He felt Melody still and before he could wonder why, heard Spud barking.
‘What is it?’ she whispered as Zac sat back.
‘Someone is coming. Spud never comes this way unless he’s with someone.’
‘Melody?’
Hearing Lettie’s voice, both of them sat up and began straightening their clothes. He saw Melody run her fingers through her hair and take a calming breath.
Sitting next to her, Zac returned her gaze. ‘That was…?’ He couldn’t find the right word to describe how much his senses were racing.
‘Unexpected?’ she offered, one eyebrow raised.
Zac smiled, happy that the intensity of a few moments before had been calmed. ‘Yes, you could say that.’
He didn’t hear Lettie’s footsteps until she had almost reached them and Spud was pushing his wet nose into Zac’s right ear.
‘Eugh, get off, Spud.’ Zac laughed, catching Melody’s eye and seeing the amusement there.
‘This is where you’ve both been hiding.’ Zac saw his sister look from him to Melody and back again. ‘Um, I hope I haven’t come at an awkward time.’
‘Not at all,’ Melody said quickly, leaning to pick up her sketch pad and pencil.
‘Why would you ask that?’ Zac said, hoping to distract his sister.
Lettie wasn’t that easily distracted though and pressed her lips together thoughtfully as if she was trying to stop herself from saying anything else.
He picked up his trainers and got to his feet. Then as soon as Spud moved away from him he reached out to take Melody’s hand to help her up once she had put her trainers back on.
‘I presume the food must be ready with all this urgency,’ he said, starting to feel irritated that his moment with Melody had been interrupted.
‘You know what Mum’s like about mealtimes. She’s probably been looking forward to this barbecue for days, so we can’t disappoint her.’
He and Melody exchanged glances, but it wasn’t obvious to him how she was feeling. Was she as frustrated as him that their kisses had been interrupted? His sister was talking about the steaks their father had been sent out to buy but all Zac couldthink of was that they could have eaten at any time if their parents had still been away. He pushed his annoyance away. He was being selfish. His mother was happy to be home again and her way of showing her love was to feed people. He should be grateful for that.
As they entered the yard, he spotted Callum’s car parked to one side. ‘Callum’s here?’ he asked, guilt flooding through him when he thought about what he and Melody had been doing minutes earlier. He looked at her just as she looked from Callum’s car to stare into his eyes, immediately looking downcast.
Zac felt Melody’s hand brush his wrist. He took her hand in his and was about to give her a reassuring smile when Callum and Brodie strode out of the front door.
‘There you are,’ Brodie said. ‘We thought you two might have got lost somewhere.’
He was joking and Zac knew what he was saying was spoken in all innocence, but he spotted Callum’s cheerful expression vanish and his eyes look down at Zac’s hand holding Melody’s. They immediately let go of each other, but he didn’t miss the look of hurt on Callum’s face.
It seemed as if nobody spoke for ages, but Zac supposed it was only a few seconds. Brodie had slipped his arm around Lettie’s shoulders and was walking with her into the house. Callum was standing with one hand on Spud’s head but clearly didn’t know what to say and Zac knew he needed to take charge somehow.
‘Shall we go in then? We don’t want Mum panicking about food being spoiled. You know what she can be like, Callum.’
‘What? Oh, yeah.’ Callum didn’t move but said, ‘It’s good to see you again, Melody.’ His face softened. ‘I see you’ve got your sketch pad. Been drawing plants, or this reprobate?’
‘I was intending to draw some plants I’d seen earlier in the meadow, but was interrupted by this one,’ she said, giving a gentle laugh. ‘Shall we go and join the others.’
Zac led the way to the farmhouse, down the hallway and out the back door to the terrace where the smell of cooked food wafted towards them as they stepped outside.
‘Smells delicious,’ he said.
Brodie and Lettie were serving themselves and Lindy waved for Callum and Melody to do the same.
‘When you’re all sitting down, Gareth and I can tell you all about our trip.’
