Inside the hotel the air was uncomfortably warm. Presumably the heating had been turned up to accommodate the elderly relatives. Zoe pulled her coat tighter about her despite the heat.
She felt Max's hand on her elbow, steering her towards the large room behind the reception desk. The door to which was ajar, the glimpse of people beyond making the breath catch in Zoe's chest.
"Fuck..."
She exhaled, the word only barely audible to Max who walked by her side.
"Manners..."
He whispered, leaning into her. Someone pushed open the door as they neared it, a large man with a round belly, bald head and flushed cheeks.
"Max!"
The man exclaimed, clapping his hands together with a loud slap as he caught sight of them both, making Zoe jump.
"Your mother thought you weren't coming..."
He placed a thick fat hand on Max's shoulder, coming to a stand still in front of them.
"And is this...?"
He looked from Max to Zoe.
"This is Zoe..."
Max smiled as he spoke, an over-whelming feeling of something...relief? Rushing through him. He could introduce her as his own, she was no longer a secret.
The man before them pushed his glasses further up his nose and reached out, taking hold of Zoe's hand and shaking it vigorously.
"Very nice to meet you!"
When he smiled his eyes glittered and as he shook her hand his stomach wobbled beneath his shirt.
Zoe smiled, a slight dip of the head, thinking briefly of father Christmas.
"I'm just popping out..."
He spoke before Zoe had a chance to speak, he withdrew a cigarette packet from his pocket and tapped the side of his nose, his eyes sparkling again.
"You know what your mothers like..."
He slipped the packet back into his trouser pocket.
"Want to join me?"
He looked between the pair of them. Zoe shook her head slightly and Max reached instinctively for her hand.
"No...thanks...trying to quit."
Max squeezed Zoe's fingers, the man they spoke to looked serious for the briefest of moments, looking to Zoe.
"Ah, I see. Say no more!"
He tapped the side of his nose again and fished about in his other pocket for a lighter.
"I'll leave you too it, your mothers inside."
He moved around them, fiddling with the lighter and moving hurriedly back towards the entrance.
Zoe turned to Max, eyes widening, her body stiff inside her clothes.
"Step-dad."
He lowered his voice as he spoke. She recalled those blue eyes, the twinkle in them, she'd seem them before in Robyn. It hadn't occurred to her that Robyn would be here too...
He let go of his hand briefly to shrug off his coat, watching as she extracted herself carefully from her own, the skin of her chest was flushed and she took hold of his hand with veiled urgency.
He held open the door to the main reception room for her, leaning back against it so that she could walk past, raising an eyebrow as she did. Half expecting everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and just stare at her. Instead, they merely carried on with their various conversations, a few glanced up briefly, acknowledging their presence.
She felt the side of his body press against hers and slipped her hand neatly in the crook of his elbow. Feeling the soft cotton of his shirt, and realising for the first time how different he looked in a shirt and suit trousers.
She spotted Robyn by a long buffet table, she was talking to a lady in a wheelchair, reaching the bits and pieces that the woman couldn't reach and placing them on a round paper plate for her.
Max moved slowly through the room, guiding her, greeting various people quickly as they passed the buffet, Max reaching out a hand to squeeze Robyn's arm briefly before they arrived at a small seating area in the corner. An elderly lady sat in an wing-backed arm chair, a king Charles spaniel neatly perched on her knees.
Next to her a woman sat chatting to another elderly relative, oblivious to them.
Max moved away from her without warning, she didn't catch what he said but as he said it he leaned in, kissing the smiling old lady with the spaniel on each cheek before moving back again just as the woman next to her looked up, a smile instantly recognisable as Max's own spreading across her lips.
"Hello!"
She stood up, embracing Max, gold bangles swaying and clattering about her wrists as she hugged him, her hair was dark and pulled back from her face in a half-attempt at a bun that seemed to have slipped to one side, wisps of hair curling at her jaw.
"Zoe?"
She asked over his shoulder, smiling again, moving seamlessly from Max over to her, placing her hands on Zoe's upper arms, her eyes, like Max's were blue and tinged with mischief.
"Yes..."
Was all Zoe could manage before being drawn into a hug.
"Oh!I'm his mother!"
She exclaimed, as if only just remembering who she was herself. She laughed as she spoke and stepped back to admire them both.
"I've heard a lot about you..."
Zoe spoke before she had time to think about what she was saying, instantly regretting the cliché words she uttered.
Max's mother seemed amused, she smiled thoughtfully.
"Jean!"
She turned to the elderly woman with the dog.
"This is Max's girlfriend, Zoe..."
She glanced back at Zoe, realising she hadn't caught her surname.
"Hanna..."
Zoe offered, watching as Jean strained to hear. Slightly caught off-guard by the term 'girlfriend'.
"Hannah?"
Jean asked, squinting at Zoe through a pair of smudged spectacles.
"No...Zoe."
Max's mother corrected, bending down closer to her, raising her voice.
"Oh...who's Hannah?"
Jean asked, tilting her head towards them in that way that the hard of hearing have.
Max's mother rolled her eyes.
"She's a consultant!"
She added, Max nudged Zoe as she spoke, dipping his head briefly to kiss her bare shoulder.
"A what?!"
Jean asked loudly. Max's mother wafted a hand about, rolling her eyes again and turning back to them.
"She's a bit deaf..."
She explained, touching her ears to illustrate her point. Zoe nodded slowly ,glancing back to Jean who was now busy feeding the crumbs of a sausage roll to the dog.
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Jenny...not just his mum."
Jenny looked at Max as though she were searching for a stray hair in a soup. She had that look about her, that look of otherness, of eyes that see things much too far, and of thoughts that wander off the edge of the world.
"You've put on weight."
She said eventually, without a hint as to whether this was good, bad or she was merely stating a fact.
Max glanced down at himself, flattening a hand across his stomach.
"You've met!"
A fat hand came down on each of their shoulders. Robyn's dad pushed himself between them.
"Brian!"
She smiled despite the clipped tone of her voice.
"Where have you been?"
Jenny asked, she folded her hands across her chest, feigning ignorance.
"Fresh air..."
He coughed as he spoke, the dry hacking cough of a lifelong smoker.
"Is that where you found them?"
Jenny asked, looking from Max and Zoe, then back to Brian.
He shook his head and Zoe felt him pull her gently against him so that she wobbled off balance briefly.
"They're quitting."
He spoke as though he were letting slip a well kept secret. Zoe felt the gaze of Max's mother move from Max to her, travelling down her body and resting pointedly on her stomach. She felt the urge to breathe in.
"Are they now..."
Jenny asked, raising an eyebrow.
More soon, and on the other story too. Battling with a very strong-willed 3 year old doesn't make evenings very writing friendly xxx