This man seemed far removed from the one who’d confronted Kyle in the park on their first night here or the man who’d flipped out at the Inglenook Inn when he’d seen Kyle kissing Scarlett. ‘This holiday was an enforced break by my boss,’ she explained. ‘He told me to take time off, get some perspective. I’ll have to apologise to the parent I was brutally honest with, but getting a warning in my job wasn’t something I saw ever happening. I usually know when to back off before I overstep.’
‘What was different this time?’
‘I don’t really know, I guess I’m tired of it all. Paul ending things, Kyle getting into trouble, my sister relying on me. I think everything got a bit much.’
‘When you talk about Kyle, you sound likeyou’rethe parent rather than your sister.’
‘Over the years it sometimes felt as though I was. Part of it was Connie’s doing, the rest most likely mine for never forcing her to be more accountable.’ It was a novelty to have a man take such an interest. Paul had never wanted to listen about Connie or Kyle, but then again, he’d seen enough over their time together to know the situation. ‘I don’t think Connie ever realised quite how much she’s relied on me, and talking on the phone to her helped. I think when we get back to England she and I need to sort a few things out. She knows she needs to step up for Kyle. I just don’t think she knows the right way to go about it.’ She let out a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding.
‘You and Kyle seem really close.’ He pushed his cup of half-drunk coffee far enough away that he could rest his elbows on the table and steeple his fingers beneath his chin, bringing him even closer and sending a zing of electricity through her body. ‘Surely being an auntie is like being a grandparent – you should get all the best bits and none of the crap.’
‘I guess I volunteered a lot of the time, or I never said no, so she’s always relied on me and it kind of gained momentum as Kyle got older. I think Connie sees my work experience as another reason to turn to me. I know she worries she’s doing a rubbish job at parenting.’
‘Ironic, given she’s putting the responsibility onto you.’
‘I should’ve said no a long time ago. But then I got attached and, to be honest, I like having Kyle in my life.’ Paul had never wanted kids and she’d thought she was fine with that – she had Kyle in her life and he was more than enough, plus the kids at work. She’d agreed, at least on the surface, that handling another tiny human might have been too much for them both. ‘When Kyle was sick I’d look after him so Connie could go into the office. She had a horrible boss who’d berated her for time off more than once and I knew she couldn’t afford to lose her job, being a single mum.’
‘But it meant your sister went about her day as normal and you didn’t. You worked at home, and I’ll bet your output was nowhere near as productive. No way can you look after a baby or a toddler and get a good day’s work done. Believe me, I’ve tried it when Scarlett was little, never bloody worked.’
‘You’re right. It wasn’t particularly fair. I’m glad Kyle and I are close though, something I think happened without really trying because I spent so much time with him. It means that now he’s older he knows he can depend on me.’
‘He’s lucky to have you. When did you work, if you were looking after him during the day?’
‘If Kyle slept, then I’d work. Or I’d wait for Connie to pick him up in the evening.’ She rubbed her hands across her face. ‘Why am I such a pushover?’
‘You’re not. You care, that’s all. You stepped up when your sister was having a hard time and devoted all your attention to looking after her and her son rather than yourself. That’s admirable.’
‘Admirable, really? Or do you mean pathetic?’
He shrugged. ‘We can go with your description if you really want to.’
‘I like yours better. And Connie isn’t a bad person, you know.’ Sitting here going on about her sister made her feel guilty.
‘I’m sure she isn’t. I don’t think you’d put up with her if she was.’
‘You know, sometimes I think life would’ve been easier if I’d kept on doing telesales from home. The job worked for me for a while – I earned good money, I had no travel expenses or commute, which meant I put in longer hours. My parents worry about the career I’ve chosen now. Paul did too. Nobody wanted me getting involved with families and kids in crisis.’
‘Do they have much need to worry?’
‘Sometimes.’ She didn’t give away the specifics, but gave him an overview of some of the more difficult projects they’d implemented where she’d spend time with a street team working in rougher areas, often finding opposition to the positivity they were trying to instil. ‘The way I see it is that all jobs come with a risk. If I’d become a teacher a student could’ve turned on me, if I was an electrician I could electrocute myself –’
‘If you’d stayed as a telesales executive you could’ve died of boredom.’
‘I wouldn’t go quite that far,’ she laughed, ‘but I’m glad I made the change.’
Enid gave them a knowing smile when they left the café and Amelia hoped Nathan hadn’t noticed, although she was buzzing inside at spending time with this man, way across the miles and away from everything familiar.
Outside, they buttoned their coats up straight away. Darkness had descended and there was a hint of snow still on the air. ‘Thank you,’ she told him, her fingers scooping her hair away from her mouth as the breeze insisted on blowing it there. ‘For listening to me, I mean. Letting me moan about my troublesome life, which really isn’t all that bad.’
‘For what it’s worth, I admire you. Kyle seems a nice lad deep down and I reckon a lot of that is down to you.’
She nudged him and grinned. ‘You like him, you’re happy he’s with Scarlett because you know he’s good. Admit it.’
‘Never.’ But he smiled at her and only broke eye contact when he looked up and said, ‘Talking of the teens, here they come.’
Wary of Nathan at first, it took Kyle a bit of coaxing to talk about what they’d got up to all day. Scarlett too. Kyle had chopped log after log, bagged them up, carried them to customers’ cars, he’d helped fell several trees, he and Scarlett had taken photographs of some of the most amazing trees that bordered the edges of Mitch’s land. Holly had made them all lunch – soup with crusty bread and Kyle had had two helpings he was so hungry – and both of them looked the better for the fresh air and space.
Amelia watched Nathan’s reaction when the kids walked ahead of them and Scarlett slipped her hand into Kyle’s. He seemed reluctant to take it but when he did, Nathan didn’t say a word.
