“We can only do so much. You came to me about this quickly and now we’ve done all we can to warn people.”
Courtney nodded, but still looked unhappy. “Thanks for your help. I’ll leave you in peace to get back to your writing.”
Before she turned for the door, Travis’s stomach let out a rumble so loud it echoed around the walls of the room. The unexpected noise had her looking at him in amusement.
“I forgot to eat lunch,” he confessed. “I should probably make a sandwich.”
“You really should,” she laughed.
“Care to join me?”
The invitation was out before he realised he planned on making it. Courtney’s expression turned from amusement to surprise.
“I ate lunch already,” she said.
“Of course you did,” he said, feeling mortified. “It’s halfway through the afternoon. Everyone’s ate lunch already, except me, and I would’ve eaten already except I got caught up writing and?—”
“But I’m always hungry, thanks to the bump,” she said, patting her stomach.
He was grateful to her for interrupting the stream of drivel he’d begun spouting to cover up his embarrassment. A smile spread across his face.
“How about a cheese sandwich? There might be some tomatoes lurking in the fridge, too.”
“Cheese and lurking tomatoes. Sounds perfect.”
Travis laughed as he walked to the kitchen with Courtney following behind. While he dealt with the sandwich preparation, she gazed around the kitchen, which faced towards the back garden.
“This is a lovely, cosy kitchen,” she said. “And it feels well-loved. I bet the owners enjoy cooking in here and pottering around.”
“I’m sure they do. The house has a good vibe about it. When I first arrived, I thought it might be strange living in someone else’s house for several weeks. But I felt right at home as soon as I walked through the door.”
“Some houses just have that feel, don’t they? My old home…”
When she trailed off suddenly, Travis turned from the counter and the tomatoes he was slicing, and saw the warm smile she’d had just a moment ago was gone, replaced with a wistful look as she gazed out of the kitchen window to the garden beyond.
“My old home had a nice feel to it,” she said, and offered a too-bright smile. Pointing to the sandwiches he was making, she said, “Anyway, what I can do to help?”
Travis watched her for a beat and saw how she fought to keep that bright smile on her face. He wondered what she was pushing back against, and about what more she might have said if she’d let herself keep talking.
“Just grab a seat at the table and make yourself comfortable,” he said, nodding to the scrubbed pine table in the middle of the kitchen. “I’ll take care of everything.”
She pulled out a chair and sat down. Travis brought their sandwiches to the table and then served cold drinks from the fridge. After turning on the speaker on the windowsill and playing some music in the background while they ate, he joined her at the table.
“Thanks for this,” Courtney said as she took her first bite. “I didn’t realise I was hungry again until you suggested making these sandwiches. This baby takes an awful lot of feeding. Or maybe I’m just greedy.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Have I put enough lurking tomatoes in your sandwich?”
Her eyes twinkled as she grinned. “The perfect amount.”
They ate for a few moments. Once he was satisfied she’d taken a few more bites of her sandwich and was enjoying the food he’d prepared, he risked a question.
“You mentioned your old house before we sat down. The way you spoke, it sounds like you miss it?”
The sad and wistful look returned to her face, and Travis wondered if he ought to have left the matter alone. But he couldn’t escape the feeling that she’d mentioned it for a reason, consciously or otherwise.
“I do miss it,” Courtney said, her gaze on her half-eaten sandwich. “It wasn’t a mansion or anything special, really. But it was home.”
She looked up and the smile she gave him this time wasn’t nearly so bright. “I wish I was still there. I didn’t want to move out. But, like you said the other day when we were at the park, sometimes you can’t have the things you want in life, no matter how badly you want them.”
