Total panic ensues, with Dom taking on the persona of a zombie-like creature and chasing the kids, and them dodging his flailing arms while they squeal, scream, and laugh hysterically. As soon as their parents arrive, Liliana dashes to the door and lunges at her father.
‘Tommy broke a bowl, Daddy,’ Liliana says, as soon as she is high up in her father’s arms.
‘I smell ice cream,’ her father says with a straight face.
She covers her mouth. ‘Tommy ate ice cream.’
‘And you didn’t?’
She shakes her head vigorously.
Jake looks at me. ‘My daughter is such a liar.’
‘You can say that again,’ Dom mutters.
‘Why does my son smell of cat food, Uncle Dom?’ Layla asks.
Dom coughs.
‘Because Uncle Dom let Tommy eat cat food,’ Liliana says.
‘How much?’ Layla wonders.
‘Maybe one mouthful,’ Dom admits sheepishly.
Layla grins. ‘Actually, I think you coped brilliantly. Much better than I thought. What are you doing next Sunday?’
Dom actually takes a backward step, and everybody laughs. Even BJ joins in at the terror on Dom’s face.
After they’ve gone, Dom closes the door and turns to me. ‘Do you want to have sex in my brother’s flat?’
‘No, I don’t. But you can take me to dinner and then have sex with me at my place. You won’t believe what I’m wearing underneath these boring old clothes.’
His eyes brighten. ‘What are you wearing?’
‘It’s a surprise.’
‘Let’s go,’ he says, and bundles me quickly out of the apartment.
NINETEEN
‘I’ll go feed the parking meter,’ I offer, opening my bag and getting my coin purse out.
‘No, stay in the car. I’ll do it,’ Dom says.
I shake my head. ‘Dom, it’s just there across the road. I’ll do it,’ I insist, and, opening the passenger door, get out.
I cross the road, put enough coins into the machine for two hours of parking time, and get a receipt. When I look up, I see that he has got out of the car and has his forearms resting on the roof as he stands looking at me. A breeze blows at his hair and he smoothes it down. He is so gorgeous I still get butterflies in my tummy just looking at him.
I grin at him and step onto the road. There’s a loud blare from someone’s horn, and I wake up from my little dream world where only Dom and I exist. I turn my head and see a white van coming, so I quickly step back onto the pavement.
The van passes, and Dom comes back into my sight, no longer casually resting his forearms on the roof of his car, but standing with his hands at his sides and staring at me in disbelief. His face is white and his mouth is hanging open.
‘What?’ I mouth, shaking my head.
A car goes past. The road becomes empty and I run across it.
‘What?’ I ask again.