‘I’m not saying he’s an empath,’ Jen said dryly. ‘I’m saying there’s something there. And you know it, or you wouldn’t be walking around like a zombie and hiding in a larder.’
Lucy glared. Jen didn’t blink.
Jen leaned back with a sigh. ‘If you won’t talk to Oliver, talk to Dan. He looked into Oliver’s Wellington project for you before, didn’t he? He can tell you if there’s some clever business reason why this change benefits Oliver.’
Lucy nodded slowly. ‘Hm, I guess I could do that.’ She shot Jen a brief smile. ‘Knowledge is power. That, at least, she could manage.
Jen nodded, satisfied. ‘Good. And you won’t have to go far. I saw him heading to the library earlier.’
Lucy’s eyebrow rose. ‘The library? Since when does Dan go to the library?’
Jen’s grin widened. ‘Since Augi.’
Lucy let out a low whistle. ‘Wow. There must be something in the air.’
Jen stood, brushing stray petals from her jeans. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ She hesitated, then softened again. ‘And Luce — if you need me, you know where I am.’
Lucy’s chest tightened in that way it always did when Jen’s kindness caught her off guard. ‘Thanks, Jen. I appreciate it. It’s hard, you know, because I don’t really trust myself anymore. Not after what happened with Laurent. He destroyed my faith in men.’
‘They’re not all the same. You need look no further than the two men in my life to realise that. Good luck.’ Jen squeezed her shoulder once and headed back through the café.
Lucy waited until the knot in her throat uncoiled, then wiped her hands on her apron as if that could wipe her mind clean, too. It couldn’t. So she went to the library.
It was only a block away, and on most days Lucy couldn’t get from A to B without being stopped three times. Today she kept her head down, only returning a wave from an elderly couple taking their daily constitutional, and exchanging a few words with a young mum tiredly pushing a crying baby in a pram. By giving the people setting up the market in St Andrews Hall a wide berth, she got to the library faster than usual.
The library doors were open to the morning sun, and the decking outside had colourful beanbags which were already taken with teenagers reading under the awning. Inside a mother was reading to her toddler and Dan was pretending to look at some non-fiction books. She knew he was pretending because one hand rested on cookery books as if he’d meant to pick one up. But he wasn’t looking at the books; he was looking at Augi who was talking to a local writer.
Lucy clapped him on the back and dropped down on the sunny window seat. ‘Fancy seeing you here,’ she said with a knowing grin.
Dan grimaced, knowing he’d been busted, and pushed the cookery book back onto the shelf. ‘Don’t start.’
Lucy tilted her head, enjoying this more than she should. ‘Here to expand your literary horizons? Or just hoping someone will talk to you in a soothing Greek accent?’
His ears went faintly red. ‘What do you want, Lucy?’
‘Oliver,’ she said.
Dan’s expression shifted from flustered to alert in a heartbeat.
Lucy flicked her gaze to Augi — who met it briefly, before returning her attention back to the library patron who was in full flow. ‘Come outside.’
Dan followed her out, past the beanbags on the deck and a sleeping dog, to a bench by the tennis courts. The thwack of balls and muttered swearing carried on the breeze. Lucy noticed that Dan positioned himself so he could see Augi just inside the library. He had it bad.
‘So,’ Dan said, leaning back, one arm along the back of the bench as if he had all the time in the world which perhaps he did now. ‘What’s up?’
‘Oliver’s not demolishing the hotel,’ Lucy said.
Dan blinked. ‘He’s what?’
‘He’s renovating it instead. Strengthening it. Keeping it.’
Dan stared for a moment, then let out a low whistle which had the dog looking up briefly before settling back down again. ‘That’s… not what I expected.’
‘Neither did I.’ Lucy’s hands curled around each other in her lap.
‘Why? Has he declared undying love for you and MacLeod’s Cove community?’
Lucy blanched. ‘Nope. Not at all. Not even a little bit. And he won’t because it would be totally out of character. And I’m not interested anyway.’
