She shook her head. ‘No, but I believe it’s the best outcome, for all three of you.’
‘And you?’ he teased, sensing she had fallen a little in love with Derek too.
‘That goes without saying.’ She laughed and took a mouthful of her drink. Swallowing, she frowned. ‘There is one thing I can’t work out though.’
Intrigued, he looked at her. ‘What’s that?’
‘His name. Are we to call him Derek, or Thistle?’
‘Good point.’ Brodie studied the dog. ‘I suppose his original name was Derek, so we should probably stick to that one.’
‘I think you’re probably right.’
At the mention of his name, Derek gave a soft growl.
Lettie laughed. ‘I have a feeling he’s trying to tell you it’s supper time.’
32
LETTIE
Brodie pulled up in front of the farmhouse. ‘I’d better get back to see my sister. I’d told her I’d be in for a few hours and don’t want to upset her by not being there.’
Lettie was about to reply when her phone vibrated against her hip. ‘Sorry, I’d better get this.’
It was a message from Joe.
Sorry, can’t make tonight. Am on call and on my way to a call-out. Will call you tomorrow to reschedule.
Joe x
‘Nothing wrong, I hope?’
She replied telling Joe not to worry and pushed her phone back into her pocket.
‘No, nothing’s wrong.’
‘Well, I should be going. I’ll meet you at the beach tomorrow night for our walk. Will you be able to make it at nine?’
She loved the late summer evenings. ‘That’ll be perfect.’
Lettie got out of the car and waited for Brodie to drive awaybefore going into the house. Realising she would be spending the evening alone with only Spud – who tended to ignore her most of the time – as company, she smiled.
Her stomach rumbled noisily, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning. She rummaged around in one of the cupboards and found a tin of baked beans. ‘Ooh, look, Spud,’ she said holding up one of the eggs she had collected that morning. ‘Isn’t it a good thing we have an endless supply of these?’
Unimpressed with her conversation, Spud lowered his head and dozed off. Lettie laughed. ‘You can be really dull company sometimes, do you know that?’
She recalled the fresh pasta and a tomato and basil sauce she had bought for her supper at the shop a few days earlier and decided to make the effort to cook something nourishing for herself, seeing as though she had the entire evening with little else to occupy her now that Joe couldn’t make their date.
There was something about the warm welcome she always felt entering her mother’s kitchen – a comforting feeling, which was what she needed at that moment. The heat from the Aga made the room cosy, but it was also the bright rug under the large, worn table and her mother’s eclectic mix of crockery and family photos displayed on one of the walls. She missed her parents so much. They had been gone for weeks now and each day seemed more tiring than the last.
As her food was cooking, Lettie topped up Spud’s water bowl, then stroked the dog’s head and gave him his food.
Spud gave her jeans a cursory sniff before eating his food and returning to his bed, flopping back down to sleep once again.
As she ate her plain supper, Lettie’s mind wandered back to herminimalist flat that she shared with Nessa near Vauxhall and smiled. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to have enough energy to feel compelled to go to a nightclub or bar and couldn’t think when she had last visited a coffee house like those in which the pair of them had spent most Saturday mornings. She missed the choice of places to go, especially the endless choice of exhibitions.
Lettie yawned, deciding to leave the washing up until the morning. Her mother would be shocked to see her kitchen with dirty plates and pans in it, but Lettie simply didn’t have the energy to do anything other than doze in front of the television for an hour while her food digested and then summoning up the energy to walk upstairs and go to bed.
