“We can all play that game. If I hadn’t met you on the beach that summer, where would I be now? If you hadn’t left and woken us all up, what would have happened to our family?”
“I didn’t leave, Sean.”
“Sorry—you came to ‘feed the cat’.” He glanced at her and smiled. “You do know that from now on all you have to do is threaten to go and ‘feed the cat’ and I’ll be booking dinner tables and buying you elaborate gifts.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“I should probably warn you that the kitchen wall is now home to a giant spreadsheet. Alice allocates tasks for people.”
Liza winced. “That doesn’t sound like a particularly tasteful design feature.”
“It isn’t, but if it reminds them to do their share then it’s worth the visual pain.” He pulled over suddenly and parked in the gateway to a field. In the distance the sea was a streak of blue against the cloudy sky.
“Why are you stopping?”
“Because these last few days have been special and leaving here makes me nervous.” He turned in his seat. “I’m terrible at remembering anniversaries. There’s no excuse for that, and I’m going to do better. It’s one of my flaws, I know that. I can focus on work, but not have a clue where my blue shirt is. I try and approach everything calmly which I know drives you crazy because you work at a pace that would shame a racing driver, but here’s the thing, Liza—I love you.” He took her face in his hands. “I love you, and I have loved you for every one of the years we’ve spent together, even if I sometimes forget to mark the moment. And part of the reason I forget to mark the moment is because I feel lucky every day I’m with you and picking one day a year to celebrate is almost like saying the rest of it isn’t special. It’s all special.” There was no doubting the sincerity in his voice.
“Sean—”
“Let me finish—” He smoothed her hair away from her face. “Yes we’re swamped by things to do. My job is busy, having twins has always given us more than enough to do and you bear the brunt of it, and we both have constant demands on our time and we have to prioritize, but since when has our relationship come bottom of the list? It should be top priority, not bottom. It should be the first thing we pay attention to, not the last.”
“I know. And we’re going to do that.”
How had she ever prioritized washing Caitlin’s strap top over a conversation with Sean? How had they stopped prioritizing themselves? She made lists of all the things she had to do, but spending time with Sean where they did nothing but focus on each other wasn’t on that list.
Sean kissed her gently and then steered the car back onto the road and headed for home.
As they pulled into their road, Liza felt a flicker of nerves. It felt strange, being home, as if she’d been away for a lifetime even though it was only a matter of weeks.
But then the front door opened and Caitlin and Alice raced out to greet them, as they’d done when they were very young.
“Mum!” Caitlin grabbed Liza so tightly she couldn’t breathe, and Alice did the same.
“We missed you.”
“And not because we can’t find anything when you’re not here.” Caitlin finally released her. “You look amazing. That dress is cute on you. Is it new? Come inside, we’ve made a surprise for you both.” She and Alice glanced at each other and then ushered their parents through to the kitchen.
The house was sparkling, and the kitchen table was loaded with plates of food. Tiny finger sandwiches, scones, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies—
Liza put her bag down. “You did all this?”
“We thought you’d be hungry after your journey. Alice did most of the cooking. I did the cleaning.” Caitlin looked nervous. “I did the mirrors and even cleaned behind the bed in your room. And we’re going to help get ready for France. Alice and I are going to do everything, so you can relax.”
“Ah—” Liza looked at Sean. “We need to talk to you about that.”
Caitlin’s face fell. “We’re not going to France?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Because it’s too much work for you?” Alice looked anxious. “Is it our fault?”
“It has nothing to do with you. And this is all wonderful, as is the tidy house. I’m touched. Goodness, it looks delicious.” Liza reached out and picked up a cupcake. Were her girls really capable of this? She’d underestimated them. Or maybe it was simply that she’d never given them the chance. “But we do have some bad news about France. They called yesterday—they had a burst pipe and the downstairs is flooded.”
“Oh no!” Alice slumped onto the nearest chair. “But it’s our special time away as a family. We wanted to spoil you, and—can we find somewhere else? Caitlin and I can do a search.”
“That was our first instinct, but then we had a different idea.” Liza took Sean’s hand. “We have another plan, which I hope you’ll be excited about. It’s not France.”
“Not France?” Caitlin caught her sister’s eye. “But whatever you think would be fun, works for us, M