam You are?’
‘Flynn We’ve been visiting friends all day and needed soht’ He looked at her properly, finally letting go the need to watch his boy and dog ‘What about you?’
‘Much the same The beach is hard to resist when the weather’s so bal her hands over the sleeves of her jacket, she s at him But it was impossible to look away
Despite the sadness in his eyes, or because of it, she was takingon the beach usually entailed The stubble darkening his chin was downright sexy, while that tousled hair brought heat to her cold cheeks If she played her cards right, could this be thewith?
She glanced doard, taking in his athletic build, his fitted jeans that defined uy’s hand and she had her answer A band of gold Said it all, really
‘Can I call you Ally?’ Adam bounced up in front of her
Blink, blink Refocus on the younger version now that the older one was out of bounds ‘Of course you can’ As if they were going to see each other again Though they ht his son to the beach often She’d be walking along herebabies and talking to pregnant mums