7
That evening, they had plans to meet Oliver near his office for dinner. She and Julia decided to walk rather than suffer the airless Tube, and Aurelia pointed out places they could visit and spots she, Antonia, or their mother had liked.
Waiting for them outside his office, they found Oliver with his brother.
“Jack! Are you joining us for dinner?” Aurelia gave him a hug before giving Oliver a quick kiss hello.
“I am, if that’s alright?”
Oliver greeted Julia, then said, “Jack turned up spontaneously just as I was leaving.” He gave Aurelia a smile, knowing she found Jack’s spontaneity more charming than he did.
“That’s perfect. Now I can introduce you to my niece, Julia,” Aurelia said, pulling her forward.
“Hi,” Julia said, giving a desultory wave.
“Julia, this is Oliver’s brother, Jack,” Aurelia said, gesturing at him.
“This is little Julia?” Jack said disbelievingly. “I expected a toddler from what you told me.”
“Aunt Aurelia!”
“Well, you were little, once,” she said apologetically to Julia before turning back to him. “Now she’s very grown up, Jack. Please don’t forget it.”
“Oh, I won’t. Never,” he said with a grin.
After dinner, they walked along the Thames, hoping for a breeze to come off the water and cool them down. Jack and Julia walked ahead, giving Oliver and Aurelia a chance to chat as they pulled up the rear.
“She’s a real teenager now, isn’t she?” Oliver observed.
“I’ve had eye rolls, sighs, and about a million ‘Aunt Aurelia!’s. Wasn’t she sweet and easy at Christmas?”
“Maybe it was just best behavior.”
Aurelia looked ahead to see Julia talking animatedly with Jack.
“No surprise she’s taken to him. Do you think she has a little crush?”
“Probably. Everyone likes Jack,” Oliver said.
Aurelia nudged him and he smiled in spite of himself.
“We’ll have to ask him round a few times while she’s here, give her a dose of someone younger and cooler than us.”
“We’re cool,” said Oliver, though there was a slight question mark there.
“You might be a little cool, but it’s been made clear to me that I am not. That’s okay, though,” Aurelia said, standing taller. “I’m fine being a nerd.”
“A very sweet nerd.”
He held her back and gave her a brief kiss before eyeing Jack and Julia to confirm he could linger for a longer one.
“I’m going to miss you while you’re gone,” Aurelia said, smiling up at him.
“I’ll miss you too,” he said, brushing her hair back from her sweaty face.
“You’re leaving me to handle an impetuous teen all on my own.”
“Impetuous?” Oliver repeated playfully before laughing. “You make her sound like one of Jane Austen’s cautionary female characters.”
Aurelia bit her lip, holding in a smile.
“I’ll have to mold her into a Lizzy or a Jane instead. Or an Elinor,” Aurelia added wistfully.
They caught up to Jack and Julia and decided to find ice cream before heading back to their furnace of a flat.