This was news to him. ‘And you’d know this how?’
‘You’ve clearly never noticed the way they react to you.’
His sister was really getting on his nerves now. ‘I’m too tired to carry on with whatever game this is you’re hoping to play. Please get off my doorstep and leave me in peace. I’ve had a long day and I need to get to bed.’
She pulled a face. ‘You’re such a pain sometimes, little brother, do you know that?’
Why could his sister never get the message?
‘I’m the pain? I’m not the one standing on your doorstep in the middle of the night being annoying.’
‘Fine, I’ll go. But it’ll serve you right if Cathy meets someone else and falls for him.’
He doubted she was right. ‘Good luck to her – I hope she does.’
‘When did you become so antisocial?’
‘I’m not,’ he argued before stepping back from the door. ‘Maddie, please go home.’
Without waiting for her to reply, he closed the door and locked it. Honestly, his sister could be a right pain in the butt sometimes.
Brodie decided to turn off all the lights just in case she came up with another reason to speak to him, and he went to bed. He lay inhis bed, his head resting on his hands, arms folded behind his head, and wondered if Lettie had made plans to see Joe again.
He decided he wouldn’t be at all surprised if she had. ‘Too late to worry about it now,’ he mumbled, wishing he hadn’t let his promise to not become involved with clients get in the way of his feelings towards Lettie.
22
LETTIE
Departure Day
By the time Lettie reached the spare room where her mother had laid out both her and Gareth’s suitcases the following morning, she was exhausted. It had been an earlier start than usual because her father wanted to observe her working and go over everything around the farm one last time. Lettie’s tatty notebook was filling up fast and her head ached with all the information she was trying to take in.
The shower she’d just had did little to restore her energy and she supposed it might have something to do with the thought that she wouldn’t be seeing her parents again for the next two months. It wasn’t that unusual not to spend time with them for that period because she had been away studying and then working. This time though she would be living in their home and taking care of everything on their behalf and the responsibility not to let them down weighed heavily on her. It was also the first time she would have spent time living alone in the house.
‘How’s it going, Mum?’ she asked as she entered the room andsaw her mother struggling to close her overfull case. ‘Can I help at all?’
Her mother looked up and pushed strands of wavy hair from her flushed face. ‘Yes, you can come and sit on this thing while I attempt to zip it up.’
Lettie hoped the case was strong enough for her to sit on. ‘Hang on a sec.’ She kicked off her slippers and climbed onto the bed before sitting carefully on top of the case. ‘How’s this?’
‘Let me see.’ Her mother groaned and slowly pulled the zipper around the case until it closed. ‘Done it!’
‘Can I get down now then?’
‘Yes, then you can help me finish packing your father’s case.’
Lettie resisted asking why this job had fallen to her mother when her father was perfectly capable of doing it for himself. She was used to her mother taking on most of the jobs in the house, happily leaving the garden and farm work to her husband.
‘He seems to have a lot less in here than you did in yours. Could you have forgotten something?’
‘No.’ Her mother held up a list with everything ticked off. ‘My list,’ she said and then turned it to show the other side. ‘Your father’s. Everything he wanted to take is in here. I think it could be because I need to take more pairs of shoes to go with my evening wear than he does.’
‘If you’re sure, then we can close this case too and I can take them downstairs while you shower and change.’ She glanced at her mother’s bedside clock. ‘Dad said he wants me to take you to the airport at ten thirty and it’s almost ten now.’
‘It can’t be.’ Her mother looked at the time and covered her mouth. ‘I’m never going to be ready in time.’
‘You will be,’ Lettie assured her, indicating the hand luggage standing by the bedroom door. ‘You’ve triple-checked your passports and boarding information, so all you need to do is shower andapply your make-up. I’ll go and make you a cup of tea while you do that.’
