Riverside

Mike’s appearance at the party raises a few eyebrows . . .

BODY-POPPING, hip-hopping street dance?” Ruby asked. “Mike? Are you sure?” Mary detected sarcasm in her friend’s voice.

“That’s what Susan told me,” she confirmed. “And Susan heard it from Dave, who saw Mike with his very own eyes.”

“But what exactly is it?” Ruby asked.

Mary looked around her to make sure that Mike was nowhere near before they carried on their conversation.

She couldn’t see Mike amongst those celebrating the first birthday of Mary and George’s granddaughter, but Sarah was having her nap and the adults were making the most of the drinks and nibbles laid on for the party.

Susan was expecting a couple of the other mums from the nursery to turn up with their toddlers, and in the meantime was fussing over the drinks.

“Is it true, Susan?” Ruby asked as Susan topped up their glasses. “I mean, about Mike doing the street dancing class?”

“It seems to be the reason he’s been disappearing every Wednesday afternoon from work,” Susan replied.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Ruby began, “but isn’t he a bit old for it? Surely he’s more of a hip-op age than a hip-hop one.”

She chuckled at her own joke.

“See what I did there, Mary?” She winked at her friend.

Mary and Susan exchanged a look before dissolving into giggles.

“There isn’t an age limit on wanting to dance,” Susan pointed out. “But Dave was surprised to see his dad there. He said it was just a bunch of kids on the dance floor and his dad was the oldest one by far.

“Dave said that all the young ones dancing were dressed in baggy trousers and oversized T-shirts and wearing baseball hats back to front.”

“Perhaps Mike’s doing it to keep fit?” Mary suggested, but Susan shook her head.

She leaned in to her mum and Ruby.

“Dave thinks his dad’s having a mid-life crisis,” she whispered.

The doorbell rang and Susan went to greet her friends from the mother and toddler group at the community centre.

Then Claire walked in with the other mums, holding toddler Brady by the hand.

She scanned the room looking for Sam, but was disappointed to see he wasn’t there. There was something she needed to speak to him about and he hadn’t been replying to her texts.

Just then, a hush fell over the room. All eyes turned towards the door.

Mary’s heart dropped when she saw who it was. “Oh, no!” She groaned. “My word!” Ruby gulped. Mike strode into the living-room with an affected swagger that made his baggy trousers wobble around his ankles.

His oversized T-shirt swung over his ample stomach.

“Dad?” Dave gasped. “You do know you’ve got your baseball hat on back to front, don’t you?”

In all the fuss over Mike’s attire, Claire left Sarah’s present with Susan and excused herself.

She really needed to speak to Sam and she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the party until she’d seen him.

She took Brady by the hand, but he wasn’t happy to be leaving a room full of people, and as they waited for the lift to the ground floor, Brady started crying.

“Party!” he yelled over and over.

Claire took her son back up to the flat where she lived with her parents and left Brady there. Her mum agreed only too happily to take Brady back to the party.

“Is there anything wrong, love?” she asked, for her daughter looked stressed.

“No, everything’s fine. I just need to go to the Ship for a quick word with Sam. I’ll be back soon.”

Joan dabbed on some lipstick and headed to the party at Susan and Dave’s.

At the Ship Inn, the pub was having a quiet afternoon. Sam was reading when Claire burst in through the door.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for ages!” she cried. “You haven’t been answering.”

Sam pulled his phone from his pocket.

“It’s been on the blink.” He sighed. “I’ll head into town for a new one just as soon as Jim comes back from the cash and carry.”

He looked at Claire’s face.

“What is it?” he asked, worried.

Claire lifted herself on to a stool and reached across the bar to hold his hand. She looked into his eyes.

“It was a false alarm,” she told him quietly. “I’m not pregnant.”

As Sam took the news in, he withdrew his hands.

“I guess this means it’s all over for us,” he said sadly, turning his gaze away.

“What?” Claire asked. “Why?”

Sam brushed a tear from his eye.

“You’ll not want to marry someone like me now you don’t have to.”

Claire grabbed Sam’s hands and planted a big kiss on his lips.

“I want to marry you more than anything in the world. That’s if you’ll still have me, of course?”

More next week.