by Jill Mansell
“I know how you’re feeling,” said Kit. “I was worried too. And my mum’s fantastic,” he added, “but there was always the creeping fear that she might be disappointed.”
Penny said, “And was she?”
“No, she was brilliant. I was lucky. But I already knew that.”
“My brothers will be unbearable.” Wyatt’s forehead creased. “They’ll tease me like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I’ll teach you some killer one-liners to knock them flat,” said Kit. “And don’t worry, I went through all that with some of my mates from school. The novelty soon wears off, I promise.”
The future was beginning to sound less daunting already. Wyatt felt his spirits lift a notch. Because he’d enjoyed saying it before, he announced it again.
“I’m gay.” Emboldened, he addressed his imaginary brothers. “Get used to it.”
Penny clapped her hands. “Bravo. Brilliant.”
“So this is where you’ve been hiding! I wondered where you’d all gotten to,” bellowed Baz, heading toward them with a sloshing pint of lager in each hand. “Bloody hot in there, isn’t it? Everyone all right?” He paused, surveying the three of them. “Not interrupting anything, am I?”
Wyatt looked at Baz; the two of them had worked together for the last three years. Baz was a blokey bloke, a relentless skirt-chaser, like most of the twentysomething males at their company and not unlike Wyatt’s own brothers. Wyatt smiled up at him. “Not at all. We were just chatting about what it’s like to be gay.”
Baz did a snort and a comedy double take. “Why’d you want to talk about that?”
“Because I’m gay.”
“You? No you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
“No big deal.” As he said it, Wyatt felt himself growing braver; he’d started, so he’d finish. “And you don’t have to worry—I don’t secretly fancy you. You’re not my type.”
“Well, that’s… I don’t know what to say.” Baz spread his hands. “That’s…great.” He hesitated, at a loss, and cast a cautious glance in Penny’s direction. “I mean, I’m guessing. Is it great?”
“It is.” Happiness swelled in Wyatt’s chest; it was like jumping off a cliff and discovering you could fly.
“It’s definitely great.” Penny patted his arm.
“Right. If everyone’s OK with it, that’s cool.” Still adjusting to the news, Baz said, “Does everyone at work know? Am I, like, the last one to find out?”
Still beaming, Wyatt shook his head. “Nope, quite the opposite. You’re the first.”
“Oh wow, that is cool. Thanks, man. I’m…honored. Sorry, does that sound weird?”
“It doesn’t sound weird. It sounds fantastic.” And now Wyatt could feel his throat tightening with emotion, because he’d been too scared to admit the truth for years, and now his clumsy, well-meaning, ultra-macho work colleague was the one who was anxious not to say the wrong thing.
“Oh, phew.” Visibly relieved, Baz grinned and held out his arms, splashing yet more lager onto the flagstones. “Come here, mate, give us a hug.”
When they broke apart, after much mutual and only semi-awkward back slapping, they heard the sound of the band inside striking up the opening bars of Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.”
Baz’s eyes lit up. “I bloody love this song. Shall we get back inside now?” He looked at Penny and Wyatt. “Hit that dance floor?”
Wyatt hesitated. Baz was already making enthusiastic giraffey neck movements and waggling his hips as if swishing an imaginary tail.
“Thanks, but you’re all right.” He indicated his crutch and his surgical boot. “Floor’s a bit slippery. Better not.”
Sometimes a broken ankle came in handy after all.
Chapter 32
Having collected Harry from his after-school karate club on Monday evening, Lainey arrived back at Menhenick House to find Seth’s car on the driveway and Seth unloading bags from the trunk. Her heart did a little jiggle at the sight of him leaning forward to haul out the black case that had been pushed to the back, and not only because the view from where she was standing was pretty amazing, what with his long legs in faded jeans, those finely muscled arms, and that section of taut, tanned stomach revealing itself for a second as he reached up to close the trunk.
She breathed out slowly; she wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, least of all Seth, but she missed him when he was away. Like, missed him a lot. For the last few days, while he’d been working in Bristol, it just hadn’t been the same. She looked forward to being able to see him, to talk to him and make him smile, because that in turn made her feel zingy and alive.
All the symptoms of a massive crush, obviously. But that was OK. So long as she kept it to herself, where was the harm?
“Here, you can make yourself useful.” He held out one of the big canvas bags. “Give me a hand getting these into the house, will you?”
And once they were in the kitchen, and Harry had raced upstairs, he added over his shoulder, “Could you unpack that stuff for me?” before busying himself replying to a text on his phone.
Which made Lainey feel a bit like Cinderella, although that was unfair, since it was her job to organize their lives and do as she was told.
He’d been to an upmarket deli by the look of things. As she began to empty the bag, Lainey said, “Ooh, champagne truffles,” because they were her favorite treat at Christmas. “And cheese straws—God, I love cheese straws.” Next came a box containing a spherical bottle of Chambord, the blackberry liqueur she’d only discovered last year, and with it the growing suspicion that Seth must be about to get together with Dawn, because these were the kind of luxury items you took over to your glamorous girlfriend’s house…
Unless it had already happened, and Dawn had spent the last few days with him at his flat in Clifton, having stupendous, glamorous sex and enjoying every moment of their romantic reunion.
Aware of Seth glancing at her across the room and terrified of giving herself away, Lainey pulled out a packet of smoked almonds and said overly brightly, “Oh, aren’t these amazing? I can’t believe you’ve bought them! And maraschino cherries—when I was at school, I once spent a whole week’s pocket money on a jar of cherries because I couldn’t believe how amazing they were—Oh.” And this time she stopped dead, clutching a packet of salted caramel shortbread and frowning in disbelief, because these were all items of food that anyone in their right mind would love to eat, but the last remaining item in the bottom of the bag was a jar of pickled walnuts.
She’d never in her life met another human being who liked pickled walnuts. “The penny,” said Seth. “It drops at last.”
Lainey looked at him, saw that he was shaking his head and trying not to laugh. “These are my all-time favorite things.”
“I know. I was expecting you to have figured that out a little more quickly than you did.”
“I thought you’d bought them for Dawn. I just kept thinking what an incredible coincidence it was that she loves all the same stuff as me.”
Seth said, “I broke up with Dawn, remember?”
He broke up with her and they aren’t back together, la-la-la-la-laaaaa.
Before she could start beaming like an idiot, Lainey said, “But how did you know they were my favorites?”
Which was another pretty daft question, as confirmed by Seth’s raised eyebrow. “I gave Kit a call and asked him to email me a list.”
Lainey gave in with good grace. “Of course you did.” And Kit had risen majestically to the occasion. They might only have known each other for eighteen months, but he was one of those people who paid attention to what you said and had the knack for remembering tiny details you might have mentioned in passing.
“He did a great job,
” Seth continued, “and I can understand most of it. But these…” He reached across the table for the jar of pickled walnuts and pulled a face. “They look like little brains in gone-off embalming fluid.”
“You’ll hurt their feelings. Have you ever had them before?”
“I think I can safely say no.”
“Well, don’t knock a pickled walnut until you’ve tried it,” said Lainey. “Go on, now’s your chance.”
Seth unscrewed the lid, speared one of the walnuts with a fork, and put it in his mouth.
“And?” Lainey prompted, because his face remained expressionless.
Once he’d chewed and swallowed, he said, “They taste like little brains in gone-off embalming fluid.”
“I love them.”
“Clearly you do. The question is how? They’re bitter.” He grimaced. “And sharp.”
“It’s an acquired taste,” Lainey admitted. “My grandparents had a huge walnut tree in their back garden. My grandad used to bottle them in the kitchen, but no one else would ever eat them. I felt sorry for him because doing all the walnut preparation took hours, so I forced myself to get used to the taste, and it just made him so happy to know that someone else liked them…which in turn made me happy, because I loved him so much.” She shrugged. “And somewhere along the way, I eventually got to like them because they reminded me of him.”
“Well, now you’ve made me feel bad. But I’m sorry, I still think they taste disgusting.”
“You’re allowed to think that. My Granny Ivy used to feel the same way about them. Well, most people did.” Lainey took the cellophane off the Hotel Chocolat champagne truffles and held the box out to him. “Here, have one of these to take the taste away. Honestly, this is so kind—I can’t believe they got you to go out and buy all these things. You’ll have to give me the Gardners’ phone number so I can send them a text.”
After a pause, Seth said, “Why?”
“To say thank you and let them know how lovely they are!” She looked at him, confused. “Didn’t they do it to thank me for getting their passports down to Southampton?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, no. It was me thanking you for doing it.”
“Oh. Wow. Well, thank you, then.”
Straight-faced, Seth said, “You can tell me how lovely I am if you want to.”
Lainey croaked, “Goes without saying,” then made a production of taking the box back and helping herself to one of the truffles so she couldn’t blurt out anything like: I know you are! I can’t stop thinking about how lovely you are! I’ve been thinking it for weeks!
Because that would be so undignified, and if she did ever accidentally say it, she would have to move to Australia.
She was saved by Harry bursting back in. “Violet just called me an ignoramus! What’s an ignoramus? Oh cool, can I have one of those?” His eyes lit up at the sight of the chocolate truffles.
“No,” said Lainey. “But if you’re very good, you can have one of those little brains.”
* * *
Hours later, while she was finishing loading the dishwasher after dinner, Seth came into the kitchen. “All done for the evening now?”
“Pretty much.” She closed the dishwasher with a practiced swing of her hip and switched it on. “Why? Do you need me for something?”
“Only if you don’t have anything else planned. And not for long.”
As he said it, India’s music was blaring out upstairs and they heard Violet yell, “Could you have some respect for my eardrums? Some of us are trying to do our homework here.”
“God, you’re such a loser,” India bellowed back from her room on the other side of the landing.
CRASH went Violet’s door, followed by the volume of the music in India’s room being whacked up to maximum, almost but not quite drowning out the sound of Harry shouting instructions to his friends through his headset as he battled on his Xbox.
“Oh, Glenda,” Majella wailed from the sitting room. “Naughty girl, look what you’ve done to my slipper!”
“Shall we head down to the beach?” said Seth. “It’ll be quieter.”
“Aaarrrgh!” bellowed Harry. “You’ve killed me! Now I’m dead!”
Lainey said, “Right now, New Year’s Eve in Trafalgar Square would be quieter than this.” She dried her hands on the sides of her skirt. “Come on, let’s go.”
The sand was still warm underfoot. She kicked off her yellow flip-flops and Seth removed his deck shoes so they could walk along the shoreline. The last few vacationers were packing up and leaving the beach now, and over to the west, the sun was sinking lower, spreading a tangerine glow across the duck-egg-blue sky. In unison, they swerved to avoid a small boy who was determinedly scooping handfuls of wet sand out of the shallow trench he’d dug to block the progress of the sea.
Lainey tilted her head back, loving the sensation of warmth on her face, the tang of salt in the air, and the simple fact that they were here together. Was anyone looking at them now, watching them as they walked along the sand side by side? Did they assume they were a couple? Were they wondering why they weren’t holding hands?
She could almost imagine it, a ghost sensation of his fingers clasping hers, intertwining in such a way that—
“So what I want to know is why you didn’t take India along with you to the Gardners’ house.”
The pleasurable romantic fantasy popped like a bubble.
“Sorry?” Lainey stepped sideways to veer past a clump of dried seaweed. “Oh, I think she was busy with something else.”
“No. You didn’t want to take her,” said Seth. “When I suggested it on the phone, it wasn’t even an option.” He looked sideways at her. “Why?”
It was the kind of all-seeing look that made you realize it was a good job you weren’t a secret agent, with your life depending on your ability to tell a flawless lie.
Lainey gave up trying. “OK, I might be completely wrong, but a few weeks ago, I saw India in the pharmacy on the esplanade. And I think she stole a bottle of nail polish.”
Seth’s eyebrows rose. “You think? Did you see her do it?”
“No, but I saw her looking at it. Then she left the shop and the bottle was gone. And the next night she was wearing that exact color. She told me she bought it ages ago.”
“But you didn’t believe her.”
Lainey shook her head. “Sorry. I haven’t told anyone else because I don’t have proof. I don’t want to worry Majella in case I made a mistake. But there was no way I could take India with me to Bude and leave her alone in the Gardners’ house. Imagine if they came home from their cruise and noticed something missing.”
“Of course you couldn’t. And thanks for telling me.” Seth raked his hand through his hair. “Shit, though. Why would she do that?”
“No idea. Hopefully it’s just a silly phase. Or a dare or something. I did try to gently warn her about consequences, but…well, you know what girls are like. She wasn’t interested.”
“Should I have a word with her, d’you think?”
“If you do, she’ll know I told you. Leave it for now,” said Lainey. “I’m keeping an eye on her as best I can.”
“OK.” He stopped walking, turned to face her. A light breeze ruffled his dark hair and the angle of the sun on his face accentuated his cheekbones. “I hope you know how much we appreciate you. And Kit too, of course.”
Lainey’s tongue glued itself to the roof of her mouth. She nodded like an idiot and made a high-pitched bat squeak before the saliva kicked back in. “We like it here.”
“And we like having you here. Both of you.” Seth hesitated, his gaze intent. “But especially you.”
Lainey trembled as an avalanche of adrenaline swooshed its way through her veins. This was electrifying, even more so than when she’d woken up next to him on the sofa in Bristol. Now they really did
look like a couple about to experience a deeply romantic moment on the beach. Here they were, facing each other, gazing into each other’s eyes, and it felt as if they were having an entire conversation without uttering so much as a single word:
Lainey, I probably shouldn’t be saying this.
No, you probably shouldn’t.
But I want to kiss you.
I want to kiss you too.
Have you ever imagined how it would feel?
Honestly? Many, many times.
Me too. And I suppose there’s only one way to find out if we imagined it right.
Oh my God, is this really about to happen?
I really think it is.
Well, OK then! Let’s do it!
“Ach,” said Seth.
Lainey’s eyes had begun to close in anticipation. As he took a sudden step back, they snapped open again. Following the direction of his gaze, she glimpsed a slender dark-haired figure wearing a long white dress, her pink-and-orange scarf fluttering in the sea breeze as the waves lapped at her bare feet.
Had she chosen the scarf specially to coordinate with the sunset behind her?
If she had, it was a stroke of genius.
“It’s Dawn,” Seth murmured.
“Yes.” Of course it was. And she’d been watching them. Crashing back into the real world, Lainey moved awkwardly to the left and pointed like a child in a school play at a small crab scurrying across the sand. “Look, a crab!”
A rueful, can-you-believe-it smile lit up Seth’s face. “Well, isn’t that just incredible? A crab on a beach. Whatever next?”
It was one of those situations you really wished weren’t happening. Lainey made a big show of checking her watch. “I should get back. I think you’re the reason she’s here.” Because Dawn’s cottage was closer to Beachcomber Bay, which meant coming this far across town must have been deliberate.
“I’m not seeing her anymore.”
“I know, but still.” The moment had passed, the mood was broken. “You can’t ignore her. And Kit’s expecting me back; he’ll be wondering where I’ve gotten to.” Not strictly true, but it would do.