As soon as Laura woke up on that Wednesday, she remembered about the message she’d received from her father just late the evening before. Texting her at that time had seemed so out of character, but then her dad had been behaving rather oddly over the last few weeks.
Last weekend had been a good example, when he’d arrived unannounced early on a Saturday morning, something which he’d never done before. He’d made out that he had been passing on an urgent shopping errand, but clearly, that had been just an excuse to tell her about the new girlfriend. Laura hadn’t understood at first why he hadn’t just told her over the ‘phone. After all he’d been on his own since her primary school days, and she knew that he’d had discrete relationships over the years. And then there he had been, standing awkwardly in her small kitchen like a nervous teenager. She’d put the kettle on, and they’d sat at the breakfast bar together making small talk though he hadn’t touched the coffee she’d made him. In the end she’d asked him what his plans were for the weekend and it had been like flicking a switch on. He’d started talking about this amazing girl he’d met and how she’d introduced him to folk music. She’d promised to take him to a festival, and even to take him interrailing if he was up for that. Laura had sensed something unusual about this new girlfriend and cut straight to the chase.
‘She sounds very up to date with everything, dad,’ she’d smiled. ‘How old is she?’
His hesitation had given her the answer before he spoke.
‘Emilia’s about your age, Laura,’ he’d said, before adding, still beaming at her, ‘Well, a couple of years older.’
There it was then. He’d added almost immediately that he would have to be going as he was already late to pick ‘Emmy’ up for a day festival. He’d given Laura a quick hug as he headed out of the kitchen door. As always, when her fiancé Daniel arrived back from the shop with some fresh croissants, he had been a patient listener. She’d tried to explain her mixed feelings to Dan. She was happy for her dad, honestly, she told him. After all, he was the one who had picked up the pieces and glued his little family back together again after her mother had left them to it. Her dad had brought them up so well and he certainly deserved to have some fun now that her brother was settled, and she and Dan had announced their engagement. And yet that didn’t stop Laura feeling squeamish about him taking up with someone her own age. She didn’t like to think about how other people would be laughing about him behind his back, and that included her friends.
So now Laura sat up in bed to re-read her dad’s message from last night. He’d been asking her if she fancied a coffee as he knew that she was working a late shift that day. Would she have time at eleven? He had a little proposition that he wanted to put to her. It would have been unkind to say no and Laura replied briefly to say she would be there. She even added the ubiquitous smiley face, though she felt a faint unease for which there was no suitable emoticon. Her dad usually worked Wednesdays, so whatever he wanted to talk to her about must be important to him.
Later, as Laura approached the cafe with its comfortable armchairs and cosy corners, it occurred to her with horror that her father might have decided to bring ‘Emmy’ along without asking her first. Her mood lifted as soon as she opened the door and spotted only her father seated at a table with a latte and caramel shortbread in front of him for each of them. Soon they were chatting away about their weeks so far. Her father enquired after Dan and Laura told him how hard Dan was training for next month’s charity 10k. Her father leant gently towards her to tell her how much he admired Dan for having a go, adding that he would make a good husband and maybe, one day, a good father.
Nice though that was to hear, Laura wasn’t quite sure how to continue with the conversation, and neither was her father it seemed. She wondered if he was waiting for her to ask after Emilia. Or might he be about to raise the subject of her wedding? Laura very much wanted it to be a traditional all-trimmings event. She had hoped that her dad might be keen to pay something towards it, but it didn’t seem tactful to raise the subject directly. Instead, she nibbled the edge of her shortbread and stirred her latte thoroughly to fill the silence.
Then her dad sighed a little and leant further forward before he spoke. ‘Well as I said, I do have a little proposition for you … it’s to do with your wedding, Laura.’
Laura looked at him directly. She tried hard to keep her expression neutral whilst musing on how large an amount he might be about to offer her.
Then she realised that her father had started gushing about something quite different; about Emmy and how much he adored her to be precise. Yes, he was explaining, he knew there was a considerable age gap between them, but it turned out that they were kindred spirits. They had only been together for a short while, but already they knew and understood each other so well. He felt full of hope for the future. In fact, he and Emmy had even been talking about having a baby together. He knew she’d love to get to know Emmy properly, so he wanted to tell her his plan. He was going to ask Elly to marry him over a romantic meal that evening and then invite everyone to a little engagement party at the weekend.
Laura struggled to maintain her best impassive face whilst her father continued rather breathlessly:
‘Laura, I know you and Dan are starting to plan your wedding. And I know how expensive these things can be. I wanted to see if there was a way that I could help you to have the most wonderful celebration. So, I was thinking, how about a double wedding? That way we could hire a fabulous venue. I thought I’d run the idea past you before I see Elly tonight.’
And now her father was looking eagerly at her as if he’d been suggesting the most delightful scenario in the world. She could manage only to say something non-committal and smile at him as brightly as she could as she wished him luck that evening. Then she forced herself to drink more of her latte and eat the rest of her shortbread before casually checking her phone. She feigned surprise at finding an invented message from Dan supposedly asking her to pick him up from work because he wasn’t feeling well.
Afterwards she had been still so agitated that she’d found herself driving towards Dan’s workplace as if the message had been genuine. She’d ended up parking near to Dan’s office and messaging him. She’d told him that he must pretend to be off colour if her father contacted him about a party. She would explain all in due course.
As it turned out, she never needed to tell Dan the whole story. There was no party that weekend at her dad’s place, no message from him to tell her that Elly and he were getting married and no glimmer of that fairy tale double wedding he had dreamt up. Her father never referred to their café conversation again and Laura felt gratitude towards Elly who had presumably turned down his proposal. How would she ever have coped with having a mother-in-law who was her own age? How could she have stood watching her father cooing over a half-sibling the same age as the baby she planned to have once she and Dan had tied the knot?
After that weekend, Laura was immensely relieved to get on with organising her wedding to a sensible budget. Even so she felt a trace of sadness for her father. He appeared to give up on dating, and he took to calling round regularly to help with any DIY projects they had on the go. In time he was to strike up a relationship with a middle-aged woman he’d got to know at the pub quiz he and his colleagues began competing in each week. He and Kate had made a well-matched couple, she thought, although they’d never embarked on any long-term commitment or even moved in together. As the years went on, Laura became aware that her father never spoke about the future again with any flutter of excitement. Occasionally she remembered the spontaneous, happy man who had emerged for that short time in the café from the chrysalis of her dependable if rather dull father. It was then that she hastened to reassure herself that her father and Kate were surely more than content with the easy routine of their semi-detached lives.
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