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Perhaps my mother’s tales of my misspent youth? Magda had worked for my family since I was a child, so they weren’t new to her. But I had seen how much delight Alana had taken in listening to my mother’s stories.
‘I’ll just go and fetch the glasses from the garden,’ Magda said and excused herself, leaving Alana and I alone.
I walked towards her and she looked up at me with those huge brown eyes of hers.
‘Thank you for today,’ I said quietly.
‘Pardon?’ she said, cupping her hand to her ear in an exaggerated fashion.
I frowned at her. Could she not make anything easy? She was getting much bolder around me and I couldn’t work out if that was a good or a bad thing. ‘You heard me,’ I growled. ‘You have my mama fooled, anyway. She loves you.’
‘Well, I’m actually very lovable,’ she said with a grin. ‘Your mom obviously has very good taste.’
I snorted and stuffed my hands in my pockets.
Alana tilted her head and looked at me for a few seconds before she spoke again. ‘Well, she is lovely,’ she finally said. ‘I really liked her being here. It’s a shame she had to leave so soon.’ Then she turned to look out of the window and I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes,’ she sniffed as she wiped her eyes quickly. ‘Being with your mom today just reminded me how lonely I am here,’ she said softly. Then she shrugged and turned back to the dishes.
I stood watching her and felt something for her that I couldn’t quite work out.
A pang of guilt, perhaps?
Despite my general apathy towards her, she had made my mom a very happy woman today. It was easy to forget that she had given up her whole life to move here.
‘Well, what would it take to make you feel less lonely?’ I asked.
She turned to face me. ‘I don’t know. Friends?’ she said with a shrug. ‘But I’m not that great at making them. What do the women around here do to occupy their time if they don’t work?’
Rubbing my hand across my jawline, I shook my head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘What do your friends wives do?’
I frowned. I didn’t have many friends, and the ones I did have weren’t married. But I knew what the wives of other rich men around here did. They had plenty of liquid lunches, spent their husband’s money and justified it by raising a few bucks for charity once a year. I’d bet that would be just her kind of deal.
‘There’s a group of wives who run a charity committee. I think they meet a few days, a week,’ I suggested.
I saw her eyes light up as she confirmed my suspicion. ‘Oh, that sounds perfect. Can I just show up? Or do you need to introduce me or something?’
‘Amelia Grant is the chair. I’ll have a word with her and tell her to expect you… when?’
‘Tomorrow?’ she said, all bright-eyed and shiny.
‘Tomorrow,’ I nodded.
‘Great. Thank you,’ she replied with a smile.
‘You’ll need to take Hank with you,’ I reminded her, and her smile turned to a scowl.
‘What?’ I snapped.
‘Hank hates me,’ she pouted.
‘Hank hates everyone.’
‘Couldn’t I go alone? Please?’
