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‘I’d love to.’ He thought he saw the glint of a tear in her eye, and he turned to a commercial before anyone noticed the lump in his throat.
She watched him silently as he took off his headphones and switched off the sound link to the control room. Then she puffed out a breath.
‘So this is it...’
‘I never say anything I don’t mean on the radio.’
‘Too many witnesses?’
Leo shook his head. ‘Nah. It’s just too important to me.’
She gave him a hesitant smile. ‘You could...call me. I promise I’ll get back to you this time.’
That was all he wanted to hear. ‘I know where you live now. If you don’t get back to me I will find you.’
* * *
‘That’s it.’ Rhona put the last of the thank you letters into an envelope and added it to the pile. ‘How are you doing with the cheques?’
‘They’re all ready for the bank.’ It had taken all morning and half the afternoon to deal with all the letters and cheques that had been received in the post since last week. Alex was grateful for every word, every penny, but it presented a whole new set of challenges for the charity.
‘Growing pains...’ Rhona rested her chin on her hand, staring across the desks.
‘Yeah. It’s going to be a lot of work, spending all this money wisely.’ Alex traced the tip of her pencil across her writing pad.
‘I blame Leo. And you, of course.’
‘Thanks. Nice to know I’m the architect of my own difficulties.’ She stared at the complex doodle in front of her. Boxes in boxes in boxes. That was how she’d felt for the last week. She’d known that Leo wouldn’t be in touch until after the weekend; he’d been busy filming for a TV special. And today he’d be at his surgery and then the radio station for his Monday evening show. Maybe she could start hoping for a call tomorrow evening.
‘We’ll work it out.’ Alex added a couple of optimistic curlicues to the doodle and then jumped as a loud rap sounded on the door and it swung open.
Leo. The tip of Alex’s pencil broke, lead spinning across the desk. Instead of breezing in, the way he normally did, he was standing stock-still in the doorway. And he was smiling.
‘Anyone for cake?’ He had a box from the cake shop around the corner balanced on top of three takeaway cups in a cardboard holder.
‘Leo! Don’t be ridiculous—of course we want cake.’ Rhona pulled him into the office, slamming the door behind him to prevent any possibility of escape.
He grinned, and Alex’s heart lurched dangerously. Had he somehow become more handsome in the last week, or had she really missed him that much?
‘Sit down.’ Rhona pushed a chair up for him and grabbed the box from his hand, opening it. ‘Ah, Leo. You know the way to a woman’s heart...’
He chuckled, putting a cardboard cup down in front of her and a second on Rhona’s desk, keeping the smaller cup for himself.
‘Espresso?’ It was all Alex could think of to say. Still she couldn’t stop staring at him, but that was okay because his gaze had never left her face.
‘Yeah. I need to stay awake. I’ve been busy.’
He probably had been. But busy was Leo’s excuse for everything. All the same, he was here, and all the reasons why she shouldn’t miss him were crushed under the weight of his smile.
‘I’m just off to the bank. Don’t eat my cake...’ Rhona snatched up the pile of cheques from Alex’s desk.
‘It’s my turn.’ Alex shot her an apologetic look. She supposed that she and Leo had made Rhona feel as if she was the third person who made up a crowd. ‘I’ll go later.’
‘I don’t mind. You and Leo stay here...’
‘Actually...’ Leo put a stop to the discussion. ‘I have something I wanted to discuss with you both. What are you doing on Saturday?’
* * *
