‘So how come you’re an expert? Have you studied them at school?’
Nemmie gives a sniff. ‘We’ve mostly picked it up from Lando when we’ve been round at his place.’ She pauses. ‘We go there for the chocolate Hobnobs, and the rest comes out while we’re eating them.’
I’m picking my jaw up off the floor. ‘And does this happen a lot?’
Lando’s wincing. ‘When your mum does the school pick up or an afternoon walk, she usually calls in on her way home.’
‘What?’ I remember the seals and lower my voice to a whisper. ‘Every time?’ I mean, some weeks lately that’s been most days.
Lando’s expression is pained. ‘I think she likes my Yorkshire Gold tea. It’s very refreshing.’
I blow out a breath. ‘Now I’ve heard everything.’
Nemmie rubs her nose. ‘She thinks you need a husband too, and she likes Lando.’
Lando’s looking as uncomfortable as me, and he gives a cough. ‘I hoped coming here would give you more of an understanding what my life is about, Maevey, what my priorities are.’
He’s certainly highlighted that. Lying here looking down on the seals having their after-breakfast naps has been beyond special. But it’s been one blissful half hour in a lifetime. However kind and thoughtful and lovely he is being, and however hard he’s trying, he can’t change the rest: who he is and where he comes from. Nemmie has no idea about theinsurmountableelephant-sized reasons that were always there and will always keep us apart.
Her voice is soft but urgent. ‘He brought us here and he calls me Anemone. You need to do more dates, Mum.’
I sigh quietly. ‘Ask me when the beach hut is quieter.’ Hopefully by then she’ll have moved on to something new.
She juts out her chin. ‘If you think I’m going to forget about this, I’m not.’
There’s a long silence, broken only by the haunting sound of seal mews, which are somehow even more plaintive now we’re coming towards the time we need to leave. I’m checking my phone when Lando’s voice breaks the calm.
‘I’ve got a plus one for Fi’s wedding. You could all come to that?’
It hangs in the air, like some huge appalling spectre. I try to think of anything worse, but I can’t.
‘Thanks all the same, but we can do without a day at your castle with three hundred of your closest friends and family members.’
Nemmie’s mouth drops open. ‘He’s got a castle?’
‘It belongs to my parents,’ Lando says smoothly.
Nemmie stiffens. ‘With ramparts? And towers? How did we not know this before?’ She turns to me. ‘M-u-u-u-m?’
Lando carries on. ‘It would be a good chance to look around. And one of the few occasions I’ve spent any time with my parents in decades,’ he adds softly.
I’m trying to take this in. ‘What do you mean? Didn’t they raise you?’
He rubs his forehead as he thinks. ‘Not really. There were cooks, housekeepers and gardeners living in. They were the ones who made sure we were all fed and clothed.’
I had no idea his parents were so absent, but it’s clear the topic upsets him so I don’t want to dwell on it. ‘Back in the real world, Angel and Martha need their walks, you need to drop the car back to Sav’s, and there are a hundred things to do before lunchtime.’
‘You’re right.’ Lando puts his hand on mine. ‘Thank you for coming, Maevey. It means a lot to share this with you.’
His eyes are burnt umber, and if we weren’t on top of a cliff with Nemmie I might have been tempted to jump on top of him and wrestle him until he kissed the living daylights out of me. As it is I say, ‘thank you for the best date, ever,’ give an eye roll to suggest I could be being ironic, hand him my binoculars and scramble to my feet.
Nemmie jumps up too, then stares at my arm. ‘You’ve got goosebumps.’
I look down, and kick myself for not putting on a padded bra, but a moment later some warm soft fabric slides over my shoulders.
Lando’s biceps flex as he swings on his rucksack. ‘I’m fine in just a T-shirt.’
Engulfed in Lando’s scent, watching the gap between his jeans and his top as he strides towards the fence, I’m less good. But a few minutes later we’re over the stile and running back to the car, powered by the promise of bacon sandwiches at the Sardine Club.
