‘Maybe you’re best not to tell me. It’s not fair to ask me to keep it from Keith,’ she stammered.
‘Goodness, Patti, you look horrified. What on earth do you think I’m going to confess?’
Patti looked from Mary to Leo then back to Mary again. ‘I… er…’
Mary’s eyes widened. ‘Heck! You think we’re having an affair, don’t you?’
Patti felt her cheeks heat and couldn’t even bring herself to look at Leo. ‘Well…’ Her voice trailed away.
‘We’re planning a surprise for Keith. Leo is sorting it out for me.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe you jumped to that conclusion. I hope Keith hasn’t as well!’ She turned abruptly and walked off into the house.
‘Oh dear. I’m so sorry. It’s just that Keith and Mary are at loggerheads a bit, and you seemed very attentive…’ She couldn’t look him in the eye.
Leo smiled. ‘De nada. It is nothing. You are right that things are a little… not quite right… with Keith and Mary, which is why we are planning this surprise.’ He thrust his hands in his pockets his eyes meeting hers, unwavering. ‘I would not do that to a friend. To cheat like that. I am not that kind of person.’
Now she felt even worse. ‘I really am sorry.’ How stupid was she to jump to that conclusion just because Leo spent a lot of time here, and she’d caught him and Mary talking together. Now she’d embarrassed herself and everyone else.
‘Besides, there is someone else that I like. Someone who is free. And I was asking Mary’s advice about that, also.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She guessed it must be one of the neighbours. She could understand that Leo was a bit hesitant and wanted advice. It was hard to get back into the dating game when you’d been out of it for a while. She should know! She’d made a few attempts with Tinder and other dating apps since she and Adrian split up but there had been so many disasters she’d given up. She was better off on her own. ‘I hope it works out for you.’
He nodded solemnly. ‘Me too. But thissenora, she doesn’t live in Spain.’
His eyes rested on her face, as if he was watching her reaction. He couldn’t mean… No… That would be stupid.
‘I see.’ She was repeating herself but she didn’t know what else to say. She’d already made a fool of herself once and she wasn’t going to say anything to make things worse. He must havemet someone on the internet, lots of people did nowadays. ‘That’s difficult.’
He nodded again. ‘But not impossible.’
Time to end this conversation and go and make her apologies to Mary. ‘There’s always a way if you look for it, I guess.’ She hurried off to the kitchen to find Mary.
Mary was putting the last touch to the meal and Keith was opening a bottle of wine.
Patti looked at them both. ‘Sorry.’
Keith raised an eyebrow. ‘What for?’
‘She thought I was having an affair with Leo,’ Mary told him.
Keith threw back his head and laughed. ‘You’re way off the mark there, Patti. Leo has his eye on someone else.’
‘I know, he’s just told me. I think it’s someone he met on the internet.’
‘What?’ Mary and Keith exclaimed in unison.
‘He said it was someone who didn’t live in Spain.’
Keith shook his head and Mary put down the knife she was chopping the tomatoes with.
‘You really have no idea, do you?’
Patti looked from one to the other. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Patti. The lady Leo is interested in isyou.’
38
They all tucked into the goat cheese salad and crusty bread, followed by strawberries and ice cream, and Patti tried to act natural, tried not to stare at Leo. Could Mary and Keith be right? She was definitely attracted to him, he was kind, and handsome, but what future was there when she would be going home next week?
