A Holiday For Everyone By Sue Moorcroft

To Jason, it all seemed so simple. But they were trying to add three and one, not two and two…

Nice room, eh, Shannon?” Dawn beamed. She was determined not to make an issue of sharing with her daughter, even though the holiday had been intended as a “next step” in Dawn’s relationship with Jason. They’d met at a party a few months ago and the sparks between them had almost lit up the room.

Jason wanted a shared future and it was delicious to feel wanted again after ten years divorced – but she’d never hurt fourteen-year-old Shannon.

Shannon grinned back as she dropped her backpack on a bed.

“Looks awesome.”

Dawn opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony, taking a deep breath of sun-drenched air.

“Gorgeous view! The older buildings in Malta look golden in the sunlight.” Shannon bounced out to join her.

“It’s loads warmer than at home. The hotel’s beach club is across the road, isn’t it? Can we go?”

“Soon, I should think.” Dawn was conscious that for once there wasn’t only herself and her daughter to consider.

Shannon did seem to like Jason and his three cheery, brown-haired daughters, Kelly, Christina and Kimberley. Kelly was just younger than Shannon and Christina and Kimberley older.

But they’d hit a bump in the road when Jason had said, “Shannon fits right in. We’d love it if you’d come to Malta with us. We go every year. Christina can share with Kimberley and Shannon with Kelly.”

It wasn’t the sun bouncing off the blue Mediterranean that made Dawn close her eyes now. It was the memory of Shannon’s white face as she’d answered stiffly, “I’d like my own room.”

Jason had scratched his head. “We can really only afford three twin rooms, sweetheart. It would cost loads for you to have a room alone.”

Shannon had blinked. “Then you share with Kelly. I’ll share with Mum.”

Parental sleeping arrangements were best not discussed in detail with teenagers and they hadn’t been able to cajole her into any other arrangement, except she’d offered to stay with her dad while the rest of them went to Malta, which Dawn had resisted. The last thing she wanted for Shannon was isolation.

Jason appeared on the next balcony, rubbing in sun cream.

“My lot want to go down to the beach club,” he announced.

“So do we,” Dawn said, happy that everyone seemed in accord.

“Race you there,” Shannon cried, spinning on her heel.

Before long, the four girls were splashing and shrieking in the pool while Jason and Dawn reclined on blue loungers drinking cocktails and gazing out to sea. Jason took Dawn’s hand.

“They’re mixing a bit. I don’t suppose Shannon will relent on the sleeping arrangements?”

She smiled at him over her sunglasses. “I know you’d have preferred we were together but it’s early days.

Let’s not make a fuss.”

He grinned. “OK. I’m used to my three being adaptable, I suppose. Shannon’s a typical only child.”

Dawn pointed out lightly, “Yours are typical children-with-siblings.”

The beach club was perfect. They could get snacks and drinks from the bar, swim, or just relax and watch white boats bobbing out to sea.

The four teenagers looked young and vibrant with their wet pony tails and bright bikinis but Dawn felt uneasy at the way Shannon seemed to keep herself apart, pale and shy where the others were loud and boisterous.

As if reading her thoughts, Jason murmured, “I know we haven’t talked to the girls yet about moving in together but with the fees associated with selling our houses, I don’t see how we could run to one with five bedrooms so each girl could have one to herself.”

“No,” she replied, giving Shannon a thumbs-up across the pool as she broke the surface after a neat dive.

“And it doesn’t seem fair to get mine to share when she won’t.”

“True.”

She smiled but her cocktail suddenly tasted sour. Jason was a good man, a factory manager with the responsibility to make things work. Shannon sharing with his daughter on holiday had made sense to him … and he was hinting that the same would be true at home.

But Dawn could understand that Shannon had her own room now, so why should she change?

Kimberley, Kelly and Christina shared. In their modest semi, Jason had knocked a double and a single into one, cleverly making use of the space to give them a bed and desk each. Shannon had gaped when she’d seen everyone’s possessions jumbled together and the girls sitting on each other’s beds.

Dawn realised she might have to put the brakes on Jason’s enthusiasm for making two families into one. Some of the warmth seemed to go out of the sunshine.

Later, they gathered their things to go back to their rooms and change.

“We usually go to the restaurant on the corner, first night,” Jason said.

“OK,” Dawn replied.

Shannon waited a beat. “If you like.” The meal was delicious. Dawn relaxed as the wine went down and the girls laughed and joked together. Shannon listened more than she spoke, but that was her way.

After the meal, Kimberley, whose nose was already looking sun-kissed, asked, “OK if we look in the shops that stay open late by Sliema Creek?”

“Of course,” Jason replied. But when

Shannon tilted her chin in a gesture Dawn recognised; her daughter was wary. Jason looked wrong-footed

they reached the corner where the traffic rumbled past and the black, slack water of the creek reflected golden light, he patted Shannon’s shoulder, slowing his steps so she automatically let the others draw ahead. “I’m glad we’re getting to know each other.”

“Why?” Shannon tilted her chin in a gesture Dawn recognised. Her daughter was wary.

Jason looked wrong-footed.

“Because I like you very much and I hope you’re going to fit in with my three.”

Shannon fixed her eyes dreamily on the nearest boat tied to the quay.

“In Citizenship at school we’ve been talking about democracy versus equality. In democracy, if five people vote yes and one votes no then the five get their way.” She switched her gaze to Jason. “But equality’s not about one person having to change in order to ‘fit in’ with everyone else because that suits the majority. It’s about everyone’s views being equally important.”

With a polite smile she followed the others towards the late-night shops.

The silence she left behind was loud. “I made a mess of that.” Jason sounded winded.

Dawn took his hand. “She’s right, though,” she murmured sadly. “I want to be with you but she’s happy as we are. It’s nice of your girls to be welcoming but what if that’s not what she wants? Why should she accommodate our happiness at the expense of hers?”

The eyes he turned on her were wounded. “Good to know your views.

Sorry if I’ve jumped on anyone’s corns.”

They followed Shannon to the shops full of beach dresses and straw hats and the rest of the evening passed with them being polite to one another. Dawn was glad she wasn’t sharing a room with Jason after all.

In the morning, he was sheepish. “I’ve hardly slept,” he murmured to Dawn in the breakfast buffet queue. “I didn’t mean to be insensitive to Shannon’s feelings. I’d just love us all to be one family.”

“I know, but we’ve gone about things the wrong way,” she whispered, shuffling aside to let a sunburned woman reach a yogurt. “We even brought her to a holiday destination you guys already know and love, but it’s just foreign to her. If blending our families is going to work, we need to show her she counts.” He looked at her in horror. “If?”

She nodded. She didn’t have to say she’d put Shannon first. He’d put his kids first if a situation arose that warranted it. That’s what parents did.

“I’m not trying to crowd you into acting a certain way, but at teambuilding meetings at work we’re always being told to listen to every member of the team, even the quiet ones.”

“Good point,” he said reflectively. “And if Shannon enjoys this holiday, maybe she’ll begin to enjoy being part of a larger family.”

“Maybe,” Dawn agreed, as they carried their trays to the table the girls had already claimed.

They sat down and when there was a break in the conversation, Jason said, “Dawn and I would like everyone to take turns choosing things this holiday. Want to go first, Shannon? What would you like to do after breakfast?”

Her eyebrows rose.

“Back to the pool this morning, then McDonald’s for lunch?” she suggested. Dawn pinched her lips together. Jason was not a burger fan! But if blending their families was to have any hope…

Smiling, he took Dawn’s hand beneath the table.

“We’ll do that. Then maybe Kelly can choose what we do in the afternoon and Kimberley and Christina tomorrow?”

Everybody agreed – except Shannon. “But that order’s illogical. Maybe we should go in age so that would make Kelly first, me next, then Christina, Kimberley and you and Mum.”

“That’s fair,” Dawn put in swiftly, keen that Jason should notice Shannon was not asking for special treatment. She just didn’t want to be overlooked.

But he was already nodding, brown eyes twinkling. “You’re a real diplomat, Shannon.”

Shannon flashed him a smile and her shoulders seemed to relax.

The conversation moved on but Dawn’s heart soared. The moment had been a turning point. Blending families was a slower, more complex exercise then she’d thought. Everyone had to adjust – including Jason. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to work.

“I think we’re going to have a wonderful holiday!” she sighed.

And everyone agreed. Even Shannon.

Sue Moorcroft’s new novel, SummerOnA SunnyIsland (Avon, HarperCollins), is available now in all formats. Paperback, £7.99. This sparkling summer read set in Malta will lift your spirits and transport you to sunny climes. Will romance bloom for Rosa and Zach – or will fate take them on a different path? A brilliant summer read to bring sunshine to your heart!