“I wasn’t saying no to tonight,” he said quickly. “Hopefully, I won’t need to work too late, but the sergeant isn’t feeling great, so I’m trying to take up the slack. Also, if I manage to finish at a decent time, could you come to my place? If this thief strikes again, I need to be ready to go.”
“Let’s just leave it for tonight,” she said, a vacant look in her eyes. “It’ll only stress you out trying to get out of work in time.”
“It’s fine,” he said, confused. “Also, I wanted to talk to you about my flight.”
“What flight?”
He blinked a couple of times. “My flight back to the mainland. When I leave…”
“What about it?”
“I booked it.” He’d put it off for as long as possible, as though that might change things.
“Okay.” She let out a sigh. “Why do you want to talk to me about it?”
“I thought you might like to know when it is?”
“Soon, I imagine. A couple of weeks, right?”
He nodded slowly. “A week on Saturday.” Just less than a fortnight. Two weeks today, he’d be back in London.
“The sergeant might still be able to pull some strings and make your job here permanent.”
“He’s trying,” Flynn said. “And I actually think he’ll manage it, but these things move slowly, so I can’t imagine it happening in the next two weeks.” He’d been hoping so, but that hope was pretty much dead now.
“I’ll still keep my fingers crossed.” Lily leaned over and gave him a kiss that was all too brief. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She hopped out of the car so fast that he was fairly sure she didn’t even hear him call goodbye.
He’d been hoping that telling her about hisflight would be a dose of reality that would get them talking more seriously about their future plans.
At least he’d put it out there. Maybe she just needed time for it to sink in, and he’d get more out of her later.
Or maybe she’d continue to bury her head in the sand about him leaving.
Chapter Ten
Assumingthe group of artists would get one of the day tripper boats to Tresco, Lily loitered at the harbour, hoping the cap shading her face didn’t make her look conspicuous. She dipped her head when she saw the group arrive and file onto the ferry. Glancing up, she did a quick head count to make sure no one had stayed behind, then set off for a walk across the island.
Knowing there was no one home, she didn’t hesitate in striding down the drive towards the guest accommodation. Instinct had her wanting to check out Roland’s room first. Plus, she had an inkling it would be easier to find a way into their accommodation. If the doors were locked, maybe she could find a window open.
Eager for a chance to recover her backpack, she broke into a slow jog as she rounded the house.
The figure at the back made her stop short, though he looked even more startled than she was.
“Len!” she gasped.
Laughing, he pressed his palm into the centre of his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
As her pulse settled down, she frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Working!” He waved his squeegee in the air. “What are you doing here?”
She looked up at the house with its abundance of windows. “I suppose there’s quite a bit of work for you here.”
“You can say that again. And apparently Gideon needs perfect light to work in, so I’m here every few weeks. Which I wouldn’t mind if he’d compensate me properly.”
Lily’s frown deepened.
