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She looked like she might argue for a second then nodded. ‘I didn’t sleep much last night.’
It was the second time she had mentioned it and he wanted to press for information, to see if there was anything he could do to help. But she’d already made it clear earlier she wasn’t in the mood to talk, so he settled for small talk. ‘This really does look good, thanks again for filling the fridge up.’
‘It seemed like the least I could do when you are giving up your weekend for me.’ She was right, he realised with a jolt. Even if he thought the site was a bust, he would’ve happily come here for the simple excuse of getting to know her a little better.
They ate in silence, but there was nothing awkward about it. It was enough to enjoy the good food, the better company. Nothing stirred in the heat of the afternoon. Even the leaves on the trees seemed too lazy to be bothered to flutter in the sultry air. The only sound was the occasional scrape of a fork on china, a snuffling sigh from one of the dogs as it shifted in its sleep.
‘It feels like the whole world’s stopped,’ Hope murmured.
‘Or we’ve stepped through a portal or crossed a fairy ring into another world,’ Cam mused as he stared out over the green canopy.
Hope laughed softly. ‘That’s a rather fanciful thought for a man of science.’
It was his turn to chuckle. ‘I deal in fantasy as much as reality. We had to study this book at school called The Go-Between. The opening line was something about the past being like another country where they do things differently. That’s what my job is – visiting a different land where I don’t speak the language and know nothing of the customs.’
Hope did that funny little head tilt she seemed to always do when she was considering something. He found it surprising, encouraging even, that he’d already begun to understand some of her unspoken cues. ‘And you don’t have the luxury of being able to observe the people of that place going about their daily business the way I do when I go somewhere on holiday. All you have is whatever you dig up out of the ground and any records you can uncover.’
Cam nodded. ‘And until someone invents a time machine, we have to do the best with what we’ve got. Technology has helped us understand so much – carbon dating, geophysical surveys, digital software that can help us build 3-D models.’
Setting aside her almost empty plate, Hope curled up on her side to face him. ‘What do you think it would be like if you could travel back in time?’
‘Smelly,’ Cam said, making her laugh. ‘I’m serious! Look, I love a historical TV show as much as the next person, but the one thing I can’t get out of my head is how clean everyone and everything is. We take so much for granted, but we have a romanticised view of the past. Take the levels of disease—’
Hope pulled a face. ‘Do I have to? We’ve just had such a nice meal.’
God, she was adorable. Setting down his own plate, Cam lay down so he was mirroring her, the space between them separated by a small table no more than a foot wide. Hope’s lashes drooped, fluttered down until she forced them back up. ‘It’s okay,’ Cam murmured, keeping his voice low. ‘Let the world stop for a while and rest.’
13
Hope came awake in stages. The first thing she was aware of was a numbness in her hand. She tried to move it, but it was trapped under something. She tugged again and her head jolted, bringing her close enough to consciousness to realise she’d been lying with her hand trapped under her cheek. Opening her eyes, she rolled from her side to her back, not the easiest thing to do on the narrow sun lounger. Sun lounger? That was enough to wake her up properly and she sat up, massaging her dead hand to get the blood circulating.
‘Ow!’ She winced as pins and needles tingled painfully. Once the feeling had returned, she rubbed her cheeks, trying to rid herself of the lingering sluggishness from her nap. What time was it? The patch of sun on the end of the patio had definitely moved around. There was no sign of Cam, nor their plates or glasses. Looking over her shoulder, she saw he’d pulled the patio doors closed. The dogs were still curled nose to tail on the tiles inside, clearly not bothered by her absence.
Standing, she did her best to check her reflection in the patio door and quickly retied her plait, which had started to come loose. She didn’t think she’d drunk more than half her glass of wine, but her head felt as muzzy as if she’d downed the bottle and her mouth was sandpaper dry. Beyond her shadowy reflection, she could see Cam sitting at the dining table, his gaze focused on his laptop screen. She slid open the door, then froze when she heard him talking to someone. The movement was enough to disturb Sooty, who opened one eye and gave her a little bark of greeting.
‘Shh!’ Hope dropped to her knees in time to catch the puppy as he bounded over. ‘Be good now,’ she murmured.
‘Hey! It’s all right, I’m just having a quick chat with my mum.’
Before Hope could answer, he’d turned his laptop towards her and she could make out the figure of someone on the screen. ‘Hello.’ Hope waved. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’
‘You aren’t interrupting, love, we were just saying our goodbyes.’ The voice from the laptop was faint, but Hope caught the strong rhythms of the northern accent which she’d noticed in Cam’s speech from time to time.
Cam turned the laptop back towards him. ‘I’m sorry I missed Dad. Tell him I’ll send him a text later and I’ll speak to you both next weekend.’
‘All right, love. Bye-bye.’
‘Bye.’ Cam shut the lid and turned to Hope. ‘Did you have a good sleep? You were out like a light and I didn’t want to disturb you.’ He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then added. ‘You looked like you needed it.’
Hope buried her wince in the thick fur at Sooty’s neck. Was that his polite way of telling her she’d been looking rough all day? She’d dabbed on some brightening cream from the samples her mum was always giving her, but it obviously hadn’t made a difference. ‘Yeah, like I said, I didn’t get a great night’s sleep.’
‘Well, I hope you feel better for it. Can I get you a drink?’
‘Just some water, please.’ Her fuzzy head was probably due to the gallon of coffee she’d drunk earlier. If she had any more, she definitely wouldn’t be sleeping again. She wondered how Mum was feeling and a pang of guilt lanced through her. She should’ve checked on her earlier. Giving Sooty one final hug, she rose and crossed to the table to retrieve her phone. When she checked her messages, there wasn’t anything from her mother, which only made her feel worse. Did Mum think she’d been ignoring her all day on purpose? She started tapping out a message and then thought better of it and pressed the dial button.
‘Hello, darling. I was just wondering how you were getting on.’ Her mother sounded as tired as Hope felt.
‘I’m fine,’ she fibbed. ‘We had a really productive morning and a late lunch so time’s kind of run away from me.’ She decided to skip over her impromptu nap.
