“Thank you. I’ll be back in touch in a couple of days but it sounds amazing.” There was a pause from her and he wondered whether he should distance himself because he hated purposely listening in to other people’s conversations, which is what he was doing right now.
“No, that sounds brilliant. I’ll check my email shortly. Yeah, I know. It’s been awhile. Thank you.” She put the phone back in her jeans pocket and swung round to face him, a broad, huge grin making her eyes crinkle and there was a light in them that he hadn’t seen like this before.
“Sounds like something good’s happened.” He forced a smile.
She nodded, still grinning. “I put a post up yesterday on my blog and it’s been viewed quite a lot.”
“How much is a lot, Abby?”
“I’ve had a quarter of a million hits. I know it isn’t huge by social media standards, but it looks like my readership hasn’t forgotten about me. A couple of the big climbing mags have mentioned it and put the links on their websites and Carl Matthewson mentioned it on Twitter.” Matthewson was big news in the climbing world and a bit of a television celebrity. “That was Rock and Stone – the clothing specialists. They’re interested in a collaboration if I agree to do three of their documentaried climbs in the next twelve months.”
“Where are the climbs?”
“One’s an all-female climb up Denali in May next year. The two others are Citlaltepetl and Iztaccihuati in Mexico, and Mount Elbrus. I’d have to seriously get my fitness levels up.” Her expression sobered. “Do you think it’s safe? I’ll have to up my blog and post videos again about my training, which means I’ll be back in the public eye – of climbing anyway.”
“Hide in plain sight. I know why you hid out here, but if the people who took Tilly know you’re living round here anyway, then this isn’t going to change anything. And you get back to doing what you love.”
She rubbed at her arms and swayed her eye contact away from him. The joy she’d been radiating about two minutes ago had gone completely.
“What is it?” He put down the piece of wood and the knife he was using and went over to her. “You were all happy and now you’re sad again.”
Abby’s hands went to her hips. Some of the fear that had been drowning her had gone. She’d told him about yesterday when she’d seen a man who looked like Kenny Gallagher, rushing home after her walk with the dogs. Alex had noticed the weight of the worry back on her shoulders, but today, after they’d rationalised it, it had gone.
“I thought you’d be thrilled about the climbs. If you can take the time off, you could join me on one. You might end up with your own fan club after.” She gave a laugh that sounded forced. “If you don’t think I should accept then say.”
He swallowed. Swore at himself in his head. “I think you should accept. Indy’s looking into your sister’s health records – there should be more that she can find out soon to tell us if she’s alive.”
“So what’s with the stiff shoulders and the look of worry you’re wearing?”
He purposely didn’t touch her, because if he did he knew he’d be using that to persuade her not to go anywhere.
“Before this with your sister you lived nearer to Manchester. Would you move from here back to where you were before?” She had a house there. Rented now, so the rent paid for the mortgage, but it was still a base.
She grabbed his hands and laughed. “The beauty of climbing is that I can do it from anywhere. Those trips mean I’ll be away for two to three weeks at a time but where I come back to doesn’t matter.”
“Would you stay in Severton?”
Her cheeks started to colour and she bit her lips together, the confident climber disappearing back into the shy girl.
“Do you want me to stay in Severton?”
He took his hands away from hers and instead held on to her shoulders, his thumbs resting on her collar bone. She was still too thin, but he’d seen in the days since they’d done that first easy climb that she was making more of an effort to eat more, to take better care of herself.
“Yes, I want you to stay in Severton.”
“Why?”
He kissed her. Mainly because she was standing there, questioning what she meant to him, but also because he didn’t know what the words were yet. She tasted of chocolate and mint and her lips were soft and demanded as much from him as he needed from her. And it was need. Alex didn’t want to pretend anymore. This wasn’t about keeping her safe in his house, although she wouldn’t have slept if she was in a place on her own; this was about her being with him.
“I like you living with me.” The words fell out as the kiss ended.
Abby’s eyes went wider than normal and she blinked. He saw tears in them and he cursed his stupidity. He hadn’t been in this situation before, he had no idea of the right thing to say or what the timelines were or if you’d know someone longer and only just started seeing them was it too soon to not want them to move away. Or was this the honeymoon period and in a few months would they realise that it was just the pressure of the situation that had forced them together.
“Is that the wrong thing to say? I don’t want to upset you…”
She kissed him back. It was soft and tender, not the sort of kiss that would lead to them pulling each other’s clothes off, but the sort he knew he’d never had with anyone before.
“It was the right thing to say.”
