Instead, he scrambled up off the floor and extended a hand to me, hurrying me along.
An electric spark tingled up my arm as his fingers closed around mine.
We very rarely touched—my doing, since I was always so afraid of giving myself away. But it felt natural now. Easy. As if we were long accustomed to physical contact.
Mother glanced at our joined hands as though they were a dead squirrel one of the dogs had dragged in.
So much for being desperate to meet Andy. Not that I’d ever believed that, either. I wasn’t sure yet what she was planning, but I’d be damned if I let Andy get caught up in the middle of it. He hadn’t volunteered forthat.
“If you’re quick, there were fresh bread rolls just coming out of the oven when I called for tea,” Father said. “They’ll still be warm, and there was an entirely ridiculous slab of real fresh butter delivered this morning. You must be starving.”
My stomach growled as though it understood exactly what I’d just heard. Andy would undoubtedly be hungry as well, but I knew him well enough to know he’d never complain.
“You don’t have to tell us twice,” I said, striding toward the parlor doors with Andy and the dogs in tow. “Come on you two, we might even find you a couple of soup bones.”
* * *
The air outside was crisp,fresh, and bracing after the stifling heat of the fire and the growing tension in the parlor.
Even halfway through his buttered roll—which was just as warm and comforting as I’d imagined it would be, slathered in fresh, real butter the likes of which I hadn’t tasted since I set off for New York—the tip of Andy’s nose was a charming shade of pink, his cheeks flushed with the cold.
I wished now that I really had kissed him. It might have been my only chance.
I’d even beenplanningto, to take the excuse that it was all for show, to try it justonce.
But as I was so prone to doing, I’d chickened out at the last minute.
“This is so good,” Andy said between mouthfuls. “I’ve never enjoyed bread this much in my life.”
I hummed as I shoved the last bite in my mouth and extracted one of the tennis balls from the bag my father had directed us to. Both dogs instantly sprang to attention, deceptively powerful bodies coiled.
Pegasus and Bellerophon. Trust my father to name them that. He always did have a sense of whimsy.
“Fetch,” I called out, tossing it as far as my admittedly pathetic upper arm strength allowed and watching them both run after it, tails wagging eagerly.
“Your mom doesn’t like me,” Andy said, watching the dogs instead of looking at me. “Does she?”
I couldn’t lie to him. Not when he obviously knew the truth.
“No, but don’t let that make you feel singled out. She doesn’t like terribly many people, me included. Father likes you, though. He rarely takes well to strangers, but you got a share of his Penguin stash straight away.Thatis remarkable.”
“I like him, too,” Andy said, bending down to take the retrieved tennis ball from Bellerophon. “Reminds me of you.”
Andy’s throw was much better than mine had been, the ball soaring in a broad arc and landing just this side of the hedgerow that separated the gardens from the woods beyond.
“Really?” I asked belatedly, distracted by the dogs.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like you’re identical twins or anything, but... I dunno. You’ve got the same kind smile. Same sense of humor. Same weakness for chocolate.” Andy grinned. “Your dad has a whole silver fox thing going on.”
I almost laughed. OfcourseAndy was more attracted to my father than he ever had been to me. My life couldn’t possibly have gone any other way.
Better that I hadn’t kissed him. I couldn’t miss what I’d never had.
“Well, you might be in with a chance,” I said. “You could be the exciting younger man who rescues him from a nightmare marriage.”
“Is it really that bad?” Andy asked, face falling.
“Nightmare may be a slight exaggeration, although I maintain that you would be a vastly more appealing prospect. At least youlikehim. Mother only ever seems to find fault. And you know, stupidly, I think that’s a kind of love, to her. Wanting people to bebetter.Based, unfortunately, on her definition of better.”
