For a moment she thought she’d got through. Then he patted her hand and stood. ‘Nothing for you to worry about.’
‘That’s exactly the kind of thing that has me worried.’ She sighed. From his expression, it was going to take something like a pneumatic drill to get through the wall he’d built. ‘So, what are you going to do here?’
‘I’m thinking about it.’
‘Right.’ This definitely wasn’t like her go-getting big brother. ‘Well, I’ll let you eat in peace. Stay as long as you like.’
‘Thanks. I won’t be long. I’ll go and see Mum later before I go back to my flat.’
‘You could stay here if I had an extra bedroom.’
‘Lucy. You’re not fooling anyone. We all know the only reason you have one bedroom is because you don’t want to live with anyone. You’re too independent for that.’
She hadn’t realised she’d been so transparent.
‘Anyway, get going,’ he said. ‘And enjoy yourself.’
‘Right.’ She picked up her bag and walked to the door, hesitating with her hand on the knob. ‘And Dan?’
He looked over.
‘Just know that if you ever want to talk about… whatever it is, I’m here.’
For a second, his carefully neutral expression crumpled. The raw hurt in his eyes made her look away, tears pricking her own eyes. She turned, giving them both space. He recovered first.
‘So… what are you going to tell Mum?’
‘That you’re staying longer in New Zealand because you miss all the family, home-cooked meals and MacLeod’s Cove.’
‘Perfect. See you soon, Luce.’
‘Love you,’ she said as she closed the door.
And she did. So much so that she knew she wouldn’t leave it. A sad Dan was not someone she could live with and feel at peace.
Out in the street, about to get into her car, she glanced up at the apartment. She could just see a flash of his blond hair above the greenery on her balcony.
Good. He was right. It was peaceful up there, away from the world.
She hoped it would give him at least a little of the respite he was so obviously searching for.
* * *
There was nothing better than early summer at MacLeod’s Cottage, Lucy thought as she slammed the car door and looked around.
It had always calmed her, made her stop like nowhere else. But in the last few years, as her mother had let the place slide, the comfort the cottage had given her had been tinged with sadness. Not anymore. The ownership might still be a mystery, but Jen and Liam’s return seemed to have given her mother, Kate, a new lease of life.
Visitors no longer had to fight their way along the path, pushing back overgrown jasmine and thorny rose shoots. Jen’s new-old love, Sam, had seen to that. Kate had always kept the back garden in good order with vegetables and flowers, but she’d drawn a strange line at the front, as if she wanted the cottage to hide from the world.
As Lucy approached the front door, she laughed to see a small face pressed against one of the coloured panes of glass, followed by a shout and a disappearance. She opened the door — now, thankfully, not always kept locked — in time to hear Liam call out, ‘Mum, there’s a white lady at the door!’
Jen popped her head around the family-room door and grinned. ‘That’s no lady; that’s my sister!’
Lucy laughed. It was so good to have her big sister back — safe and here to stay. They’d grow old together.
‘You can go off people, you know,’ she said, pulling Jen into a hug.
‘You can’t go off me,’ said Jen. ‘I’m your emergency dishwasher.’
