Bravo,purred Gigi.Baby steps, darling, if you can excuse the appalling phraseology.
Oh, you’re forgiven, Gigi.
They wandered home the long way, past the cottage with no name. The stonework looked less battered than it had. Someone was trying.
‘I think you and Kieran would make a nice couple,’ Jinnie said, as if remarking on the weather.
‘Do you?’
Angela’s eyes were kind. ‘We’ve seen you together.’
‘At open mic.’
‘And other times.’
Beth opened her mouth to protest and then closed it again.Couple.The word ricocheted somewhere dangerous.
Up ahead, Kieran appeared, framed by sunshine and midges. The part of Beth that ran on impulse wanted to sprint towards him and blurt;I held a baby.Ridiculous. Not his business. But…
A sleek 4x4 swung to the kerb. An attractive woman climbed out and wrapped Kieran in a hug. It lasted a beat too long. From this distance, the kiss looked like lips.
‘Beth?’ Jinnie’s voice tugged her back. ‘Who’s that with Kieran?’
The pair got into the car. The 4x4 slid away.
Beth swallowed. ‘How should I know?’ She turned away from where the car had been. ‘Come on,’ she said briskly. ‘Let’sget out of here.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
‘I’m not planning on moving in,’ said Lisa, nudging aside Kieran’s toothpaste and parking a small army of skincare bottles on the shelf.
‘Mm. Could’ve fooled me.’
In forty-eight hours, she’d annexed a hanger-rail, commandeered a drawer, and was now giving his bathroom a facial. Every fibre in Kieran’s body had yelleddon’t do thiswhen she’d suggested they ‘see how it feels’. But here she was, snuffling through his cottage like a truffle pig in Lululemon.
‘This place could be so much homelier.’ She misted the air with something botanical. ‘Those towels are an affront to skin. And your bed… Is that an actual dip in the mattress? Are the sheets Egyptian cotton? Thread count matters.’
Thread count, in Kieran’s world, was somewhere below ‘remember wheelie-bin day’. He was grateful to have a bed at all. Sharing it, however, was a different matter.
‘I’m fine with us hanging out and seeing how things go.’ Kieran didn’t particularly feel fine about it, but Lisa had a talent formaking herself impossible to ignore.
‘Are you really going to sleep on that cat-hair-covered sofa?’ Lisa’s nose twitched in revulsion. ‘It’s probably full of fleas.’
Prom padded in and twined round Lisa’s ankles. She shuddered, then stroked him with two fingers as if he might detonate. ‘I never pictured you with a cat,’ she said. ‘He’s … sweet. In a rescue sort of way.’
Prom purred without commitment. Lisa side-stepped him and whipped out her phone. ‘Lucy’s got a Sphynx, Cleo. Isn’t she adorable?’
Kieran studied the photo. ‘If ears, wrinkles and nakedness are your thing.’ He refrained from commenting that the cat reminded him of Sven.
Lisa huffed. ‘OK, I know I’m rushing things, but let’s see if we can recapture what we had.’ She gave him that bewitching lopsided smile. Kieran’s insides churned like a storm-tossed fishing boat.Damn it.
‘Why don’t we go to the wine bar and share a glass or two? Sven wassocontrolling about alcohol, but I’d like to get a little tipsy.’
‘Erm, what wine bar?’
‘Kieran,’ she said sadly, as if discovering Santa wasn’t real. ‘Doesn’t every place have a wine bar? You know, that serves wine – duh – and maybe tapas-style nibbles.’
Kieran followed Lisa as she headed downstairs. Prom sat on the bottom step, eyeing Lisa with disdain.
