Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Lily took herself to bed that evening, it was with a sense of impending doom. Maybe Flynn had been right that she should have thrown away the ice cream and delayed opening the shop. Ingesting something you suspected of containing poison seemed less sensible as the day went on.
The message from Flynn asking if she wanted him to come and sleep on her couch did nothing to calm her nerves. His implication that she may need medical assistance wasn’t subtle. She told him she was fine, then messaged again when she was tucked up in bed and asked him to keep his phone on loud.
It took her a few minutes when she woke to figure out her confusion. She had that gnawing feeling that something wasn’t quite right, which was quickly replaced by relief when she realised it was merely surprise at having slept the whole night without waking to stomach pains or any other signs of poisoning.
Apparently, the mint choc chip ice cream was okay.
Sitting up in bed, she replied to Flynn’s early morning message to inform him she’d survived the night and had no ill effects from the ice cream. She’d need to test the other flavours, but it was the mint leaves which had been her main concern.
With thoughts of opening the shop in two days fresh in her mind, she hopped out of bed, intent on making more batches of ice cream. She’d stick to recipes which didn’t require her to use supplies from the garden centre, just to keep her nerves at bay. She could make plenty of double chocolate chip, and another batch of vanilla.
While she worked, she kept an eye on the door, wondering if Flynn would materialise.
The bell above the shop door made a slightly different sound if someone opened it in a hurry. Lily hadn’t even realised she was so accustomed to the specifics of the jingling sound, but her head shot up and she knew before she saw the stricken look on Flynn’s face that something wasn’t quite right.
“You need to help me,” he hissed as he shot across the shop floor and slid into the back room to disappear around the corner.
“What’s going on?” She stepped back there. “Where’s my coffee?”
“I’ll get you a coffee if you hide me.”
“If I do what? ”
“You heard.” He slumped against the wall, breathing heavily.
“Hide you from who?” She’d only just got the words out when the bell jingled again, back to its sedate tinkle.
“From her, ” Flynn mouthed, pointing towards the door.
Lily looked through the shop at a tall blond woman stepping inside. “You have got to be kidding me?” she muttered under her breath. Her eyes slid to Flynn, who pressed his palms together in a prayer like gesture.
“Please,” he mouthed, his eyes widening to a pathetic puppy dog expression.
“Hi,” the blonde said, drawing Lily’s attention. “Sorry to bother you.”
“I’m not open yet,” Lily said, stepping into the doorway but keeping Flynn in her peripheral vision.
“I know.” She pushed her long glossy locks behind her shoulders. “I was just looking for Flynn.”
Lily tugged on her earlobe while attempting a puzzled expression. “Who?”
“Flynn.” She rested a hand on her hip. “The tall, dark-haired guy who just ran in here.”
“You mean PC Grainger?” Lily glanced behind her as though looking for him and caught the pathetic look on his face as she did. “Yep. He just ran through here. Went straight out the back door. I think he was chasing a criminal.”
Her stomach clenched with annoyance – at herself for covering for him, and at Flynn for being a horrible womaniser who ran away from his problems instead of stopping to face the consequences.
“Sure he did,” the blonde said, a hint of a smile piquing Lily’s interest. She certainly didn’t seem like someone who’d been taken in by Flynn’s charms and left heartbroken.
“Sorry for whatever he did,” Lily said, suddenly furious with Flynn. “He’s kind of awful.”
The woman waved a dismissive hand in front of her face, then reached into her handbag. “Can you do me a favour and give him this?” She held out a watch. “He left it at my place. I thought it looked expensive.”
Lily knew nothing about watches, but the weight of it surprised her. “I think I’d have kept it if I were you,” she remarked. “Or sold it.”
“I considered it, but I was concerned it might be sentimental, and these things tend to play on my mind.”
“Nice of you to get it back to him,” Lily said.
The woman cocked her head. “Friends with him, are you?”
“Yeah.” Lily automatically glanced behind her. “But I don’t always like him very much,” she added, loud enough for him to hear.
“Can I give you some advice?” Her eyes flicked over Lily’s shoulder and when she spoke again, it was with significantly more volume. “Don’t sleep with him. The guy’s all charm and not a lot of substance, if you know what I mean?” She winked at Lily and turned on her heel, striding out with her head held high.
After staring after her in awe, Lily stifled a laugh and walked back to find Flynn sitting with his back against the wall.
“That was weirdly fun,” Lily said, dangling his watch over him. “I think you met your match with her.”
He rolled his eyes. “She knew I was here. She only said that because she knew I was here.”
“Or maybe she just thought you were rubbish in bed.” Lily grinned and offered him the watch. “Does it have sentimental value?” she asked when he took it.
He frowned at the watch face. “I suppose it might have, for the guy who owns it.”
Lily’s eyes widened and laughter burst out of her. She slapped a hand to her chest. “It’s not yours? Oh, wow! That’s brilliant.”
“It’s not that funny,” he said sulkily.
“It’s hilarious,” she shrieked. “She’s the female version of you!”
He stretched his leg out to kick her, but she only kicked him back and kept giggling. When she calmed down, she offered her hand and pulled him up, then sent him off to get coffee from the cafe.
She should probably have been put out by the weird encounter with one of Flynn’s conquests, but it had the surprising effect of breaking the tension between them.
When he returned, they sat at the table nearest the counter. The first hit of caffeine was exquisite.
“Do you ever think about not sleeping around?” Lily asked.
He didn’t seem particularly surprised by the question. “I’m not hurting anyone,” he said, pushing his chair back from the table and stretching his legs out.
“Maybe not, but doesn’t it feel a bit meaningless?”
“Yes.” One corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “That’s kind of the point.”
“Fair enough,” she said, not quite disguising the hint of irritation in her voice.
“What other options do I have?” he asked defensively.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not like there’s much point in me dating anyone here.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Are you commitment-phobic or something?”
“No.” He tilted his head and stretched his neck. “I meant while I’m living here, there’s no point in dating. I’m leaving in a few months. It would be unfair to get involved with someone and then leave them broken-hearted.”
“That sounds a little presumptuous,” she said, while her insides tightened at the thought of him leaving. Given her nomadic upbringing she really should be used to friendships which didn’t last long.
“What do you think about friends with benefits?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Excuse me?” Her voice was shrill and full of irritation. It wasn’t even the idea of it that was offensive, especially when she thought about their kiss on the beach. They certainly had chemistry. There was just something about the way he’d casually thrown the idea out there that made her want to kick him out of the shop.
“Not us. ” His eyes bulged as he sat up straighter. “That came out wrong… I wasn’t suggesting…” His cheeks flushed and he pressed a hand to his forehead. “I meant in general. I wondered about your thoughts on it…” He was blabbering and it was actually quite cute that he looked so mortified. Or maybe she should be offended that he hadn’t been suggesting a tweak to their friendship. “I was thinking that if I want to have sex, I basically have three options: one-night stands or a girlfriend or friends with benefits.”
“And you’ve ruled the first two out,” she mused.
“No. I only ruled out having a girlfriend. It’s you and everyone else around here who isn’t impressed with the one-night stand situation.”
“You didn’t seem too thrilled with it yourself when you were getting chased earlier.”
“That’s true.” He blew out a breath. “I will admit it gets boring. I also haven’t done it for a while now,” he added sheepishly.
It was irritatingly good to hear that Seren was right on that matter. Irritating, because Lily would really prefer it if she didn’t care either way about his sex life.
“You could also just not have sex for a few months,” she suggested, pulling her focus back to the conversation.
“I suppose.” His eyes sparkled. “I’ll be honest, it’s not an overly thrilling prospect.”
“The problem with friends with benefits is that you need a friend who’s happy to sleep with you.”
He ran his tongue along his bottom lip and caught her gaze. The silence was excruciating.
“Can I be honest?” Lily said, shifting in her seat. “I’m not entirely comfortable with this conversation.”
His face cracked into a smile. “Let’s change the subject.”
They descended into silence again.
Finally, Flynn leaned onto the table, looking at her with a face full of mischief. “Have you ever done the friends with benefits thing?”
She laughed loudly. “I thought we were changing the subject!”
“Nothing else came to mind. And I’m curious.”
“I haven’t,” she said, shaking her head.
He pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. “You only sleep with people you’re in a relationship with?”
“Yes.” She cursed the way her cheeks heated.
He must have noticed, because he held his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I’m not hitting on you. I’m being a curious friend, that’s all.” Silence lingered for a moment before he spoke again. “Should we talk about what happened the other day?”
“Which day?” Lily asked, feigning ignorance.
“The day on the sand dunes,” he said, arching an eyebrow. “When you begged me to kiss you and then things got weird between us.”
“I did not beg you!” She glared at him. “I barely suggested it and you jumped me.”
His eyes sparkled, and she was secretly happy that they were joking about it. “I don’t like it when things are awkward between us,” he said in earnest.
“Me neither.”
“Can we agree that you shouldn’t beg me to kiss you again?”
She fought a grin. “Only if you agree not to stick your tongue down my throat because I mutter the word kiss.”
“ Mutter the word! ” He cracked up laughing. “You’re delusional. You do realise that?”
She beamed at him and drained her coffee before she stood. “I have to eat ice cream.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“I wasn’t offering you any. I’m checking another batch to see if it makes me ill.”
“That’s really disturbing, you know?”
“Yes. I know. It disturbs me the most. But this is the dark side of owning an ice cream shop that no one thought to warn me about.” She wandered into the back room to fetch a container from the freezer.
“What else have you got planned for the day?” Flynn asked when she walked back in.
“After this exciting task, I’m going to pay Gordon Pengelly a visit. Hopefully, he’s at the garden centre today.” She plucked a bowl from the cabinet and set it aside while she waited for the ice cream to become pliable enough to scoop. “And before you ask, you can’t come with me. I get better results when I talk to people alone.”
“I’m working in half an hour, anyway.” He stood. “I’ll talk to you later.”