Chapter 14

Leah woke up to the sound of music coming from downstairs. After getting showered and dressed she made her way down to investigate. Finding Dot and Jon dancing around the living room wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting but couldn’t help smile at seeing them happy together again. As she made to go to the kitchen unnoticed she was spotted by Dot and then pounced on in a group hug. “Thank you Leah. You’re an angel, we’ve done a lot of talking and we’re going to see a specialist about getting over the baby,” Dot smiled at her. Leah waved off her thanks saying it was nothing and headed into the kitchen with them. “Sorry about last night, I don’t know what I was thinking,” Jon said to her a little embarrassed. “Don’t worry about it, it’s forgotten now,” Leah replied with a smile. “So Leah, Jon tells me your into Richie,” Dot startled Leah with her words, she looked at them both trying to think of something to say while turning pink. Dot and Jon laughed at her reaction, they didn’t need an answer to see what was obvious. “Well as long as you don’t hurt him or Ava, they come as a pair, then that’s fine by us. Plus you helped us out so that makes you part of the family. I don’t think we need to worry about you,” Jon said in mock warning. Leah didn’t know where to look and feeling embarrassed she excused herself telling them she promised Ava she would take her surfing.


Before she got the chance to knock on the door, it had already swung open to reveal Ava standing ready to go in her swimsuit. Shouting goodbye to Richie she grabbed Leah’s hand and they began running towards the sea. Leah was impressed at how quickly Ava mastered standing on the board and began to take her further into the water. She had been expecting it to be awkward especially after her comments last night, she definitely thought there would be some questions asked that she didn’t particularly want to answer. It was a pleasant surprise that she was enjoying spending time with Richie’s daughter, it also reminded her of her own childhood and playing in the sea. Eventually the sea calmed and the waves weren’t having much of an effect on the boards so they drifted out a little and just enjoyed sitting on them, occasionally splashing each other so as the fun factor wouldn‘t disappear. Feeling like they were being watched Leah turned towards the beach to see Richie walking towards them.


After Jon had apologised to Leah his next stop was to explain everything to Richie. They had spent the best part of the morning discussing what had happened. On the way down to the beach Richie spotted Ava and Leah straight away. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Leah, she looked so good out there in the sea and he couldn’t help notice how great she looked in her bikini too. “That woman is a godsend Richie,” Jon said breaking Richie’s thoughts. “If it wasn’t for her I don’t know what would have happened to me and Dot. You should definitely ask her out, I think she really likes you.” Richie looked at his friend unable to decide whether to tell him about the night in the hotel or not but it was too late, Jon recognised the look on his face and told him to spill the secret. After telling him, Jon seemed more excited than he was, “What’s up? You should be happy about it.” Richie shook his head, “I don’t know where I am with her, we got interrupted by Heather and then she spent the last two months avoiding me until last night.” Jon looked confused, “What happened last night?” Richie was unsure what to tell him and decided on the half truth, he told him about the baby she lost but didn’t let him know that it might not be possible for her to have another one. “I feel like such an idiot! I’ve been harping away about how bad it is to her and she knows all about it,” Jon said annoyed at himself. “She chose not to tell you so she must have her reasons, don’t beat yourself up about it you couldn’t have known,” Richie reassured him. Jon made his way back to the house and left Richie to go down to the beach alone.


Seeing him arrive, Leah and Ava started paddling back to the beach. Ava began showing off her new tricks for her dad to see before coming off the board and pulling Richie into the water. “Leah, you need to show my dad how to surf, he’s rubbish in the water. Will you please?” Ava beamed up at Leah. Richie began to protest bringing up the problem that he had no board when Leah passed him hers. This was going to be fun. “Well looks I don’t have a choice in the matter,” Richie said as he whipped off his shirt and threw it back on the sand. Leah couldn’t help but stare, he looked so heavenly without it, the tan he had was showing off his stomach muscles in the best way possible. Hoping he hadn’t noticed her staring, she got back to business instructing him how to sit on the board. A simple task to Leah, this was proving difficult for Richie to master, already toppling over three times. Stepping in to help, Leah held onto the board while Richie tried to keep his balance. He finally managed to stand up for a brief second before falling backwards, attempting to stop him from hitting the water, Leah jumped up trying to grab an arm to steady him but failed miserably. Both of them tumbled over the board and under the water. Leah was a little shocked at emerging from the water with a pair of shorts in her hand. Richie was a little more shocked at finding his had vanished. Both looked utterly dumbfounded as to what had happened before realisation kicked in that the thing Leah thought was an arm had turned out to be Richie’s shorts which had somehow managed to come off during the tumble. Laughing hysterically, Leah threw Richie over his shorts. He was looking rather embarrassed until he saw that Leah and Ava were doubled over in laughter and began to see the funny side. Deciding they had spent enough time in the water, the three of them headed back to the house to make dinner.


On arrival they found the house was empty and the others had left a note saying they went out for dinner. Raiding the cupboards for something to make for dinner proved a difficult task. They looked as though they had been visited by a hungry army. Settling on some bits and bobs that they found and cooked up, they sat down at the table for dinner. Leah was worried it would be awkward spending time with just the two of them but was surprised at how easily they all got along. The conversation was flowing and Leah and Ava spent most of the time teasing Richie about losing his shorts. Before they knew it the meal was finished and they were washing up in the kitchen while Ava played in the garden. Richie washed the dishes while Leah dried them. “So you going to take me surfing again?” Richie asked Leah with a grin. “I wouldn’t quite say you were ready to surf just yet, you were like bambi on ice out there today,” Leah teased. Richie finished up the last of the dishes and turned to face Leah, “What if I told you I can surf, but I was wanting you to teach me. What would you say to that?” Leah looked confused, “I would say you must be nuts! Why would you do that?”
“Oh I think you know why. Although if I knew you were planning on stripping me I probably would have just asked you out to dinner,” Richie said, laughing and moving closer to her. “How dare you accuse me of that! If you’re pretending you can’t surf then how do I know it wasn’t part of your plan to kick them off?” Leah teased him. Richie moved closer still, placing his hands on the counter at either side of her locking her in. “You’re just going to have to take my word for it,” he smiled. Then his lips came down to meet hers. They brushed softly at first, then more passionately as Leah’s lips parted to welcome his tongue, tasting each other and feeling the desire burn inside them. Just at that moment Leah heard a door open and pulled away from Richie. Both of them turned to find Ava standing with her arms folded in the doorway watching them. “I told you that you’s fancied each other,” Ava spoke with a tone that reminded Leah of her mother when she had been proved correct about something. Leah and Richie both laughed through their embarrassment. “Well I better go now, its getting late. Goodnight,” Leah said smiling at Ava and waving before kissing Richie on the cheek and making for the door.