He paused for a moment, and then: “Forty-eight…”
Shit. It was uncomfortably close. Although certainly not surprising. “Do you have a picture of her?”
He picked his iPhone up from the coffee table and began scrolling through. Eventually he handed it over. It was the two ofthem, in what I gathered was the countryside. Hayes was wearing a Barbour jacket and Hunter Wellies and looked ridiculously English. She, Victoria, was suited in full riding regalia. She held her helmet in one hand, and the lead to a handsome horse in the other. Hayes’s head was turned to face her, and the look in his eyes was one of complete and utter adoration.
She was beautiful. Tall, reedy, with porcelain skin and an unruly ponytail of wavy black hair. She had his wide smile, his dimples, his eyes, although the crow’s-feet were more pronounced. Her features were slightly softer, but there was no mistaking this was his mother.
“Who’s the horse?”
He smirked. “That would be Churchill. And I’m quite sure she loves him more than me.”
I laughed. “Now,that’ssomething for your future therapist.”
Hayes collected the phone from me and stared at it before closing the image. Quiet.
“What is it about you and older women, Hayes Campbell?”
He took the time to empty what was left in his glass and sign the check, a wry smile spreading across his mouth. “Who have you been talking to?”
“No one.”
“You were Googling.”
“You told me not to. Remember?”
He bit down on his lip, shaking his head. “Nothing. There’s nothing about me and older women.”
“You’re lying.”
He started to laugh. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“I’m not letting you off that easy.”
His sigh was audible. “I like all kinds of women.”
“You likeolderwomen. You have a definite type.”
“Areyoumy type?”
“I’m guessing so.”
He smiled, sinking back into the couch. “You think I meet plenty of hot, almost forty-year-old divorcées on the road?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
He snorted, crossing his arms in front of his chest, defensive. It was not his typical stance.
“Tell me about Penelope,” I said.
“What about her?”
“Where did it happen, the first time?”
“Switzerland.”
“Switzerland?”
He nodded. “Klosters. I went with Ol’s family on a ski holiday.”
