‘Aren’t you full of great ideas?’ he teased, his eyes dancing into hers and making her come alive inside, heat, laughter and happiness all bubbling up. ‘I’ll arrange for our food to meet us there... Does mean I’ll be needing this though...’
He pulled out his phone and they both grinned.
‘For food, we can forgive you, Daddy.’ Then she hooked her hands in Sophia’s and Jack’s, tugging them back towards the car. ‘Hurry—the sky is still clear... I have a really good feeling in my...what is it Ms Archer says—waters?’
They all laughed. And, truth was, Sophia had a good feeling too. But it was less about the sky and more about her companions. Her smile behind her scarf grew, her cheeks aching from the effort. She’d never smiled so much before that it hurt; she hadn’t even known it possible. Not before the McGregors, before her life had started to feel so complete...
* * *
Jack knew of camping, glamping, caravanning...you name it, he knew of it...but never had he done such a thing.
He stared up at the roof of their bubble for the night and seriously wondered whether he’d lost his mind. It wasn’t that there was just the one room, the one bed even, it was the fact that a toilet trip required a dash into the depths of the forest, in the freezing snow with a torch for company. Plus, he was exhausted—all the fresh air, the lack of decent sleep these last few weeks and now...this.
‘Isn’t it amazing?’ Lily’s voice was breathless with wonder as she twirled on the spot beside him, her head back, her eyes on the darkening sky above.
He looked at the obvious pleasure in her face and forgot every negative thought. This was why he’d booked it. He could have booked a luxury lodge, a glass-framed house, anything but a solitary bubble in the middle of a forest, but this was what Lily wanted. A true experience under the stars with them all in one bed together, and he had to admit, after spending last night apart from Sophia, the idea of it made any amount of ‘slumming it’ worth it.
‘We’d best eat before you get too distracted,’ Sophia teased Lily as she rummaged through the bags of food that had been delivered and started to lay out a feast on the bed. Hams, cheeses, breads, fruit...more continental breakfast than evening dinner in Jack’s eyes, but so long as the women were happy.
Who was he kidding?
He was happy. As they sat on the bed munching away, their chatter so easy and comfortable, he was happier than he’d ever been. Happier than he’d even known possible, and he knew the cause was sitting right opposite him, her cheeks glowing in the soft light given off by the solitary lantern, her eyes bright and often locking with his, the hint of a smile permanently on her lips, save for when she was laughing and then her whole face lifted, the mood in the bubble right along with it.
‘Can we turn the light off now?’ Lily pleaded, pushing her plate away and trying to settle back on the bed.
‘Let me just get rid of these...’ Sophia started to clear everything away and he moved to help her, their hands colliding over the same dish. She smiled up at him, he smiled back, the connection holding them captive.
‘Ahem!’ Their eyes snapped to a stern-looking Lily, a giggle erupting from them both as she crossed her arms over her chest. ‘No kissing allowed.’
‘I wasn’t.’
‘I didn’t.’
They both said in unison.
The little girl raised her brow in total disbelief and Jack looked back at Sophia. ‘Well, I may have thought about it.’
Sophia laughed and pulled away, taking the piled-up plates with her and flicking off the light.
‘Oh, wow!’ It came from Lily, but Jack was thinking it, his eyes now lost to the skies above as he lay back beside his daughter and took it all in.
It was majestic, ethereal, out of this world. Stars glittered as far as the eye could see, and swirling arcs of mist-like patterns streaked across the sky, casting an almost eerie glow.
‘I feel like I’m in a dream,’ Lily said as Sophia lay down next to her, the three of them now in a row. He felt Lily take his hand, saw her take hold of Sophia’s too and pull them both onto her chest. ‘It’s perfect. This is perfect.’
It was. The perfect everything. And surprisingly comfy. He could already feel his body winding down, his eyes growing heavy as he worked his shoulders into the cushiony softness beneath him. He yawned and blinked rapidly, staving off sleep.
‘You should make a wish,’ Sophia murmured. ‘With all those stars above, it has the greatest chance of coming true.’
‘I will,’ Lily said with a bob of her head, her small hands squeezing at them both.
He turned his head to look at his daughter, watching her close her eyes, her face screwed up in concentration, and then she opened them. ‘Done.’
‘What did you wish for?’ he asked, his eyes catching Sophia’s over Lily’s head and knowing what he would wish for if he were six again and he’d lived a life where he could believe in such things. He’d make a wish for the thirty-year-old him, a wish likely to be very similar to Lily’s.
‘I can’t tell you that, Daddy. It won’t come true if I do.’
‘Of course, how silly of me.’ He smiled at her, his eyes lifting back to Sophia’s and pausing just long enough to let her know his own wish and hoping she too could share it.