‘Oh no, really? Twice?’ He looked at the pan and frowned before switching his gaze to her. ‘OK, my back-up plan was Chicken Pad Thai, which I can do if I throw some noodles in and whiz up a sauce.’
‘If you’re aiming to impress, it has worked.’
He laughed. ‘No. I just can’t let you eat fajitas for the third time in two weeks. Also, what if Molly’s are better than mine? Being trounced by a five-year-old … that’s just embarrassing.’
While eating the Pad Thai they talked about Molly, with Will saying how cute she was on the beach.
‘Not sure about cute,’ Lucy said as she put her knife and fork down and refreshed their wine glasses. ‘I love her to pieces but precocious is probably a good word for her. She reminds me of Hermione from Harry Potter. Knows a bit too much.’
‘Well I thought she was cute,’ Will said diplomatically. ‘And I’m not the broody kind.’
‘No?’ Lucy enquired. ‘Don’t want kids of your own?’
‘Maybe one day. You?’
‘Maybe one day,’ she said, echoing him.
‘Too busy having fun?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure that’s the case,’ Lucy said. ‘Just not really seeing anyone and not really dreaming of weddings and kids right now.’
‘Good answer,’ he said, taking a sip of his wine.
‘You?’
‘Not seeing anyone,’ he said with a smile ‘and not really dreaming of weddings and kids right now.’
Lucy smiled in return and then said, ‘Good answer.’
A calm descended as they chatted and finished dinner and it was only then Lucy heard the music that had been playing the entire time from the sitting room. ‘This singer’s lovely. Who is it?’
‘It’s an Icelandic folk singer. I can’t remember his name.’
‘Icelandic folk? You’re far too cool.’
Will grinned. ‘Not really. It scrolls through a playlist automatically.’
‘Dinner was lovely,’ Lucy said. ‘I’m impressed and also a little bit tipsy.’
‘You drank more wine than me,’ Will said with mock-chastisement.
‘I think I ate more than you too. That was so good,’ Lucy said before offering to help clear up. Will declined and told her to make herself comfortable in the sitting room. She took their drinks through to the room, which was lit by two small table lamps oneither side, and she looked through his bookshelves, discovering lots of coffee table books about photography and a large black portfolio. She took a sip of her wine and put the glasses on the table before lifting the portfolio and looking through. Inside were beautiful landscape shots of the island as well as some of far-flung locations that Lucy couldn’t identify.
‘Did you take these?’ she asked as Will entered.
He nodded and sat down next to her.
‘These are amazing. You’ve got a real thing about beaches,’ she said.
‘I really do.’
She leafed through the rest of the book before going back to the start and looking at the shots of Guernsey, one in particular of the rocks at Cobo Bay drew her attention. The day was grey in the shot and the tide was far-reaching, pulled out to sea, leaving ridges of seaweed behind in the white sand. ‘It really is a beautiful island. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that, when your mind is on other things.’
He sat back and looked at her and she felt self-conscious under his gaze. Even though Will probably had no greater clue about the history of the residents of Deux Tourelles than she did, Lucy decided to go with the concept of two heads are better than one and launched in. ‘I brought the poster up for you to look at and some of the other things I found. There wasn’t much but even so, I have no idea what I’m looking at.’
He sat forward while she retrieved the items from her bag. He read the words from the notice out loud. ‘Compensation For United Kingdom Victims of Nazi Persecution …’ He trailed off. ‘Nazi persecution?’ he questioned, looking at Lucy. ‘Hang on. Let me just read this again …’ He scanned the document a second time. ‘And there was nothing else with this? No further letter or explanation?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘I was half hoping it referred to people from the Channel Islands being sent to concentration camps byaccident and being due compensation as a result. But I realise that’s wishful thinking.’
