A/N A quick update to thank you for all the interest and comments. This book is just ourside the top 100 in romance, which is a big thing for me. Hopefully a few quick posts will see me break that ceiling! Views, votes and comments really help, xxx

Chapter Twenty One

The Discovery Center had a few exhibitions; Nate loved the aggression of the Vikings, skipping through the exhibits with a grin on his face. What he lacked in understanding, he made up for with enthusiasm. Though Lizzie had noticed Oscar looking longingly at the door that led to the costumes of Star Wars display.

"You wanna go in there?"

He shrugged, "Nate's a bit young to enjoy that."

She brushed that off, "not at all. He'll love it...and I can tell that you will."

And so went another hour of boys enjoying their time. She liked Star Wars, but Oscar's insistence in pulling off the voice for every character as he passed the costume was above and beyond normal fandom, but it made her laugh. When they finally emerged into the dark damp evening, Oscar led them all to a cab, which took them to a diner not far from the hotel.

"They do THE best hotdogs here Nate."

Seven words guaranteed to make a little boy smile. Lizzie rolled her eyes as Oscar was swamped by the boy and catching her reaction he gave her an over cocky smile back.

But the diner he'd picked WAS spectacular, she had a huge sandwich filled with pickle and pastrami and a dozen other very American things. Washing it down with root beer, her new favourite drink. He sat opposite wrinkling his nose at that. She chuckled back, and so this non verbal teasing continued. Nate was gushing over the hot dog that was bigger than his head, and a treat of a fizzy drink, and the waitress refilled their drinks without them noticing, and it was yawns from the little man that made them check the time.

"I promised you a big ice cream, but I don't have to work tomorrow, so how about we go somewhere special for the biggest ice cream tomorrow?"

As Lizzie expected, Nate was torn, in her experience, children had no concept of tomorrow, he'd rather be sick and fall asleep in an ice-cream now...so Oscar pulled out his phone and showed him images of the biggest sundae that Lizzie thought she'd ever seen, and the boy was hooked.

Back at the hotel, the beers from the previous night were still in the fridge, but Oscar reached for Lizzie's arm as she started to take Nate to bed."Got some beers, but I'm going to order some wine from room service, ok?"

She nodded, "that's good."

Nate was in his pj's and tucked in bed within about fifteen minutes, and as she gave him a good night kiss, she heard a knock at the door. When she emerged, Oscar was wrestling with a champagne cork.

"That's not the wine I was thinking of."

He laughed, "determined that we don't have a crap night tonight. I'm sorry about last night."

Lizzie sighed, "don't apologise, you are right, we need to work things out, but it's so much easier to just bury your head in the sand."

He nodded, "that's usually my tactic too. But I've spent two days trying to work on a solution. Not sure whether anything will change, but I'm getting a call back tomorrow...that will shed some light. Can we not talk about it until then?"
Lizzie sighed with relief, "that sounds like a good plan."

At that moment, the cork popped out of the bottle, and he laughed trying to pour it into the glasses beside him, before spilling it everywhere.

"So I thought," he offered as he led them to the sofa, "that we could just sit, talk...be those friends?"

She nodded, "that sounds like a good idea."

He sat down and she lowered herself to the opposite end of the sofa, "so, have you heard from your parents?"

That shocked her, it was the last thing she expected to hear, "I haven't. Not since the funeral. But that's not unusual."

He was watching her, "I find it incredible really, that they don't spend time with Nate, let alone you."

She laughed, "you're saying that Nate is cuter and more loveable than me?"

That made him blush, "not at all...it's just that I know my parents are loopy about Elena and Riley."

"You've told them, about Nate."

He nodded, "my mother is desperate to meet him...I think she'd be at your house with fifteen minutes notice."

She rolled her eyes, "they live two hours away."

"You know what I mean."

She sipped at the dry, sparkling drink, "so you're surprised that my parents aren't as enthralled? They are. They were always pleased to see him when he was with Janis, but she was top dog."

He frowned, "it just doesn't make sense. Not to me anyway."

It was still something that she hadn't got used to herself, despite the fact that it had been happening for years, so her blasé and flippant attitude was fake. As she looked at Oscar he seemed to know that.

"Sorry, should mind my own business...no one's family is perfect, we've had that conversation before."

"How did you come to live in the States?"

Oscar smiled at her, then sat back and told her how he'd been jealous of his sister being in University in the States. So he applied after university for a job with a large hotel company based in New York. He'd met Coop when he was a student a few years earlier, they'd kept in touch, and after visiting him for a weekend, moved out of the city and based himself upstate.

It was a simple story to him, but he could sense wistfulness in her manner.

"It wasn't anything special, no drama really."

She nodded, "to you. I just spent my whole life doing what I thought my parents wanted. I'd have loved to just take a job overseas, get out and do it. I just never had the chance."

This is your chance, he wanted to shout out, but it wasn't the right time, instead he shrugged, "we all make difficult choices."

She was contemplative as she sipped at her champagne, and he would've given anything to read her thoughts. Instead he smiled, "so tell me about Manchester, normal life. I mean I saw the chaos after all that had happened with Janis. Who are you friends? Where do you hang out? Do you have a boyfriend?"

He was sure he'd asked her that before, but as things were getting closer between them, the last thing he wanted was an irate man invading his world, kicking off.

BULLSHIT! That internal voice almost chided him, and he felt himself blush at the truth.

Lizzie's laughter dragged him from the internal battle as she sighed, "not that many friends outside of work, plus I generally look after Nate evenings...but there's Vicky, she visits often, or when Janis had a weekend off I went to visit her in Liverpool. No boyfriend...ha ha ha."

He looked up at her sarcastic laughter and raised an eyebrow, "who's going to date a woman who has zero social life..." she laughed again. "And even worse social skills?"

He glared at her, "social skills? You are talking about yourself?"

Shrugging she scooped her feet up under her, suddenly regretting that outburst for its honesty. "You are one of the loveliest people I've ever met, funny, friendly...kind, gentle, caring. But you have lived in the shadow of your sister for two look, both figuratively and literally. That's something I can help with." When she only blushed, he sighed, "Janis was attractive, she had a love of live...but nothing like you. She was a shadow of you Lizzie, I swear. Janis was Nate's mother, yet it seems she gave up nothing...you did all that. I am going to make that up to you."

Lizzie wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to do that, but they were talking, not arguing, and it felt nice. Oscar leaned over to top up her glass, then fell back against the cushions, his hands behind his head. His blue eyes never left hers and she felt a little self conscious in his scrutiny. He didn't say anything for a long moment, merely watching her.

"What?"

He smiled, "nothing. Just thinking...that's all. We'll have a full day tomorrow. Our flight isn't until six, ok?"

The thought of a day with him filled her with anxiety, but a large part of her wanted to give a beaming smile, she liked his company, he treated her equally, as though she was important, and it felt like a long time since that had happened before...if ever.

Oscar enjoyed watching her as she remained deep in thought. First she blushed, then she seemed to glare, then she was wistful. He hated not knowing what she was thinking, but he loved her expressive face, she wore her emotions on her face and her heart on her sleeve.

As he thought that, Coop's words came back to haunt him. Did he see her as more than Nate's "mother"? Was he just looking for a safe family unit? Was eh offering Lizzie more than he was able to give? Could they be co-parents and still remain friends?

He was so bloody confused, so he did the best thing, topped their glasses up. Lizzie looked more relaxed, so he kicked off his shoes and raised his feet to the edge of the coffee table.

"Are you coming back to Manchester with us next week?"

He looked up from his position lounging and shrugged, "I'm planning to. But I should have a call in the morning, that will let me know where I stand...I'm hoping that things will change now, and that I can come with you, but I have to be realistic, after all I am an employee. What about your work, when are you going back?"

Her face paled and he could tell that she didn't enjoy her job, "I've had special leave kind of on a compassionate basis, but when I go back, I'll be on the sick...my GP is happy to let me stay home for a while, it's important for Nate..."

He leaned towards her, "and you. You dealt with everything on your own, and the stress from that is enough to flummox even the strongest person. So go easy on yourself...and let yourself grieve."

He loved the light chuckle that graced her as a response, "I think that I did enough of that a few nights ago."

He grimaced immediately, "that was MY fault. Taking out my insecurities on you...I am trying to be a grown up now."

The chuckle became a laugh as she snatched words through her mirth, "is that an apology? A confession that you were wrong? Can I just video this on my phone for the future?"

His mouth dropped open in mock indignation as he slipped a hand behind his back. It shot out taking her completely by surprise, and gripped a cushion tightly. As he swung his arm, the pillow connected with the side of her head and she involuntarily let out an 'ooof' as the move took her completely by surprise. He doubled over in laughter at that, and then missed the retaliation in her eyes. With a grunt, she lashed out with one of the cushions next to her and caught him on the crown of his down turned head.

That led to all out warfare, she got in a few shots, but he was faster and stronger than her, and the effort of half a dozen close range thwacks with the pillow had her short of breath and exhausted. Oscar laughed manically as he towered over her.

"You think you can retaliate?" He put on a hilarious villain voice as he hovered above her brandishing the pillow menacingly.

She squealed, trying to get to her feet when he pounded her head. As she laughed, she reached out and elbowed him in the ribs firmly. That saw him exhale in a rather uncontrolled manner, and he collapsed panting on top of her.

Lizzie stared up at his contorted face as he struggled to catch his breath; how the hell did they get into this position? One minute they were talking, the next they were horizontally aligned. Her mind flitted back to the snow, to how they'd been in this exact position then, and it had triggered Oscar storming off. She couldn't deal with that happening again...but he wasn't angry, he was smiling, his eyes focussed on her.

She opened her mouth to protest, this was all wrong...when his head lowered, and his lips stole the words.

SHIT! He's kissing me!