‘Is your dad coming over?’ He moved to her side again and held her hands in his, his fingers lightly rubbing the skin on top of her palms. But when she spoke again he was so shocked he dropped them both.
‘I’ve booked a flight to England, Dylan. I’m going home.’
27
THE LITTLE KNITTING BOX, INGLENOOK FALLS, CONNECTICUT
‘Say that again.’ Dylan couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. After the shock of hearing she was leaving and realising she wasn’t his to keep, she’d said something else and he wanted to hear her say it again to let it sink in.
‘I bought a return ticket.’
He picked her up and swung her round, breathed in the scent of her seriously seductive perfume that threatened to undo him. ‘You’re not leaving.’ He held her closer still. ‘I thought when you said you were going home, you were leaving for good.’
‘I thought about it. I thought it might be time to go back and with Auntie Faith and Uncle Sid’s offer I had the perfect setup. But I knew when I heard the lease was up earlier than expected in the West Village that I couldn’t leave here. New York is my home now, out here in Connecticut near Grandpa Joe is the place I feel I belong. I realised something else too.’
‘What was that?’ He couldn’t stop looking at her, touching her face, his fingers trailing down to her lips as she spoke softly and told him the way she felt. It was all he could do not to pull her against him again, feel the full curves of her body fitting perfectly with his.
‘I realised I am like my mum in a lot of ways. She grew up here. She was American and when she brought us here for holidays and we’d drive the roads of Connecticut, leaf peeping and running around in all this space, I’d known then that part of her heart would always be here. You don’t grow up and move away and completely turn your back on a place, not if that place has special memories. I feel close to her here and I think she’d be proud of me for what I’ve achieved, she’d be happy to see me living this life.’
‘So you’ll consider this store for the Little Knitting Box?’
‘I’ll do more than that.’ She grinned. ‘I’m in. But on one condition.’
‘Oh?’
‘I want a proper legal document drawn up to show this is a business loan. I’ll be able to start paying you straight away.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘I mean it.’
‘I know you do, and I’ll do it for you. But now I have a condition. I’ll let it be a loan but I don’t want you paying any interest. You pay back the capital and that’s it. You may want it to be a business transaction but deep down it’s something from me to you. It would mean a lot to me.’
She smiled up at him. ‘You’re on.’
He moved to kiss her again. He could do it all day if he was able, but she backed away and put a hand against his chest.
‘You still didn’t answer my question. Who else is coming today if there are six places?’
He pulled his phone out of his coat and dialled a number and all he said was, ‘It’s time.’ And knowing he had at least ten minutes for the next part of the plan to play out, he pulled her into a kiss that lasted longer than ever before.
Fifteen minutes later and Cleo was getting impatient. It was hilarious watching her, her lightly painted, perfectly shaped fingernails tapping on the tablecloth, and when the front door opened her face didn’t disappoint.
‘Grandpa Joe! You’re okay? I thought you were sick.’ She looked at Dylan. ‘You roped him into this? How?’
‘I knew the name of the road where he lived, I did some reconnaissance.’
Cleo hugged her Grandpa, and Maggie too.
‘Now, if you kind people would give me a few minutes,’ said Dylan, ‘I’ll drive and collect Ruby and Jacob who are bursting to see all of this.’
‘That’s fine,’ Maggie called. ‘Come on Cleo, I need help unloading the car. And put the oven on, Joe, we’ll need it. We’ve got a Christmas dinner to make!’
Cleo grinned. ‘You’re making dinner here?’
‘There’s an oven out back,’ said Grandpa Joe, ‘and we’ve been preparing a feast since the early hours of this morning. You were probably still asleep.’
Dylan grabbed his jacket and keys and left them all to it, but the second he was out the door Cleo called after him.
