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‘So you haven’t found out anything else? About this man who was a client at the escort agency?’
‘Irene won’t talk to me. She spends all her time in her room, downing bottle after bottle.’ ‘And how’s Bertie?’ He touches my arm.
‘A bit out of sorts. He told me yesterday the grass was getting too long and that you should come over with your special lawnmower.’
‘Did he?’ Rory smiles affectionately.
‘The lawns are looking okay actually. He obviously just misses seeing you.’
And Bertie’s not the only one.
He rubs his chin. ‘How about I come over at the weekend and give them a tidy up?’
‘No! Oh, hell, I wasn’t hinting that the gardens needed doing. I was just telling you what Bertie said.’
‘I know that, Clara.’ He chuckles softly, shaking his head at my over-reaction. ‘Maybe I’ve got an ulterior motive myself for wanting to do the lawns.’
I smile. ‘Oh, yes, I forgot how much you love that brand spanking new, all-singing all-dancing machine.’
‘What?’ He looks bemused for a moment. Then his brow clears. ‘Oh, my lawnmower? No, that’s not my ulterior motive. I meant that I’ve missed seeing you.’
His words silence me, and when I look at him, an odd tension seems to have slipped into the space between us.
‘As well as Bertie,’ he adds, a second later.
‘Of course.’ Nodding quickly, I attempt a smile. ‘He’ll be glad to see you. I’ll get Luke over as well.’
‘Bertie and Luke are quite the double act.’
‘They are.’
‘Typical boys.’
‘Exactly.’
We study each other with a smile and the peculiar tension between us seems to have ebbed away as quickly as it arrived. Everything is fine, I tell myself, realising that I’d been holding my breath. I took his comment about missing me far too personally, that’s all. He meant it as a general comment– about Bertie as well. How stupid of me...
‘Actually, why don’t you ask the boys if they’d like to come and help me with your gran’s garden?’ Rory’s saying. ‘I haven’t been over there for ages. It’s bound to need a tidy up.’
‘I’m sure they’d love to. And I can help,’ I say at once. ‘I can keep the boys in order while you’re mowing the grass.’
He grins broadly. ‘Perfect.’
‘It’ll be just like...’
‘Old times!’
‘Yes.’ My heart is brimming over with emotion. The thought of spending time together like we did in the summer fills me with a joy I haven’t felt for a long time.
Next second, though, a nagging little voice in my head brings me right back down to earth with a bump.
Why are you feeling so happy? Do you really think you have the right? Rory is your friend and nothing more. Just be glad of the help he’s offering you, that’s all.
I take a breath to steady myself. ‘Thank you, Rory. That’s such a kind offer. Gran will be so grateful.’
‘It’s a pleasure. Sunday?’
‘Sunday.’
