Hattie was awoken by the smell of frying bacon. She pulled on some clothes and went downstairs.
Luke was cooking bacon and Fiona was making toast. The kettle was on.
‘Morning!’ said Fiona. ‘I was going to bring you up some tea. Bacon sandwich? On toast or bread?’
‘Toast please, but tea first.’
Fiona was a different woman, Hattie thought, watching her bustling about, cheerful and practical.
‘Good for you finding the bacon. I’ve had it in the freezer a while.’
‘I knew you’d have some somewhere,’ said Luke with a casual smile. ‘For emergencies.’
‘It’s not exactly an emergency,’ said Fiona. ‘But I was starving hungry.’
Hattie smiled, happy to see Fiona so relaxed and obviously enjoying herself.
‘How do you like your tea?’ Fiona asked. ‘And your phone’s been pinging. Shall I bring it to you?’
Hattie nodded. Someone, Luke probably, had put it on charge for her. There were a lot of missed calls. ‘Nick’s rung me,’ she said. ‘I’ll call back.’
‘Hattie?’ said Nick. ‘Is everything all right? I’ve been worried.’
‘Everything’s fine,’ said Hattie. ‘Would you like to come for breakfast?’
‘Yes please. What can I bring?
‘Eggs? We’ve got bacon. Anything else you might want to eat. I do have plenty of bread.’
‘Is Nick coming?’ asked Fiona, handing Hattie a plate with a bacon sandwich on it.
Hattie was pleased to see how keen Fiona seemed. ‘Yes. He’ll want to talk to you about going to Paris.’
‘Paris?’ said Luke. ‘Sounds nice.’
Just for a second Hattie remembered her daydream of being in Paris with Luke. And for another second, she felt inexplicably hollow.
‘It’ll be well out of Lance’s way,’ said Hattie. ‘Which is the point.’
Nick appeared with a full shopping bag. ‘Where did you find that’s open?’ asked Hattie. ‘It’s not ten o’clock yet.’
‘There’s a little shop near me that opens early on a Sunday morning,’ said Nick. Then he caught sight of Luke, turning bacon in a pan.
‘This is Luke,’ said Hattie.
‘We met in the shop yesterday—’ said Nick.
‘Luke saved us last night,’ Fiona interrupted. ‘He was an absolute hero.’
‘Why did you need saving?’ Nick was horrified.
‘Lance found us,’ said Fiona, and told Nick the story.
‘It’s hard to believe these lovely animals can be threatening,’ he said a few minutes later, caressing Frank and Fearless’s silky ears.
‘They can’t really,’ said Luke. ‘But a pair of dogs running at you can fake it pretty well.’
‘If I’d thought for a moment that bastard would be able to track you down here, I would never have left you,’ Nick said.
