Page 98 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘Then we’d better get going,’ he told her, holding it out.

Lily was frantically shaking her head. ‘I don’t know, Jack.’

This was way out of her comfort zone. This was the old Lily. Not her. Not now. It wasn’t as if she had to change all at once, was it?

‘Come on,’ he said, in a softer tone. ‘Trust me. You used to like the bike.’

His words resonated through her and she hesitantly took the helmet from him. She watched him swing his leg over the bike and turn the key. The engine started up with a throaty roar, which made her ribs hum in vibration. He revved it a couple of times before putting on his own helmet.

Then he turned to look at her. She could see his cheeky smile through the visor.

Slowly, she brought the helmet down onto her head. ‘Oh, God,’ she muttered to herself, before swinging her leg over the bike and sitting down behind him.

‘Hold on to me,’ came the muffled command.

She moved her hands around his torso, feeling his warm skin under the T-shirt he was wearing. She didn’t want to grip him too tightly, but as soon as the bike moved away and began to speed up, she wrapped her arms around him and held on for dear life.

She’d thought she would hate it. She’d been certain that she would have grown out of the thrill from so many years previously. She’d thought that it would be scary now that she was older and wiser. And it was, but only for a short while.

Instead, Lily actually found she liked the feeling of hurtling along in the fresh air, and soon opened her eyes to watch the world whizz past. She relished the soft early autumn colours of the leaves and the feeling of being outside.

All too quickly, however, they were pulling up outside a very familiar house.Herhouse.

Jack stopped the motorbike and switched off the engine, before pulling off his helmet.

She lifted her visor. ‘What are we doing here?’

‘I need an expert’s opinion,’ he told her. ‘Do you think your dad would mind me picking his brains about something?’

Lily was stunned. ‘Dad? Erm, I’m sure it would be OK,’ she said slowly.

‘Great.’

Jack clambered off the bike and Lily followed suit, taking off her helmet.

She tried to fluff up her no doubt flattened hair as surreptitiously as she could before she went up to the front door.

Not quite knowing what was about to happen, she hesitated before putting her key in the lock and going inside.

‘Hello!’ she called out.

‘Hi!’ came the reply from the front room. ‘What are you doing here, love?’

Lily headed into the room and found her dad stationed in front of the television, as usual.

‘Hey, Dad,’ she said, heading over to give him a kiss on the cheek. ‘You remember Jack Carter, don’t you?’

Her dad gave a start as he realised that they weren’t alone. ‘Yes, of course,’ he said, looking flustered. He glanced down at his amputated leg where, as Lily had suspected, his prosthetic leg wasn’t attached.

‘Hi, Richard,’ said Jack, coming into the room to reach out his hand. ‘How are you?’

‘Nice to see you,’ said her dad, shuffling in his armchair.

‘Sorry to just turn up like this,’ said Jack, sitting down on the sofa.

‘Not at all,’ her dad told them quickly. ‘Can I get either of you a drink?’

‘No, thanks,’ said Jack.