She laughed. “Yes, probably. But don’t worry, us girls will look after you. There’s Lizzi who’s coming up from Shelter Springs, she runs a café there with her husband and has just had her second child… my nephew. And…”
David sighed, and the breath held a mixture of bemusement at such a large family, irritation that he was forced to meet them, and something far more strange, something which he could only name as contentment as he listened to Amber describe her family.
He was annoyed with Katherine for making Amber doubt herself. They were like opposite ends of the spectrum: Katherine all mind, using her body like a tool for her mind, and Amber all heart. He’d once thought he could do without heart. But since his sister’s accident he knew better.
“You’re doing it again, David.”
“What?” he asked, startled out of his reverie.
“You’re not listening to me.”
“Of course I am. I’ve been”—he hesitated, feeling uncharacteristically flummoxed, although he knew from experience that he wouldn’t show it—“listening toeverythingyou’ve been saying. I haven’t missed a word.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” And he hadn’t. Years of negotiation where he’d had to pick up the subtext of a discussion had made him adept at both listening and observing. “Why would you think I wasn’t listening to you?”
“Well, for starters, I very much doubt that the ins and outs of my world is of any interest to you.”
He didn’t move or speak, stunned by how absolutely wrong she was. He hadn’t intended to find her interesting, hadn’t prepared for it in the least. Maybe that was where he’d gone wrong. He usually prepared for every eventuality. It was, he’d always considered, the secret to his success. But somehow everything she said and did found its place within him. The silence stretched but still he couldn’t find the words to reassure her without revealing his feelings. He wasn’t even sure what those feelings were, nor how to express them. So he stayed silent.
She pressed her lips together and shrugged and a shadow dimmed her brightness momentarily. “It’s okay. I’m not sure many people listen to me. I think most people find me a joke.” Her lips twitched as if trying to smile but failing. Her gaze flickered away from him and she looked around, as her hand sought her bag, the candlelight glancing off its sequins and showering her face with sparkling light. He felt an unaccountable pain in that place where he’d felt something slot into place. He’d come to think of it as the Amber place. With surprise, he realized he was feeling her pain.
“I think I’d better leave,” she said.
He reached out and took her hand. “Amber, you’re no joke to me. You have to believe that.”
“I do.”
“You do? You don’t doubt me?”
“No,” she said. “I know you’re always serious about everything. Someone who gives such serious consideration to a café menu which never changes from one week to the next, isn’t likely to be flakey about deciding to take someone to dinner.”
He smiled. “Well, I’m glad you realize I’m not flakey.” He didn’t think that word had ever been used in connection with him in his whole life—there had never been a necessity to describe him as its opposite.
“No, you’re serious, but I’m not sure why.”
“Because I like you. I really like you.”
Amber glanced at Katherine, who had risen to leave with her partner and wiggled her fingers their way. She nodded in response and turned back to face him. “But not in the way you liked Katherine. I can tell.”
He sat back with a sigh. “Amber, you and I have nothing to do with Katherine. I suggest you forget about her.”
“She’s hard to forget,” mumbled Amber, and he followed her gaze to where Katherine was drawing attention to herself as she walked out of the restaurant. He could feel Amber drifting away from him. That would never do. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
“I’d like to see you again, Amber. Really, I would.”
“Then come to my family dinner.”
Even while he drew in a long breath like a dying man, scared of drowning, he knew that there was only one way to get what he wanted.
“Sure.” He tried to smile but he wasn’t sure his mouth complied. “I’ll rearrange my schedule. I’ll make sure I can come.”
He was rewarded with a beaming smile. “Wonderful! I’m sure you won’t regret it. My family are all just lovely.”
Just lovely, he repeated to himself with a sigh.
4
