‘Well, you’re not useless. No more than Primrose is. But itsounds like she does need help. I’m surprised her own nurse hasn’t spotted thesigns of postnatal depression, to be honest.’
Sam groans. ‘Prim’s great at putting on a front forstrangers.’
I laugh. ‘Aren’t we all?’
We exchange a look of understanding.
‘So what are you going to do now?’ I ask softly because helooks so tired and defeated.
‘I’m going to buy her some of her favourite chocolates andgive her the night off, as you suggested. And hopefully, if she’s more relaxed,we’ll be able to start talking.’
I nod. ‘You need to tell her that you’ve been feelinguseless yourself, then maybe she won’t feel bad admitting that she’s not copingeither.’
He smiles for the first time. ‘Okay. Thanks, Martha. Wish meluck.’
‘You don’t need it. But good luck!’
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dad, I can tell, is really pleased to see me when Iarrive at the hospital to collect him. He looks grey-faced, as if he’s beenthrough the mill and he doesn’t say much on the drive home. We still haven’thad the results of his tests, so the atmosphere in the car feels as tense as awound-up spring.
I’m due at work by eleven, so I only have time to drop himat home, make sure he’s okay, and drive off again, back to the Swan.
I’m desperate to avoid Logan, having made such a fool ofmyself. I’m really hoping he might be visiting other clients of his today. So whenI walk through the back door of the hotel and he’s the first person I clap eyeson, I can’t believe my bad luck.
He’s standing outside the staff room door, talking tosomeone inside, so I try to nip past without being seen.
‘Ah, Martha!’ calls a horribly familiar voice. ‘You’re here.Just in time, too.’ Lila appears at the door with a suspiciously friendly smileon her face. ‘Come in, come in. I was just reading something interesting andI’ve got quite an audience here already.’
Puzzled, I walk into the staff room. Apart from Logan andLila, Katrina’s there – she must be on her break – hugging a radiator alongwith one of the receptionists, and a few of the staff from the kitchen aresitting in their whites at a table.
‘Look what some silly person left at the spa yesterday!’Lila beams at me and waves a sheaf of papers around.
I stare at her, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.
‘Anyway, let me continue reading. To recap...as you already know, Marla, our lovely heroine, is pining her heart out overour hero in the story, the gorgeous, blue-eyed Lorcan...’
I gasp.
It’s my story. The copy I ran off for Katrina.
How the hell has it ended up in Lila’s hands?
I try to grab it from her but she holds it up out of myreach with a delighted smile. And short of wrestling her to the ground andlosing every last remaining vestige of pride, there’s apparently nothing I cando. ‘Give it back, Lila,’ I order her, my voice trembling slightly. ‘It’sprivate.’
‘Is it?’ Her eyes open wide. ‘Oh, what a shame. I thought itwas something we could all share. You have such a way with words, Martha. Andforgive me if I’m wrong but the heroine sounds very much like you, and the herobears astrikingsimilarity to someone we all know. Someone who happensto be around the hotel quite a lot these days, with those gorgeous, mesmerisingblue eyes mentioned so frequently in the story.’
She turns and winks at Logan, who’s looking rathernon-plussed about the whole thing.
A horrible warning pulse has started at my temple. I musthave left the manuscript behind at the spa hotel by mistake after Katrina gaveit back to me. And somehow it’s fallen into the hands of my worst enemy.
How could I have been so careless?
Katrina is looking horrified, probably feeling that it’s herfault for pestering me for a read of the story in the first place, and Logan isgazing at me with questions in his eyes as Lila reads on in her strident tones.She’s clearly relishing every single soppy line of my romantic love story.
Unable to stand the humiliation a second longer, I hurryfrom the room...
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
