Silence. Len’s gaze drifted away, returning to the sea, a soft smile forming on his weathered face. An overwhelming urge to shake him swept over Liam, and then the age-old desire to run and keep running until he’d left everything behind hit him so hard he took a step back. Fuck this.
Zac’s hand on his arm stayed him, and then the dogs’ leads were being pressed into his grasp as Zac took the coat and moved between Liam and Len. “Fancy a walk, mate?”
Len blinked. “Who are you?”
“Zac. You’re Len, yeah?”
“Are you from Croft House?”
“Nope. I’m from Liam’s house. Where do you live?”
Len turned back in the direction he must have come from. Zac took advantage of his distraction to slip the coat around his shoulders. If Len noticed, he didn’t react. “I live up there. Rachlen Cottage. Been there fifteen years now.”
“Yeah? Can you show me?” Zac glanced at Liam. “That okay?”
Liam considered their options. This close to the beach, Len’s house probably wasn’t much further than his own, and it was clear Len was headed there with or without him. “Let’s go.”
He trailed Zac and Len over the wet sand and back to the path. They took a right at the fork towards Len’s part of the village. On the way, Zac spoke gently to Len in a way Liam had never heard him talk before, his voice so soft it was impossible to make out the words. Liam drifted behind, leading the dogs and shivering in the cold wind as evening began to fall around them.
They reached Len’s home. Thankfully, he’d left the door wide open, his clothes folded neatly by the roaring fire. Without looking at Liam, Zac set about dressing Len, who was fully clothed again before Liam thought to find himself a pair of Len’s thick fisherman’s socks for his own feet.
Zac settled Len in his chair and, following Len’s direction, fetched his pipe from the mantelpiece, stuffing it and lighting it, taking a lungful of smoke himself before handing it over to Len. He clicked the tiny TV on, somehow knowing to find the racing channel, then patted Len’s arm and stood. “Tea?”
Len grunted and sucked on his pipe. “I like you. Tell them to send you next time instead of that daft woman with the apron.”
Zac grinned and left Len to his pipe and horses, coming to Liam and touching his arm. “Show me the kettle?”
Liam beckoned Zac into the cottage’s cramped kitchen. Once out of Len’s sight, he seized Zac and pushed him against the counter, taking his face in his hands and kissing him senseless. “Thank you.”
Zac smiled against Liam’s lips. “For what? Letting you snog me in your dad’s kitchen? Because that’s all I’m going to let you thank me for.”
Liam kissed Zac again, then pressed their foreheads together. “He’s my dad.”
“I know.”
For a long moment, silence cocooned them, heavy and comforting, and for the hundredth time since they’d met, it seemed like he’d known Zac forever. “I should call my sister.”
“Okay. Do you want me to take the dogs outside?”
Liam leaned back and looked into the living room. Both dogs were taking advantage of the fire, Dave doing her best to sit on Jazz’s head, all the while keeping a watchful gaze on Len. “Nah. They’re good. Shit, I haven’t got my phone. I’ll have to use the landline.”
Zac nodded and reached for the kettle. Liam trudged upstairs to Len’s ancient handset. He dialled Rosa’s house, hoping there was someone home. Mike answered on the third ring and fetched Rosa straight away.
Liam explained himself, leaving out the part about his ex-hooker-slash-new-best-friend saving the day. “I don’t know what to do with him now. He’s watching TV like nothing’s happened.”
“It hasn’t for him, Liam. And it’s better like that. Can you imagine how he’d feel if he knew how much he’d upset you?”
“I’m not upset.”
“Of course you’re not. Either way, I’m getting in my car.”
“Rosa, don’t. It’s fine. I’ll stay here with him. The boys need you at home.”
“For a FIFA marathon?” Rosa scoffed. “I don’t think so. You’re doing me a favour. Stoke the fire and get the spare pillows down, okay? I’ll be there in ten.”
She let herself in twenty minutes later, clutching a casserole dish of Len’s favourite haddock pie. “I thought you said Dad was naked?” she asked after she’d greeted Len. “Where are your clothes?”
Liam looked down at his bare chest. Being half-dressed around Zac was so normal he’d forgotten to put some clothes on. “I, er, ran out of the house.”
