I laughed.
‘You’re right, between them they would have finished me off.’
He reached out and took my hands, cold without the gloves I hadn’t put back on.
‘Well, you know that I wasn’t going to sell Lyonscroft, and that Astrid and India can stay there as long as they want?’
‘Yes.’
‘I made another decision.’
My brow creased as I looked at him.
‘To go back to LA?’
He squeezed my hands more tightly.
‘No. I decided that if you were going to be working for your sister nearby, then I would stick around, too. I can work from anywhere and it turns out the warmth of the Californian sunshine is nothing compared to how I feel when I’m with you. So, it’s my LA house that won’t have its lease renewed, and I was going to keep living at Lyonscroft.’
‘But you hate that house!’
‘Hated,’ he corrected. ‘This winter, for the first time in my life, it’s felt like a family home to me. And if it meant having the chance to make things work with you, then I was happy to stay.’
‘But what if…’
I trailed off, embarrassed to finish my thought.
‘What if you hadn’t wanted me?’ he asked.
I nodded miserably. The thought that I had so nearly pushed away this kind, funny, emotional man for a life of looking after other people’s babies nearly winded me.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘All I was sure of was that I wouldn’t give up until I was a hundred and ten per cent sure you wouldn’t change your mind. I thought that by staying nearby, then the possibility would be there, without the pressure. I’ve never experienced the grief you did; it wasn’t up to me to have an opinion on how long it should last, but I wanted to give us a chance, even if we’d just been friends.’
A wave of happiness coursed through me, and I leant forward and kissed him with such passion and relief and gratitude and joy that I never wanted to stop, and he kissed me back. It was only when Steve shoved his big, silky head between us that we broke apart, laughing.
‘Oh dear,’ I said, stroking his soft ears. ‘Are you jealous, Steve?’
‘He’s delighted,’ said Nick, pushing the dog back, who was trying to climb up and collapse on his shoulder. ‘He hated LA; the sand got between his toes, and everyone was cross because he was so much more naturally beautiful than they were.’
‘You’re a lovely boy,’ I said, rubbing Steve’s head and getting a lick on the cheek in return. ‘And much less high maintenance than Steph.’
‘He’ll be the perfect step-dog,’ said Nick. ‘As long as he doesn’t keep interrupting us.’
And with that he leant forward again to continue where we had left off.
Warm though our kisses were, eventually the cold air began to inveigle its way into our clothes and shoes, and we decided, reluctantly, that it was time to go home.
‘It’s getting dark,’ said Nick. ‘But look.’ He stooped down to Steve and fiddled with his collar until a bright red light came on. ‘Now, he can have another run and we shouldn’t lose him.’
He unclipped the lead and the big dog bounded off with his customary enthusiasm, every blade of grass seeming to hold some ineffable excitement. Nick wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and we walked the short distance back to the car slowly, despite the cold. When we were nearly there, he called for Steve, but there was no rustling in the leaves, no bark in response.
‘Where has that dog got to?’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, I think we’d better walk back.’
We started back quietly, listening out for him, but a flash of red light caught our eye first, before his mournful whines came to our ears. Veering off the path towards the noise, we found him.
‘Oh, that silly dog,’ said Nick. ‘Not again!’
For Steve had managed to wriggle his way inside a bush and, apparently, had no inkling of how to extract himself.
