“This is you backing off, is it?” Rachel returned dryly. “And no, I haven’t seen her since last Sunday. I’ve been a little busy.”
“Of course. I’m sorry. How’s your mother?”
“Still in hospital. We’re not sure yet what the long-term prognosis is going to be.”
“That must be difficult.”
“It is, but to be honest, it’s a bit of a relief not to have her at home.” Rachel gave a guilty laugh. “I suppose that makes me sound awful.”
“No, just human. It can be exhausting, always looking after someone.”
Like he looked after Claire? Rachel didn’t ask. She hadn’t spared too much thought for Claire, although she had a niggling sense of guilt that she hadn’t been friendly enough when Claire had brought over a meal. She was trying to help, maybe even to make amends, and Rachel knew she wasn’t meeting her halfway.But she couldn’t add yet another person to her life who needed her to care for them.
“So what do you think?”
“Sorry, what?” Andrew had been talking and Rachel hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“I was asking if you’d like to come to Manchester,” Andrew told her, his tone turning overtly patient.
“Come to Manchester? What on earth for?”
“You really didn’t hear anything I said, did you?” Andrew said, and Rachel couldn’t tell if he sounded amused or exasperated. “I was inviting you to visit, Rachel.”
“Visit . . .” She was still coming up blank.
“Me. There’s a new photography exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery, which just reopened. I thought you might like to see it. With me.”
“Why would you think that?” Rachel blurted.
Andrew gave a dry laugh. “This conversation is a little more ego-bruising than I would have liked.”
“Oh. You mean... Do you mean... ?” Rachel’s mind spun as she stammered out her reply. “Do you mean visit you, as in a date?”
Silence. “It could be a date, if you wanted it to be.”
Which was a complete non-answer. “What do you want it to be?” Rachel asked. She had no idea what she wanted. She’d never thought of Andrew West that way, had never even considered it, not really.
“I asked you to visit, didn’t I?” Andrew returned. “You can come up and down in a day, or you can sleep on my sofa if you prefer.”
Rachel wasn’t prepared for the fluttery feeling in her stomach at that suggestion. A day out, away from Hartley-by-the-Sea, from housecleaning, from all the demands and stresses of her life. An actual date.
“Rachel? Are you still there?”
“Yes. Sorry. I’m just... I wasn’t expecting this.”
“I kind of got that.”
She laughed then, a lightness she hadn’t experienced in a long time buoying her spirits. “I haven’t been to Manchester in years.”
“So now may be a good time.”
And then reality set her down with a thud. “Actually, it isn’t. With Mum in hospital...”
“That’s partly why I thought of it. She’s taken care of, isn’t she? Surely you can spare a Saturday.”
Rachel thought of Meghan and Nathan and Lily, all of them needing her in their different ways. But maybe they didn’t need her as much as she thought they did. Maybe they could manage for just one day. Maybe their world wouldn’t come unglued if she wasn’t there to hold it all together. “All right,” she said, feeling heady with the recklessness of it. “But just for the day.”
“All right, then,” Andrew answered, and he sounded pleased, which made a goofy smile spread over Rachel’s face. “I’ll meet you at the station on Saturday.”
