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There’s a twinkle in her eye, and suddenly I feel like all last night’s escapades are written in my face for anyone to read.
‘I don’t know about fun...’ I grumble ‘...it’s certainly less trouble.’
‘More pish-posh. Now, sit. You need to eat. You’re far too skinny!’
‘I’m really not.’
But I do exactly as she asks, pulling out a stool at the table and sitting myself down. There’s no point insisting I get my own food. Marie wouldn’t allow me to do it back then, and she’ll be even less inclined to let me do it now.
‘Still a coffee fiend?’ she asks.
‘Still a mother hen?’
She laughs with me as she sets the coffee going. ‘It’s so good to see you... I can’t tell you! Though I have to say your travels kept both Ms Katherine and I very entertained. Your postcards were the highlight of our month, and we always shared a cuppa over your emails.’
I smile. ‘I did try and get Katherine to follow my social media accounts, but I think that was a step too far.’
‘Ha! Not through a lack of trying, mind you, but those apps are a minefield. Far safer to get your news from the horse’s mouth than be exposed to all that.’
I frown and laugh in one. ‘Fair enough.’
‘Now!’ She claps her hands together. ‘What can I get you? How about a fresh roll stuffed with bacon and lashings of tomato sauce?’
My mouth salivates at the very idea. ‘You remember my favourite.’
‘Of course! I’ll get it made while you fill me on your latest travels.’
‘And you can get me up to speed on this place.’
And keep me distracted from the epic mistake I might have made...
‘Deal.’
Edward
I’m working. Concentrating so hard that my head aches and my eyes sting against the glare of my screen. Not that I can tell you what I’ve been looking at for the past hour...and it’s that realisation that has me shoving away from my desk and scowling up at the portrait of Gran above the fire.
It’s not Gran I see, though. It’s all Summer.
She’s been a permanent presence since I left her side, dragging myself away from her curled up in my bedsheets, all blissful and serene and unwittingly calling me back. And then she appeared in my doorway, temptation personified, and I behaved no better than an arse. All because I was angry with myself for letting her in again.
Juan, my closest friend and my Director of Legal Affairs, called me out on my preoccupation, my need for him to repeat himself several times over rousing his curiosity...
Hell, if the man knew the cause was a woman, he’d be sending for the doctor.
I don’t get distracted.
I live for my work.
And a challenge like the failing start-up we’d recently acquired and were trying to discuss was my catnip.
Until Summer’s return...
I push up out of my seat and stalk to the window. It’s frosty outside, a low mist sweeps across the grounds and the far-off loch, coating everything it touches in a veil of glittering white.
Gran loved it like this...all mystical and full of the fairy tale magic she lived for. The kind of magic that saw her doing this...forcing Summer and I back together. Her will, those letters, her last wishes...
You were the one who let her back in, though. You were the one unable to tune out your heart when nothing good can come of it.
