‘I didn’t do too well at school.’
She opened up the box again and tore off one of the large slices but the topping slid off as she attempted to raise it to her mouth. ‘How on earth do you eat this?’
‘Not like that,’ he said, and he showed her how to fold the huge triangle.
‘I haven’t had pizza from a box in years...’ Abe mused as he took his slice. ‘Or rather decades. Jobe used to take Ethan and me over to Brooklyn when we were small. We’d sit on the pier...’ His voice trailed off and he was incredibly grateful that she didn’t fill the silence that followed so he could just sit and hold the memory for a moment as they ate quietly. ‘This pizza’s good,’ he commented.
‘It’s better than good, it’s incredible.’ And made more so when he went and poured two generous drinks from a decanter.
‘Cognac?’ he offered.
She had never tasted it before and, given for once she wasn’t working, Naomi took the glass when he handed it to her.
‘Wow,’ she said, because it burnt as it went down. ‘I doubt I’ll have much trouble getting back to sleep after that.’
‘That’s the aim,’ Abe said. ‘You can rely on my father to have the good stuff on tap.’
‘What did you think of the baby?’ Naomi asked as he sat down. Not on the sofa but on the floor, leaning against it.
‘It’s very loud,’ Abe said, and she laughed.
‘She’s gorgeous. What are you getting her as a gift?’
‘Already done.’ Abe yawned before continuing. ‘My PA dealt with it and got her some silver teddy.’
‘I did all the shopping before I came,’ Naomi said, ‘though now I know it’s a girl I’m sure there’ll be more. Are you excited to be an uncle?’
He raised his eyes, somewhat disarmed by her question.
Abe really hadn’t given being an uncle much thought. Since he’d heard that his brother had got Merida pregnant it had been the legalities that he’d focussed on—making sure the baby was a US citizen and ensuring Merida couldn’t get her hands on any more of the Devereux fortune than the baby assured her.
Only, lately, Merida seemed less and less like the woman Abe had been so certain she was.
In fact, Ethan looked happy.
He didn’t say any of that, of course.
But if you are going to do pizza by the fire on a snowy December night, you do need to do your share of talking, and so he asked her a question. ‘Do you have any nieces or nephews?’
‘No.’ Naomi shook her head and then let out a dreamy sigh. ‘I actually can’t think of anything nicer than to be an aunt.’
‘Do you have any brothers or sisters who might one day oblige you?’
She shook her head.
‘So you’re an only child?’ he casually assumed, and then watched as for the first time colour came to her pale cheeks.
‘I don’t have any family.’
He saw the slight tremble of her fingers as she put down the crust of her pizza.
‘None?’ he checked.
‘I count Merida as family,’ she admitted, ‘but, no.’
Yes, she and Merida were close, but Naomi was very aware that though they were best friends, Merida was far more of Naomi’s world than the other way around.
And that said nothing against Merida. But she had parents, albeit awful ones, and a half-brother and half-sister, and cousins and grandparents.