Page 10 of Starry Nights over Dragonfly Lake

‘My sister might be rubbish at who she chooses to play dolls with but she’s a great baker,’ said Ben with a sound of pride in his voice.

‘Thanks but I’m okay,’ replied Noah.

Finally, his eyes rested on his roommate the previous night. Out of her pyjamas and dressed in normal clothes, Beth still looked anything but average. Her long legs were emphasised by the short miniskirt she was wearing and he had to force himself not to stare as she got up from the table and headed across the kitchen towards him.

‘Good morning,’ she said with a smile. ‘Noah, could you please tell everyone that our room share was entirely sex-free.’

Noah had just begun to sip his coffee and choked a little on his drink at her words.

‘For some reason, they don’t believeme,’ she carried on.

Noah finally swallowed the scalding hot liquid and nodded. ‘It was just a mix-up with the rooms. Nothing else,’ he croaked, his throat still burning.

‘See?’ Beth did a palms up as she turned to face the family. ‘Mind you, I’m not sure whether I should be flattered or affronted that they felt that way.’ She turned to look at Noah with dark eyes. ‘What do you think?’

He was quickly learning that Beth seemed to voice everything that went into her head and was still struggling to keep up.

‘I think we just tell the truth and leave it at that,’ he told her, hoping that ended the awkward conversation.

‘I heartily agree,’ said Walter, standing up at the head of the table. ‘Well, if you’re all done embarrassing our guest, I’m going to take him outside and show him the lake.’

Noah felt grateful for his uncle’s intervention. It was a messy, chaotic kitchen full of different personalities of all ages and he had never felt more uncomfortable in the presence of so many people crammed into a family home.

He had lived modestly by himself for all of his adult life. For the past year, he had rented a static caravan on the outskirts of Brighton where he had been working at a boatyard on a substantial project. He preferred a quiet life with no awkward questions and nobody to bother him.

And yet, as he followed Walter out of the kitchen, he found himself slightly wistful at the happy family atmosphere. But despite what Walter had said at the funeral, the Jacksons weren’t his own family. Not really. And it would be better for all concerned that he left as soon as he could.

5

After Noah had left the kitchen with Walter, Beth sat back down at the large oak table in the family kitchen and couldn’t stop herself from reaching forward to take a muffin from the pile on the plate in the middle of the table.

‘Are these my favourite banana ones?’ she asked Hannah, before taking a bite. The taste of nutmeg and ginger exploded in her mouth, alongside sweet banana pieces.

‘They’re my morning breakfast muffins, yes,’ Hannah told her. ‘Talking of which, I must get going in the boathouse. We open in two hours’ time.’

Hannah ran a successful café in the old boathouse next to the lake where her delicious bakes were proving to be extremely popular to both hotel guests and local visitors.

‘But first, you need to quickly tell us about last night,’ added Hannah. ‘I’m still so confused.’

Beth swallowed the remainder of her muffin before replying. ‘That was amazing,’ she said, licking her fingers.

‘The muffin or the stud muffin?’ murmured Lily, with a grin.

‘Please!’ said Ben, shaking his head and hurriedly picking up his mobile phone. ‘I don’t need to hear this about my cousin.’

The women all laughed whilst Ben and Alex swiftly left the room to deal with some unexpected accountancy emergency. Or so they said.

‘Right, now it’s just us girls, spill all the details,’ said Hannah.

‘Dotty? Frankie? Shall we leave them to it?’ asked Faye in a pointed tone, standing at the top of the table.

‘Not on your life,’ said Dotty, pulling her chair a little closer to where Beth was sitting. ‘I still need to get my kicks regardless of my age.’

The other women laughed.

‘Details!’ repeated Hannah.

Beth rolled her eyes. ‘It’s really not a big drama,’ she told her captive audience. ‘I went to the spare bedroom that Lily told me was empty. Everything was still in darkness. And then I found Noah in bed.’