‘Mostly to support you,’ she said quickly. She’d dodged sitting beside Raf on purpose, but perhaps that might have been better than constantly trying to avoid his gaze. ‘Not really for any other reason.’
‘Have you told Jago that? I know he’s looking forward to seeing you again.’
‘Just leave it, Pippa, yeah?’ Raf told her shortly. ‘It’s blatantly obvious what you’re doing, and both Cassie and I are perfectly capable of arranging our own dates. Should we choose to.’
Lunch was superb and they lingered over coffee as people drifted away, soon replaced by more. The teenagers took off first, heading to Alfie’s house. His mum had already promised to run everyone home afterwards, and Cassie watched Rory as he followed Alfie out, reading the change in his confidence, the scattering of freckles increasing now he was spending more time outdoors. Isla was tolerant of her younger brother tagging along to some things, but since their loss, they’d developed a closeness that meant she was fiercely protective of him, despite the usual sibling fallouts. When the adults were ready to leave they thanked Kenny and made their way outside, sharing hugs before Pippa and Gill crossed to the gallery, and Cassie set off with Raf and Flynn.
She was glad to have Flynn as a distraction from her thoughts as they strolled along, occasionally stepping aside to let cyclists pass by. ‘So don’t mention to Pippa that I’ve told you, but I’m supposed to be getting you to agree to a birthday dinner.’ She gave Raf a sidelong glance as Flynn paused to investigate an old burrow dug into a grassy verge. ‘Seeing as it’s a week on Saturday and we’re running out of time.’
‘And it’s your job to persuade me, is that it?’
‘Apparently. She seemed to think I stood the best chance.’
‘So what’s your plan? How are you going to persuade me?’ He quirked a brow with a lazy smile, and a bolt of electricity shot down her spine.
‘I haven’t got a plan,’ she muttered, gently tugging Flynn’s lead and encouraging him to carry on. ‘And I couldn’t. Persuade you, I mean. Not if you’ve made your mind up.’
‘Oh, I think you could,’ he murmured. ‘We don’t have to do anything. Forty’s not that special.’
‘That’s not what you said when it was my turn last year.’ Twelve months on from losing Ewan, she hadn’t wanted to celebrate a thing, and especially not her birthday as it fell on Valentine’s Day. Raf had arrived with Japanese takeout and funny little Valentine’s gifts for her and the children, and they’d sat up long into the night talking through their sadness. In the days before Australia and their kiss, still blinded by grief, such things had been possible.
‘So what would you like to do? We can’t let it pass without some kind of celebration to mark you finally becoming a grown-up.’ Cassie wasn’t prepared to give up quite yet.
‘Wow, thanks.’ He clutched his heart. ‘It just took me forty years, huh?’
‘Yep. Welcome to the real world.’
‘So as a concession to my great age, I have made a list of forty movies I plan to watch now I’ve got more time on my hands.’
‘That’s a nice idea. So what have you chosen?’
‘A few classics I’ve seen before, likeGoodfellasandThe Godfather, some I haven’t. Black and white, contemporary, all kinds really. I thought it would be a nice way to catch the ones I always meant to watch and never did.’
‘I hope you’ve got some romcoms in there.’ While Ewan had indulged her love of romantic comedies, Raf shared it. They both loved a happy ending, and some evenings Ewan had left them to it and gone to bed while Cassie and Raf stayed up to finish a film.
‘Of course I have. Want to help me kick off the list and watch one tonight?’
‘On our own?’ She wasn’t expecting the squeak in her voice. ‘Maybe we should wait for Isla and Rory and watch it with them.’
‘Okay. I’ll let them choose, as long as there’s no falling out. Cassie?’
‘What?’ Flynn raised his head to stare at something across the field, and whatever it was, she couldn’t make it out. She gently shook his lead and he plodded on beside her.
‘Me and Allegra, there’s nothing going on, whatever Pippa might have said. My sister wants to marry me off like some nineteenth-century Jane Austen hero.’
‘Oh hey, look, you don’t have to explain anything to me,’ Cassie rushed out. ‘Allegra is nice.’And obviously into you, but she didn’t add that bit.
‘We are in contact occasionally because of the house, but it won’t ever be anything more.’
‘As long as I’m not in your way.’ She’d meant to say ‘we’ to incorporate her children.
‘Never think that, because it’s not true.’ He caught a hand to halt her. She stared up at the flecks of gold around his irises, that intense and direct gaze. ‘You are a non-negotiable in my life. Always.’
‘Pippa just wants you to be happy,’ she said quietly, aware of the heat of his fingers, his eyes holding her more firmly than his hand. ‘We all do.’
‘Well, that’s nice of her.’ He stepped back and she missed his touch the moment it fell away. ‘But I’m not going to find it with a twenty-nine-year-old land agent who thinks that black and white movies are a waste of time.’
Isla and Rory came home about eight and Cassie caught up with them in the kitchen. An online shop had arrived earlier, which meant she could stock the fridge and wouldn’t be relying on Raf to keep them fed.
