Page 18 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

She needed this job. Wanted it, too, she realised. And now Jack of all people was here at Willow Tree Hall!

Why on earth was he back? From what she had heard whenever her mum mentioned bumping into his parents, he never visited Cranley.

What a mess! But she had an interview to get to and, by golly, she was going to get to it.

She fixed a smile on her face. ‘Well, I’d better go and see Annie. Nice to see you again.’

She had hoped that he would pick up the hint that she wanted to leave. But he stayed silent and continued to stare at her. She wasn’t surprised. He had always been mean and moody. Of course, he was older now. Leaner. Still handsome. She could see the hard muscles of his stomach through his T-shirt and gulped, hating herself and him for having that effect on her more than a decade later.

He cleared his throat as she went to leave. ‘So, how are you?’

‘Good, thanks,’ she replied.

‘And your family? They’re well?’

‘Yes, thanks.’ If he was hoping that she would be making this easy for him, he was very much mistaken.

‘And your dad is well? Hard at work?’

Lily gave a start. Why on earth would Jack expect her dad to be at work? She shook her head. ‘He’s, er, mostly at home these days.’

‘Took early retirement, eh? Good for him.’

Lily gazed at him, utterly aghast. Something must have shown in her face as the smile on Jack’s face began to fade. To her dismay, tears filled her eyes, which caused to her blink furiously as if that would make them disappear.

‘You don’t know?’ she finally managed to say in a thick voice.

Jack shook his head. ‘No. What is it?’

‘He never went back to work after the car accident,’ she said, brushing away the stray tears that had appeared on her cheek.

‘Oh, God,’ he muttered. ‘I had no idea. I’m so sorry.’

‘Your parents didn’t mention it?’

He looked uncomfortable once more as he shook his head in reply.

They stared at each other for a while in stunned silence until Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Lily shook her head to stop him. She didn’t want to hear what he had to tell her.

‘Don’t bother,’ she told him. ‘It was a long time ago.’ Lily hitched her handbag higher on her shoulder. ‘Besides, after the accident it didn’t really matter any more. Nothing did, to be honest.’

She was relieved to see Annie and Sam suddenly appear from the nearby corridor.

‘I was just saying that I’d better come and find you,’ said Lily in an overly bright voice.

Annie raised her eyebrows but merely smiled. ‘Yes, I think that cup of tea will be well and truly stewed by now.’

‘Nice to see you,’ said Lily to Sam. She forced herself to look at Jack. ‘You too,’ she added, and walked away.

Thankfully, she was leading the way towards the kitchen so that Annie didn’t see the tears streaming down her face as she went down the steps.

*

Jack walked back outside through the front door with Sam towards his car. He felt dazed and was still trying to take it all in.

‘Nice Mercedes,’ said Sam, admiring the company car.

‘Thanks,’ said Jack. ‘And thanks for meeting with me. It’s a shame that the offer wasn’t any good for you. But it was good to see you again and meet your grandad.’