Harry swallowed hard, wondering if she’d been tossing and turning for the same reason as him. ‘I didn’t either.’
Time seemed to stretch as they stared at each other and then Kat broke the spell by whispering, ‘I thought we were going to forget about it…’
Disappointment hit him hard but Harry covered it with a smile. ‘Forget about what?’ he murmured. The relief in her smilewas another blow so he turned away and addressed the others. ‘If everyone has had enough to eat then I really need to get downstairs. I promised I’d sort the kitchen out this morning so the juniors could knock off a bit early last night.’
‘Why don’t we divide and conquer, then?’ Liam suggested. ‘Issy can help Kat pack up her things and these two can do the heavy lifting and I’ll come downstairs with you and help with the clean-up. That way we’ll all be finished sooner and we’ll have the afternoon to chill out.’
Issy went up on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Liam’s cheek. ‘That’s a great idea. Once we’re finished up, why don’t we go for a walk on the beach afterwards?’
As Liam pulled Issy close and hugged her, Harry didn’t miss the glint of moisture shining in his brother’s eyes and he found himself having to swallow around a lump in his own throat. It was only since they’d got together that Issy had finally summoned the courage to confess how scared she was of the ocean. It wasn’t surprising given how her parents had died, but she’d always seemed so together about everything that none of them had suspected the deep-seated trauma she’d carried with her for years. With Liam’s help she was slowly desensitising herself, and for her to be the one to volunteer to walk on the beach was a sign of how much progress she was making.
He glanced over at where Kat was watching the pair, wondering if mention of the beach had bothered her. She had a wistful smile on her face, an expression so full of longing that it stirred an answering emotion deep inside him. Maybe she didn’t want to forget about that kiss any more than he did. Sure, the timing might not be ideal with the two of them moving in together, but they could work around that, take things as slow as she needed to. If it was something deeper than that standing between them, he was determined to find out what it was.
14
When he let himself and Liam in through the kitchen back door, Harry was pleasantly surprised at the sight that greeted him. There was still plenty of work to be done, but the worst of the mess had been cleared up and each individual workstation had been wiped down. He found himself grinning as he ushered Liam inside. He and Russ had trained their kids well and they had too much pride in themselves to leave things in a total state.
Liam clapped his hands together. ‘Right, this is your domain so tell me what you want me to do.’
Harry pointed to the counter where there was a stack of dirty crockery. ‘Can you empty the two dishwashers over there and reload them, please? Plates and that go in the lower cabinet behind you and you can just swap out the clean cutlery trays with the dirty ones.’
While Liam sorted that, Harry tackled the big pots that had been left soaking overnight in their industrial-sized sink. He emptied them and turned on the tap to let it run hot a minute. ‘So,’ he said, keeping his voice conversational. ‘What was it you wanted to talk to me about?’ Silence greeted his question and Harry glanced over his shoulder to see Liam staring at him, hisface a picture of such guilt Harry couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Come on, big brother, I know you didn’t volunteer to come and help me because of your love of washing up.’
Liam held up his hands. ‘Okay, you got me. I mean, I never need an excuse to hang out with you, but yeah, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.’
A lead weight settled in Harry’s gut and he turned to face the sink. Plunging his hands into the hot, soapy water, he began to scrub. ‘About the cookery school? You don’t think I’m up to it, do you?’ It was easy for Liam, he’d always been the smartest of the four of them. His brains had earned him a scholarship to private school and a top-notch university degree. He’d only returned to live in Halfmoon Quay in the past six months after a stellar career in the city.
Liam’s hand settled on his shoulder a moment later. ‘Hey, look at me.’
Harry shrugged him off, but he did turn to lean his back against the sink. ‘Don’t soft soap me, Liam. We both know I’m the idiot of the family.’
His brother’s brows drew sharply down. ‘Stop it! You know I hate to hear that kind of stupid bullshit coming out of your mouth. You might not be book smart, Harry, but that’s not your fault. Your brain is just wired differently to mine. Doesn’t make me any better than you just because I hit better on some stupid societal metric about what counts as success.’
It wasn’t the first time he’d had this kind of telling off from Liam, nor either of their other two brothers for that matter. Harry raised his hand and rubbed the back of it against his forehead, leaving a soapy streak. ‘I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and the 3a.m. demons got in my head a bit,’ he admitted.
Liam handed him a towel to dry his hands then clapped a hand on his shoulder again. ‘Hey, I get it. I could tell upstairs you were having some doubts, which is why I wanted to talk toyou about it. For what it’s worth, I thought it was a brilliant idea when you told me about it last night and I still do.’
Harry gave him a rueful smile. ‘I don’t disagree that it’s a good idea, I’m just not sure I’m the right person to pull it off.’
Liam’s mouth set in a stubborn line. ‘Why not you? I watched you last night feeding everyone from a couple of random things you found in the fridge and again this morning. If half a dozen people showed up at my door unannounced expecting to be fed they’d be lucky to get more than a bowl of cereal. I couldn’t cook a meal without needing at least three different spreadsheets and a fortnight to plan it.’
Harry laughed. ‘Come on, you’re not that bad.’
Liam grinned. ‘I can knock a half-decent meal out but I’m not flexible like you are. You just roll with whatever comes along and you do it effortlessly. That’s such an amazing skill, and one I wish I had more of.’
Harry knew what his brother was trying to do but he still couldn’t overlook the glaring error in his plan that had occurred to him overnight. ‘The cooking is only part of it though and I don’t see how I’m going to manage the rest.’
It was Liam’s turn to raise a hand to his face and scrub at it in frustration. ‘So you do what I’m doing with the hotel and you get people in to help you fill in those gaps. I didn’t know anything about interior design, nor about how to engage an architect, or how to jump through planning hoops. I would’ve been completely clueless about the design if Anya and Chloe hadn’t stepped in with all their brilliant ideas. And look at how much help Adam is giving me with the building works!’
Harry closed his eyes. ‘I know you’re right, I know…’
He sensed Liam moving closer even before his brother’s arm enclosed his shoulder.
‘You’re just scared of trying and failing.’
Harry leaned into the comforting strength of Liam’s hold. ‘Everyone already thinks I’m a fuck-up.’
‘Only the people who don’t know you, and since when did we care about what a few judgemental idiots think?’
