‘The guy’s an arsehole.’
‘Call him that when you’re in your room on your own, but don’t use that language with me please.’
‘Shame he’s not more like Mitch. He’s a good guy. He wanted to know if I’d like to go see his Christmas tree farm in Inglenook Falls.
‘I was thinking the same thing. We can do that if you’d like.’
‘You don’t need to hold my hand.’
‘I know you’re perfectly capable of getting the train there but I’ve been talking to Cleo about it already and I’d like to come. I can catch up with her, see the Little Knitting Box, and I can check out the local markets too. I’m sure I can amuse myself for the day without coming anywhere near you.’
‘You don’t need to go that far,’ he smiled. ‘I know you’ll want to see the Christmas tree farm, you’ll want to know where I’m spending my time, suss it out before you leave me to it.’
‘Am I really that transparent?’
‘Yes.’
She sat back on the sofa and eventually Kyle leaned back too.
‘Scarlett’s a very pretty girl.’
A slight colour appeared on his cheeks but she couldn’t see much beneath his dark hair that hung enough to hide it. ‘She’s nice. Clever too. She goes to one of those really posh schools and got grades that blow mine out of the water.’
‘You two must’ve talked more than I thought.’
‘I’ve been seeing a bit of her.’
‘I know.’ He seemed to be bracing himself for a rebuke. ‘What’s she going to do when she leaves school?’
‘She wants to go to university. She’s really good at art, but her dad says that isn’t a proper subject.’
‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’
Kyle appreciated the remark. ‘I told her it’s her own life, she can’t study something she isn’t interested in. But she says she also needs to think about what job she can get afterwards, so it isn’t always about your passion.’
‘It sounds as though she’s giving it serious thought.’
‘More thought than I ever gave my future.’
‘You’ve still got time, you’re young,’ she smiled.
‘She gave me something.’ He went over to his jacket and out of the pocket pulled a rolled-up picture.
When he handed it to her Amelia opened it out to see a pencil sketch. ‘This is you. Wow, she drew this? She really is talented.’
‘She admitted she took a photograph of me at the Christmas tree stall when I was working, and drew it from that.’
The details she’d captured in soft grey, a deeper shade for the contours of his face and his hair, were powerful. ‘You should frame it. If someone drew such a nice picture of me I’d want to treasure it. And it’s a wonderful keepsake.’
‘I probably won’t see her after this holiday.’
‘That’s the attitude,’ she added sarcastically.
‘Be serious. She lives in Hove, I live in Cornwall. Neither of us has a car. Makes it pretty difficult. Not to mention her dad hates me. Even if she fell head over heels in love with me, her dad would set up roadblocks to stop us ever seeing each other.’
‘You’re probably right. Hey, at least you can take your aggression out on those trees at the Christmas tree farm soon. Until then, try to keep a cool head.’
They were in a good place, for now, and when Amelia called it a night she fell straight to sleep, but when she woke in the early hours and couldn’t settle, she decided to try to catch Connie on the phone before she left for work.
