I gave him a shaky smile as I wiped at the last of my tears. “Oh … just something lovely that”—my breath hitched—“that Jared said about Grandpa.”
Understanding softened Theo’s expression. “Little darling,” he murmured in sympathy.
And for some reason, that’s all it took.
The sob rose out of me before I could stop it, and I covered my face in embarrassment.
Theo made atskingsound before I found my cheek pressed to his chest, his arms wrapped tight around me. At the comforting embrace I hadn’t asked for, I found the courage to cry. “I miss him so much.”
“I know.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Let it out. It’s okay. Let it out.”
So I did. On Gairloch Beach, on a perfect winter’s day, with the last man I ever thought would hold me through my grief, I cried all the weeks’ worth of tears I’d kept locked inside.
I could feelTheo watching me after my episode on the beach.
Crying in his arms had released some of my tension, and I felt a bit exhausted, so we’d ventured back to the cottage to have lunch.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him as we sat at the dining table. Theo was quite handy in the kitchen, and his grilled cheese was the best I’d ever tasted. It was three different cheeses and herbs from what I could tell. I took a bite and moaned. He’d made this half a dozen times already, and it was still bloody amazing.
His gaze flickered to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “You know I met your grandfather once.”
I swallowed a bite, surprised. “Really?”
“At the Gloaming. It would have been about eighteen months ago. I’d not long joined Ardnoch and I’d gone to the village local to see what it was all about.” He grinned. “Collum was there, and he gave me shit about my posh English accent.”
I half laughed, half groaned. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. We had an excellent evening of ripping the piss out of each other. It’s very hard to find someone who has skin thick enough to not only take my verbal jabs but enjoy them.”
Chuckling now, I sat back in my chair, imagining it. Grandpa had always appeared gruff and a bit belligerent to everyone else. He liked people who weren’t intimidated by him. “He must have enjoyed you.”
Theo shrugged. “We got along well enough. I liked him.”
A jagged mix of gratitude and pain flashed across my chest. “Thank you.”
He nodded, watching me carefully. “Are you all right?”
“Aye,” I promised. “It just … catches me off guard sometimes.”
“Grief?”
I nodded.
“I know. It happens sometimes when I think about Mum.”
We shared a look of understanding until Theo’s expression tightened, and I noted the discomfort in his eyes. He bit off a piece of his sandwich with more aggression than was necessary.
“Were you on the phone to anyone fun?” I changed the subject.
Theo’s shoulders relaxed. “My agent. We haven’t had the revised contract back from your agent.”
“Should I be concerned? Should I hurry Liz up?” The thought of asking Liz to hurry with anything made my stomach flip.
“We’ll do that.” He waved away my offer. “But she’s not being slow. These things take time. I haven’t bought rights before, but I know from my peers that it can take up to a year to finalize these types of contracts.”
“A year?” I gaped in dismay.
“Don’t worry, little darling. There is no way I’m waiting a year. I’ll be on your agent to get this done extra fast. I wantJuno in production as quickly as possible. I can’t legally start talking to actors I’m interested in or take the script to studios and streaming services until the contract is signed, but as soon as it’s done, I’ll be reaching out to actors and a few different contacts. I’m thinking Skylark World Productions, the studio behindKing’s Valley. We have a relationship, and they know how to reach that audience.”
