‘Good. Because I have about a million questions that I’m dying to ask you.’
I laughed, knowing she probably wasn’t joking. MI5 could probably learn a trick or two from Raegan.
The time difference was all wrong for me to call my parents without throwing them into a tailspin panic, so I simply rattled off a message letting them know I’d been enjoying a few days away with Fletcher and apologised in case they’d been trying to get hold of me and had been worried. I didn’t tell them who I was staying with, and for the life of me I didn’t know why.
‘Did you contact everyone you needed to?’ Josh asked, straightening from the spot where he’d been leaning on the rustic balustrade.
‘Yes, I did. Thank you, Josh.’
‘What for?’
I made sure my gaze was locked on his.
‘For bringing me here.’ I paused. Was I going to say it or was I just going to let things lie? Apparently foolish was the new order of the day. I turned around and waved my hand to indicate the treehouse. ‘Thank you for doing this.’
He didn’t blink for the longest time, and neither did I.
‘It’s not your treehouse, Lily.’
‘Yeah. Whatever,’ I said.
Josh took control of our conversation on the trek back, and by the time we emerged from the forest and his home came into view, I knew more about treehouse construction than I’d ever wanted to. As we approached the cabin I was struck by a momentary sadness that I was about to leave the tranquillity of this place and was unlikely ever to return. There was something almost spiritual and rejuvenating about his forest home.
‘I’ve just thought of a great way you could expand Wildwood,’ I said excitedly, as the idea nudged its way into my head. ‘You could build some more treehouses – not in people’s gardens, you should build themhere. This would be the perfect location for a luxury forest retreat. You could rent them out for idyllic secluded getaways.’
I was so caught up in the idea I didn’t even notice that Josh was slowly shaking his head. ‘I came here toget awayfrom everyone. Not build a load of holiday accommodation so the world could move in with me.’
I followed him from front door to kitchen, talking to his back, for he seemed oddly reluctant to turn around.
‘Whydidyou want to get away from everyone, Josh? What made a sociable guy like you suddenly want to cut himself off from friends and family? From everything?’
‘I’m hardly cut off.’
I lifted my eyebrows tellingly.
‘Okay. Currently wearecut off. But this is an anomaly. Normally I come and go whenever I want to.’
‘And yet you don’t, do you? You shut yourself away up here for most of the year, living like a hermit. Why is that, Josh?’
He paused for a moment, still turned away from me. I could practically sense the tension throbbing through his shoulders as he deliberately rolled them before turning to face me.
‘What were you hiding from, Josh?’ I asked softly. ‘Was it me?’
He closed his eyes for a second, as though the sight of me actually pained him. I knew I wasn’t going to like his answer even before he delivered it, because the expression on his face had switched to sardonic amusement.
‘Lily, I’m all for being self-confident, but you really need to get over yourself. First, you’re convinced I built a treehouse just for you, and now you’re accusing me of turning into a recluse just because we ended our rela— friendship.’
My senses went into high alert as he stumbled over the last word in that sentence. Josh sighed heavily and yanked his phone free of the charger wire on the countertop.
‘I’m going back out to see if I can make a few phone calls. There’s a farmer I know who’s got a tractor that could pull that fallen tree off the road.’
He disappeared from the room in a maelstrom of unspoken reminders that my mission here had answered none of the questions I’d wanted it to. All ithaddone was raise a whole lot more.
Josh was gone for so long I could only imagine he was systematically contacting every tractor owner north of the border, hoping to findanyonewho could rid him of his unwelcome house guest as soon as possible.
Meanwhile I spent the afternoon packing my bag, convinced I’d soon be on my way and refusing to acknowledge why that no longer filled me with the kind of joy that it should.
Josh didn’t return until early evening, by which time I was half convinced I’d be eating the meal I’d prepared all alone.
