‘I told him you should always share. I said if you let Will have a sleepover tonight you’d definitely let him have the next one.’
‘Cheers, Jake. What did he say to that?’
‘Brian’s greedy,’ Jake said disapprovingly. ‘I don’t think he’s good at sharing.’
‘He wasn’t happy?’
‘No. You’re inbigtrouble.’
Having dropped his bombshell, Jake skipped back to the garden, leaving Kate studiously trying to avoid Helen’s eye.
‘Did you push Brian over when he was playing Twister?’ Kate asked, desperate to change the subject.
‘Well, he was doing acrab,’ Helen said defensively.
‘Oh. Fair enough.’
Helen laughed. ‘He seems nice, Kate, really,’ she said, bending to put the muffins in to the oven and remove a batch she had already made. ‘I’m sure he meant well about the cow’s milk. But, Kate…’ She straightened.
‘Yes?’
‘Is it true? Did you really have a – you know –sleepoverwith Will?’
‘No, of course not. I got shafted into staying for a lock-in at the pub last night – by your bloody nanny. I came home smashed and automatically staggered into bed in my own room, which Will’s in. End of story.’
But Helen clearly wasn’t going to leave it there. ‘Kate, when girls in school told you they’d slept with a boy but nothing happened, you didn’tbelievethem, did you?’
‘No, of course not! But in this case it happens to be true. Nothing happened.’
‘Hmm,’ Helen smiled to herself, her good humour restored now that she had a budding romance to think about. She wasn’t put off by Kate’s insistence that the ‘sleepover’ had been completely innocent.
‘Did you know Lorcan’s here?’ Helen asked changing the subject.
‘No! When did he turn up?’
‘About half an hour ago. He’s in the garden.’
Keen to escape the gleam in Helen’s eye, Kate drifted outside. Lorcan was sitting at the table chatting to Grace with Carmen glued to his side, positively glowing with happiness. Will was kicking a ball around with Sam and Jake. He looked up as Kate came out and grinned at her. She blushed and bent down to pick up Sam, who had fallen over.
‘You’re okay,’ Kate said gently.
Will watched as she set him back on his feet, ruffled his hair, then let him scamper off.
When he had found her in his bed this morning, he had felt disconcertingly happy. He had almost kissed her – had been severely tempted to do a lot more. But, thankfully, common sense had prevailed and he had got out of bed before he succumbed to lust. What Tom had said to him all those years ago still held true: Kate was an O’Neill, and it was way too close to home…
‘Will!’ Jake was yelling, as Sam ran towards the goal.
‘Oops, sorry.’
‘Lorcan!’ Kate put her arms around his neck and hugged him from behind. ‘What are you doing here?’
He craned around to look at her, tired and bleary-eyed. ‘I was pining,’ he said, clasping Carmen’s hand adoringly. ‘I came to get Carmen and bring her back to New York with me.’
Kate felt an odd pang of jealousy. She couldn’t see Brian crossing continents on a whim to be with her – he’d be too worried about his carbon footprint for one thing.
‘Wow! So you’re going to New York?’ she said wistfully to Carmen.
‘Why not? It’s the holidays, so I have plenty of free time.’
