It doesn’t make up for all the other stuff, but he’s trying, in this small way.
I smile back at my father, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch Maggie’s grin. “Can I?” she asks, reaching for the plate. And I push it toward the center of the table, letting her try some.
“You want some of this?” Jacob asks, passing the parfait to me.
Maggie’s brows rise. “Jacob sharing cranachan? I never thought I’d see the day.”
Jacob laughs. “I am not that selfish, Maggie.”
“Ordinarily, no,” she responds, “but when it comes to cranachan?” She shakes her head playfully. “Have you ever tried it, Neelu?”
“Cranachan?” I pick up my spoon, dipping into the cream and raspberries. I pause before putting it in my mouth, my eyes finding Jacob’s as I wrap my lips around it. “I have,” I say, after I swallow. “Once.”
Jacob’s eyes flash.
“Hmm,” Maggie says, a little too knowingly.
I snap forward to face her again, heat rushing to my face.
“And what are you two planning?” she asks.
I feel Jacob jump beside me, his leg jerking, pulling away from mine. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Ajit and I will be staying for a week, but I imagine you two need to get back?”
“Uh.” Jacob’s gaze flits to me, then away. “Fall semester won’t start for another two weeks, but yes. I think I should get back home. Prepare for things.”
“And I need to return the rental car,” I say. “And then…I need to get back home too.”
My father starts. “You’ve rebooked your return flight?”
“No. Not yet. But I will. When I get back to the room tonight.”
Jacob goes stiff beside me. He’s only a few inches away, but there’s no part of our bodies in contact anymore. It feels like he’s a mile away.
“Well, that’s great,” Maggie says, clapping her hands together, drawing my attention back to her.
It is?
My father’s mouth tilts down into a frown. “What do you mean?” he asks.
“They’re both going to the same place,” Maggie says, looking between me and Jacob. “You’ll be able to drive together. Back to Aberdeen.”
“Oh,” I say. “Yeah.”
My pulse picks up as I feel a flicker of hope. I’ve been trying not to think past tonight, but if we drive back together, we’ll have hours on the road. And when we reach Aberdeen, then…I don’tneedto fly back right away. I could have another night. Maybe fly back the next morning.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Jacob says. He reaches for the cranachan again, taking another spoonful.
“You wouldn’t be,” I tell him. “I’m driving there anyway.”
“It’s settled, then,” Maggie says with a smile, but I don’t feel the same kind of joy that’s obvious in her voice.
Because Jacob doesn’t look happy about this return trip. And I think I understand why.
A few more hours won’t change anything. It’ll only delay the inevitable.
“You don’t have to,” I tell him. “If you’d rather take the train back—”
