Adam’s Boys by Anna Clifton Read Free Book Online Page A

hesitant, but within a minute or two they became more fluid. Then smiling a small smile of quiet contentment, Pete was soon transfixed as each of the ingredients combined to form a smooth, pearl-like lustre.
    Adam gazed at Pete in sheer wonder, uncharacteristically happy in the company of his new school friend. And what was there not to be happy about? For with every passing minute Adam was discovering that Henry McCarthy was a seriously great kid. Whatever Abbie had done in raising him, it was nothing short of magic.
    Had she had any help in parenting him though?
    There was Aunty Maeve of course. He suspected Abbie’s aunt would have played a big part in raising her grand-nephew. For Adam knew that Maeve had embraced her role as mother to her niece when Abbie’s mother had died and her father had abandoned her to that god-awful foster home when she was little more than six.
    As for Henry’s father, Justin had told him years ago that the guy who’d come into Abbie’s life soon after he’d gone home to the UK had shown no interest in the baby born out of their unplanned pregnancy. Yet despite the early setbacks, Henry was living proof that Abbie had tackled single parenthood with her usual zeal.
    â€œHenry’s pretty good at cooking, isn’t he, Dad?” Pete declared happily as Henry began to fill the patty-pans without spilling a drop.
    â€œHe sure is,” Adam agreed readily. “Who taught you, Henry?”
    â€œMy mum. She’s really good. Do you cook at home?” Henry asked, turning to Pete.
    Pete shook his head. “We have a cook.”
    â€œNo way!” Henry shouted. “That’s so cool.”
    â€œI’m not sure you’d like Pete’s cook,” Adam offered reassuringly. “She makes him eat a lot of vegetables.”
    â€œYes, and muesli with sultanas. I hate sultanas!” Pete declared.
    â€œDo you have other people working for you?”
    â€œAt home with my grandparents—six.”
    â€œSix!” Henry echoed in wonder. “We couldn’t even fit six in this house.”
    â€œI like your house,” Pete said in a matter of fact tone. “And you’re lucky because you have a cool mum who teaches you how to cook.”
    â€œWhere’s your mum?”
    â€œShe died when I was a baby.”
    â€œOh that’s bad,” Henry replied sincerely. “But you have a dad—I wish I had one of those.”
    â€œSo what else does a cool mum do, Pete?” Adam asked, uncomfortable about Henry chatting about the lack of a father in his life when Abbie wasn’t around to put a check on her son’s forthcoming nature.
    â€œCool mums do stuff like taking you fishing, teaching you how to cook and telling funny jokes,” Pete offered decidedly.
    â€œYeah, my mum does all that. But she does other stuff too,” Henry elaborated. “She’s really good at making up songs with silly words. They are so funny!” Henry then erupted into peals of laughter, clearly calling to mind one of his favourites.
    â€œYep, that sounds like a cool mum,” Adam muttered, contemplating the lighthearted side to Abbie that Henry described with such jubilation—the side he’d never given her a chance to show him during their three short weeks together.
    The boys didn’t hear his response because they were now laughing uproariously at the fact Pete had managed to splatter cake mixture all over his shirt and tie. Adam was soon resigning himself to yet another load of washing in the next twelve hours.
    But as his thoughts drifted around those domestic duties that were a never-ending avalanche in his life, Adam watched the two boys interacting happily in their own little world. And as he watched them, he became steadily convinced that nurturing his son’s friendship with Henry McCarthy for the short time they’d be in Australia might turn out to be the healing medicine he’d been