I shrug. “I’ve always intended to come home. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved living and working in America, but I’ve always intended on moving back here, to be near my friends and family.”
“So, is it agreed? You’ll go and stay with Jax,” Pen asks.
“Fine,” Kat huffs again. “It appears to be the only way I’ll get any peace.”
“Excellent,” Pen says, making for the door. “I’ll let the others know.”
Kat’s eyes sparkle when she looks at me.
“Some alone time.” She sighs.
“Is that what you want?”
“More than anything.” She holds out her hand, and I take it in mine. “I love my family, but my mother is like an old mother hen, clucking around me. Caleb, Elijah and Gabriel are so overbearing I’m likely to throw something at one of them the next time they step into the room.”
“What about FHG?”
She smirks. “I trust my brothers, not that I’ll ever tell them that. It will all still be there when I get back. A wise man once told me that.”
I lean forward and press my lips to hers.
“He must be a very wise man,” I say against her mouth.
Her hand comes up and grasps the back of my head.
“You have no idea,” she says, pulling me down, kissing me with a passion I’ve missed.
We’ve spent minimal time alone together since her illness. She’s needed to recover. I can’t say I’ll be sorry to leave my friends behind and have Kat all to myself for a couple of weeks.
A cough sounds behind us.
I pull back, but drop my head against her forehead. Our eyes lock.
“Please, get me out of here!” Kat mouths.
“Are you sure?”Francesca says, an hour later, as I lift Kat’s suitcase into my car.
Pen packed it in record time when she heard where we were heading.
Kat pulls her mum in for a hug. “A change of scenery will do me the world of good,” she says. “Just think of all that fresh northern air.”
“And a certain man,” her mum says drily.
Kat grins, her head turning to mine. “There’s that as well.”
Francesca walks up to me, pulling me down for a hug. “Good thing I love you, stealing my daughter away,” she says, her voice thick as she pulls back and pats my cheek. “Take good care of her.”
I pull her in for another hug. “I promise,” I say.
She grips me tightly.
Elijah arrives, just as Kat’s about to get into the car.
“Hey, sis, go and enjoy yourself. I’ve got everything covered,” he says, walking over and enveloping her in a bear hug.
Kat smiles up at him. “I know you do. I’m sorry you’re having to delay starting your new life.”
He inclines his head. “It’s not a problem. It’s giving me a whole new understanding of the life you and Dad live. It’s intense.”
