“Really? This from you who never married after Mum died?”
His hand stilled for a moment and then he carried on wiping. “That’s different. And anyway, I’ve had relationships.”
“But nothing serious, and—” She paused. “Wait—Marie? You’ve been talking to Marie?”
Marie owned the ice cream shop on the quay.
“And if I have?”
“Were you buying ice cream at the time?” She planted her hands on her hips and gave him a severe look. “The doctor told you to lower your saturated fat intake.”
“Are you nagging me? I thought you were supposed to be a hands-off daughter who always encourages me to make my own decisions in life?”
She kissed him on the cheek. “It seems our relationship has taken a new turn. Which one did you have? Don’t tell me it was vanilla and honeycomb.”
“It was vanilla and honeycomb.”
She drooled. “How can she own an ice cream shop and stay slim? If that place was mine, I’d eat all the goods before breakfast and be so full of ice cream I’d be attacked by seagulls the moment I stepped out of the shop. Are you and Marie close now? Is there romance in the air as well as chocolate sprinkles?”
He sent her a look and she shrugged.
“What? If you’re going to meddle with my love life, I can meddle with yours.”
“I’m happy as I am, thank you. I’m too tied up with my parental responsibilities to have time to date.”
“Yes?” She grinned. “Is that daughter of yours causing trouble?”
“She’s a handful.”
“I can’t believe everyone is talking about my sex life. I should move to London.” She said it casually. “At least there I’d be anonymous.”
“You’d hate London.”
Her heart thudded. This would be the perfect time to tell him she’d applied for a job. “Maybe I wouldn’t. And for the record the only thing that interests me about Luca is his crème brûlée.”
“His crème brûlée?”
“Absolutely. And possibly his sticky duck recipe.”
“I’m not interfering. I want to see you happy, that’s all.”
“I’m happy! See this smile?” She produced one. “Have you ever seen anything bigger?”
“No. Nor anything faker.”
She switched off the smile. “I’m happy. Tired, that’s all. But that’s going to change now they’re sending help. It will be great, won’t it? Absolutely great. Lucky me.”
She was going to treat it as a positive thing and not overthink it.
They wanted to be supportive.
And she’d be working with someone who hadn’t known her since she was a baby. That had to be a step up.
5
Abby
The heels were a mistake, she thought as she stepped out of the taxi onto the sweeping gravel driveway and had her first proper look at the hotel that was going to be her home for the summer.
