‘Oh yeah.’ Raf whistled and Cassie heard the dogs come bounding back, their paws skittering on the kitchen floor. The clunk of a tin being opened, treats offered, Lola grunting as she settled into her bed. ‘Sorry, back now.’
‘It’s fine.’ She hesitated. ‘Are you quite sure, before I say anything to Isla and Rory, about having two sometimes grumpy and always hungry teenagers in the house, plus me, for a couple of weeks?’
‘Sure enough to say come for the whole summer.’
‘Raf…’
‘What? Why not?’
‘You’re not serious?’ But the idea did sound tempting. A summer in Hartfell, weeks without work, Fiona, Gordon, Harriet, Pippa and Gil nearby. All those she loved best. And Raf, in the same house, even nearer. It would be fine, she told herself firmly. There was no option other than to be normal around him.
‘Totally. So you’ll come?’
‘If Isla and Rory say yes.’ But that was as good as a done deal, and she knew the kids would love it. ‘We won’t get in your way, I promise. I need to talk with Jas and see how it might affect her plans. And when you’ve had enough of us and want the house back, you must say so.’
‘It definitely won’t come to that. I’ll be around too, I have a proper job now. Kenny and Vince only took on the distillery on the understanding that I’m part of it.’ Raf paused. ‘Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t very supportive about your dating profile the other day. I think it’s a good idea if you’re sure you’re ready.’
‘You do?’ If only Cassie believed it herself, and her shoulders slumped. Had she imagined the faint sigh she thought he’d uttered?
‘Just promise me you’ll be careful?’
‘Of course I will,’ she said, rattled by his easy acquiescence of her half-baked decision to join the dating app. ‘So is there anything you want to tell me?’
‘Such as?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Anything you think I should know before we arrive. Who might be coming and going, birthday plans, that sort of thing.’
‘Nope, nothing to tell. But there is another reason why I’m sticking around, and if you want to find out why, you’re gonna have to come up and see for yourself.’
Oh, hell. So maybe there was something between him and Allegra, and Cassie’s anxiety flared. Perhaps she was making a dreadful mistake after all. But everything except her own feelings for Raf made sense, and she’d be silly to turn down a summer in Hartfell and disappoint Isla and Rory because she was finding it difficult to friendzone him. They were friends again, and she needed to nurture it. He would never know how she really felt.
She could do this, especially for her children, and Fiona and Gordon, who needed the help. Jas wouldn’t mind; she had coping with change hardwired into her, and she’d simply shift gears to accommodate Cassie’s new plan. Some of the ease of their conversation had vanished and she was ready to end it, her mind caught on what Raf wasn’t saying.
‘Well, thank you. It’s so kind, and Isla and Rory will be ecstatic.’
‘You’re very welcome,’ he said softly. ‘Speak soon, yeah?’
Chapter Nine
The few weeks before the end of the school term passed in a blur of exams, packing for the summer and, for Cassie, the strangeness of leaving her career. Bar maternity leave, she’d worked since university, and she found it both sad and scarily exciting to have a free summer and a new future beckoning. Since her decision not to accept the promotion, she’d quickly fallen out of the loop as her colleagues moved on, and after two weeks her boss had quietly suggested she take the rest of her notice period as gardening leave, and she understood. She was surplus to requirements now.
Saying goodbye to her team had been difficult and profoundly poignant, and despite her relief at an escape from the pressure, it felt as though she’d shed a layer of her own self after that final day. Her mind was used to working at pace, and it had been odd, seeing Isla and Rory off to school without settling straight down to work afterwards.
Jonny and the rest of Blue at Midnight had reformed for their final performance at Glastonbury in June, playing the legends slot to a rapturous and adoring crowd. Raf had arranged passes for Cassie, Isla and Rory, and the whole weekend was unforgettable, as mesmerising as it was exhausting and exhilarating. The band had taken over a hotel and Jonny’s entire family flew in, along with Gil’s two sons plus Fiona and Gordon. When Raf and the band eventually left the stage after their set, triumphant and pumped, Cassie was the first person he sought out to hug.
Jas, madly in love, had decided to stay on in London as she and her girlfriend didn’t want to spend the summer apart. She would travel up later on to meet Isla and Rory, and fly with them to Italy for the week with Cassie’s mother in August. Cassie and Pippa spoke regularly, and although Pippa was busy with the family, with Gil’s two sons at home, the house renovations underway and her work at the gallery, she and Cassie would at least be nearby and able to catch up whenever time allowed.
When school finally broke for the summer, Cassie loaded the car, and she, Isla and Rory headed north to the Dales. When they eventually arrived, she saw that July had brought a dryness to the landscape that was missing in spring, those vivid May greens faded to muted shades dried by wind and sun. The wildflowers in the meadows had gone too, the fields shorn of their crop for winter feed. Some farmers were still at work bringing in the hay as she drove along sunlit lanes, the buzz of tractors noisy as they scurried from farm to field before the weather broke.
She was a knot of nerves and anticipation when they reached Raf’s house at the end of a quiet lane, one they had only glimpsed online. She hadn’t seen him since Glastonbury, when they’d been permanently surrounded by people, his public self very much on show. Although they’d messaged regularly since, sharing information about her family’s stay here, they hadn’t spoken more than a couple of times. The sleek BMW coupe he’d adored had gone, replaced by a Land Rover, and she smiled at the mud-spattered vehicle and its practical, solid size. Country gent, indeed.
Rory was first out of the car to open the gate onto the drive, one which curved towards the house set further down, half hidden from the road. Isla hurried after him, both already snapping photographs on their phones, ones which they knew not to share. Respecting Raf’s privacy was something they’d long understood, and Pippa had let Cassie know that while some locals were agog at having him move in, most were unconcerned and happy to let him be. She drove through the gate and parked, rolling her shoulders to loosen the tension as she got out of the car. She raised her arms, extending the stretch, aware of her children’s exclamations over the house, and that it was theirs for the whole summer.
The house was built of the same local stone she recognised from Home Farm, chimney pots perched at either end of a wide slate roof, the gable wall facing her white with a half-glazed door set into it. A high stone wall surrounded what she assumed must be the garden, a narrow wooden door decorated with a lion’s head knocker closed to whatever lay on the other side.
Birdsong was cheerful and welcome after the din of London traffic, and a tranquil happiness began to replace the nerves as she went to the boot in search of a cool bag with food that needed to go in the fridge. Finally they were here, and for now at least, there were no more difficult decisions to come. Packing for three over six weeks didn’t come lightly, and it had taken her and Rory a good thirty minutes to stuff everything in. The quiet peace was shattered when he shrieked, and she yanked the bag free and hurried around the car. What now?
Cassie’s mouth fell into a gape as Raf emerged from the house, and then she too was running, the cool bag forgotten. She stuttered to a halt and grabbed Rory’s arm, his rucksack abandoned nearby. ‘Rory, don’t crowd him, okay? Three new people is a lot for Flynn to take in.’
