‘Like, duh!’ Harriet raised her head from Alfie’s phone. ‘You’re wearing perfume, and your hair hasn’t looked like that since we got here.’
‘Thank you very much.’ Pippa’s jaw clenched, wondering if there was anything quite like a teenager to bring one crashing down to earth. Not that she’d wanted to appear as though she’d tried too hard, but still. ‘You make it sound like I’ve totally given up on my appearance, Harriet. And we’re just going out for a bit, that’s all.’
‘I didn’t mean that you don’t look nice. You do, but you haven’t worn that lipstick for ages, that’s all.’ Harriet raised a brow. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
‘Yes, well, as you’re fourteen and there’s an awful lot you shouldn’t do, I think I’m quite safe.’
‘Ready?’ Gil had joined them, and Pippa melted at his hand on her back, out of sight of Harriet. She lit up every time he touched her, a quiver racing across her skin. It was a good thing her daughter couldn’t see that, she mused distractedly.
‘Have a good time, you two,’ Harriet called cheerfully, and Luca raised a hand. ‘Back by ten p.m. and not a minute later.’
‘Honestly,’ Pippa muttered as they left the house. ‘I seriously wonder sometimes who the parent is around here.’
‘Oh, there’s no doubt.’ Gil unlocked the Land Rover and grinned at her. ‘It’s definitely Harriet.’
Pippa huffed out a laugh as she got in, aware that he was in smart jeans and a shirt, highlighting sun-streaked hair and those amused blue eyes he frequently turned on her. It was bliss to be away from everyone, including the dogs, for a while. And it was fun when he had to hurriedly change gear and pull away when she kissed him at a traffic light right before they turned green.
‘Where are you taking me?’ She’d wondered about this all afternoon. He’d disappeared and she assumed he’d been at work.
‘You’ll see.’ He raised her hand to kiss it, and once through town, he pulled into a long, treelined drive, parking at the end in a courtyard behind a huge country house. She assumed it was for dinner as they hadn’t already eaten, and when she made to go around the front, he caught her hand.
‘Not that way. It’s here.’ Gil led her around the side of the building and Pippa saw a sign attached to the wall.
‘A gallery? For me?’ She reached up to kiss his cheek, caught by his thoughtfulness.
‘Yes, for you.’ His smile seemed nervous, and his fingers tightened around hers. ‘It belongs to friends of Kenny and Vince, that’s how I found it.’
‘I love it, thank you. Even before I see it. And I would have been happy to spend our date anywhere, as long as it’s with you.’
‘So itisa date?’ He smiled as he let go of her hand to rest it on her back as he opened the door.
‘Very much a date.’ It had been a long time since anyone had chosen something so special, so meaningful, to her and she refused to allow thoughts of leaving Hartfell and Gil to spoil it. Tonight she had this, and she turned quickly to place her hands on his shoulders. ‘Thank you.’
‘You haven’t seen it yet.’
‘But I know I’m going to love it.’ She followed the corridor towards a door and lights at the end. ‘Is it an exhibition? I can’t see any other guests.’
‘It’s a private viewing, just us.’ Gil’s hand was still gripping hers and he reached past her to open the door. ‘Let me show you.’
The gallery was beautiful. A simple and elegant well-proportioned space, clean white walls expertly hung with art Pippa quicky recognised as outstanding. They moved through to another, smaller room, and she halted so abruptly that Gil’s chest crashed against her back. A hand flew to her mouth as the familiar tremble began in her limbs, stomach clenching in shock as her eyes ran over the images on the walls.
There was Maud, snuggled in her bed with Lola, Posy grazing in the paddock beneath an oak tree, white forelock bright against her brown face. Harriet cuddling Maud on her knee, and a jumble of pastel sweet peas clambering up a trellis in the overgrown garden. Ivy’s farmhouse nestled in its valley, where Gil had taken her that morning after they’d first made love, and still more. Every single picture in this room Pippa had drawn herself. None of the sketches and watercolours were framed, all hung haphazardly with no thought of placement or merit, quite unlike the professionalism of the arrangements in the first room.
‘Who did this? They have to come down!’ Tears were pressing at her eyes and her gaze was running through the gallery, searching for more people, ones who might have witnessed her work and made their opinions clear. She went to move forward, to snatch the nearest one from the wall and Gil planted his hands on her shoulders.
‘I did it. For you,’ he said quietly, and she was afraid to lean into him now, afraid of allowing herself to rest on his strength after this. ‘I’m sorry I shocked you. But please, would you let me explain?’
‘How could you? You knew how I felt after what happened.’
‘I promise that no one but you and me has seen them. Kenny mentioned the gallery and wondered if you’d heard of it, and that’s when I had the idea. He contacted the owners on my behalf and asked for a favour, but I didn’t tell anyone what I was planning to do. They gave me a key and closed the gallery so I could put them up myself this afternoon.’ Gil squeezed her shoulders. ‘And I’ll be taking them down tonight, before we leave. Not a single person, other than you and me, will see them.’
‘But why,’ she whispered. ‘Why bring them here? They’re rough, they don’t belong in a gallery like this.’
‘Pippa, you have such a gift, and I don’t think you even realise how wonderful these are.’ He slid his arms tight around her, holding her steady. ‘I did it because I want you to see what I see. Actually, it’s more than that.’ He turned her slowly until she was facing him. ‘I want you to understand what Ifeelwhen I look at them.’
He took her hand to press it against his heart, beating as rapidly as her own. ‘How perfectly you’ve caught Lola’s expression, the way she tilts her head when she looks at me. That day on the fell when we talked, and I knew I wanted you in my life. The one of the house from the garden, exactly as I remember it as a kid. Even the bloody demon pony and that look on her face. It’s just perfect, I’d swear she was about to bite me.’
‘Well, you had just chased her around the garden.’ Pippa’s smile was tremulous, the fear receding, replaced by thoughts she couldn’t quite bring into order yet. ‘If you’d caught her, she probably would’ve done.’ She’d drawn that the evening Posy had kicked him, and she’d soaked him with filthy water. Posy’s flash of temper, his own outrage; she’d caught them both and she’d known the minute she’d finished it was good. A tear ran down her cheek and he gently wiped it away.
