“I know.” He reached across and patted her hand. “No need to say anything.”
She wrestled with her emotions, watching as he made his move. “No! Please tell me you’re not puttingwheezeon a triple letter score.”
“And that’s me finished.” He held up his hands. “What’s the total? I think you’ll find I’ve won. But if you want a rematch, that’s fine with me.”
“No! Playing with you dents my confidence.”
“Go on. Just one more game, Becky.”
It was all very familiar and comforting, but at that moment Will walked back into the room.
He tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry about that. You know how it is, Martin.”
“I do.” Martin stood up. “And you’re making me realise how good it feels not to constantly be on edge, waiting for those calls. For the first time ever I’m going to help Jenny in the kitchen. You two should relax for a while.”
Relax? She’d never felt less relaxed in her life.
“I should probably help Mum, too,” Becky said quickly, ignoring Will’s raised eyebrow as she shot across the room to the door. “It’s not fair for her to have to do everything.”
She felt jumpy and nervous because she knew the conversation with Will couldn’t be avoided forever.
Or maybe it could. Maybe it was going to be one of those things they’d never mention again.
After lunch, they joined the traditional family walk on the beach, and walked hand in hand, chatting to Jamie and Hayley, and Becky discovered that providing she didn’t look at Will directly, it was perfectly possible to maintain the charade.
When Jamie had asked where they were living Becky said cheerfully that they weremostly at Will’s house, and that they hadn’t really given much thought to what their next steps were.
She was conscious of Rosie watching her closely and wondered, given Rosie’s general inability to hide what she was feeling, whether telling her the truth might have been amistake, but at the same time it felt good having her sister in her corner.
And the walk was one of her favorites. The vast empty beaches were something she missed when she was in London, and now she made the most of it, striding out with Will as Percy bounded ahead, enjoying the space.
It was cold, but the sky was a bright blue and the sun dazzling.
Everything was going well until they turned to go back to the house and Will caught her arm.
“You go ahead,” he said to the others. “Becky and I want five minutes more to make the most of the fresh air and scenery. Living in London, we’ve missed this. And there are things we need to talk about.”
Becky stiffened. You didn’t need to be a genius to work out what those were. He wanted to check how she was feeling about the night before. He wanted to check she knew nothing had changed.
He wanted a conversation that was honest, no longer pretending, and she wasn’t sure she could do that.
She gulped. “I should help in the kitchen.”
“Everything is under control—” her mother waved her away “—you and Will enjoy yourselves. You both work so hard. You deserve some time together.”
Rosie caught her sister’s desperate look. “I could use some help wrapping my presents,” she said, her lame attempt to help demolished by Jamie.
“What? You’re much better at wrapping than Becky. You’re the best wrapper in the family.”
Out of excuses, Becky resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to be alone with Will. And to be fair this was a conversation that needed to be had at some point, so that point might as well be now. He probably wanted to talk about how they should handle the breakup. She didn’t pretend for amoment that what they’d shared the night before would have changed anything. Unless it had made him want to bring it forward.
“I’ll come and find you when I’m back.” She gave Rosie a weak smile and Rosie stepped forward and hugged her.
“I love you.”
“For goodness’ sake, Rosie, your sister is going for a walk, not a trip to the moon. You’ll see her in half an hour.” Tutting impatiently, her grandmother hustled Rosie away, leaving Becky alone with Will.
She’d never felt awkward with him before, but now she felt awkward. She kept thinking about the night before. The way he’d kissed her. The way he’d touched her.
