Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
The sight of Lily outside the station brought an instant smile to Flynn’s face. She hadn’t noticed the police car, and he put the window down to call out to her, but paused at the haunted look on her face. His smile fell away as a ripple of fear crept up his spine.
Something was wrong.
“Lily!”
Her head shot up, and the sadness that had been there vanished so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it.
“Looking for me?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, stepping into the road with a smile so unnatural he knew for sure there was a problem.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“Because you look…” He shrugged. Maybe he was imagining things. “Hop in,” he said, reaching across to open the passenger door. “I can drop you home.”
“Thanks.”
“Busy morning?” she asked while she pulled her seatbelt around her.
“Yes. I take it you heard about the latest break-ins?”
“No. What happened?”
“I assumed you wanted the inside scoop.” He raised an eyebrow. “But you just wanted to see me?”
“Yes,” she said, and the heat colouring her cheeks made him wonder what exactly was going on with her. “How many more break-ins have there been?”
“Two more this morning. All the properties had their doors unlocked. Someone’s taking advantage of the islanders’ trusting nature. We’re putting out alerts for people to be vigilant and lock their doors.”
“Where were the break-ins?”
“One on Church Street, and one on Buzza Street. Near your place, actually. You haven’t seen anyone suspicious, have you?”
She shook her head. “Do you have any leads?”
“So far, no one has seen anything. Whoever it is has a talent for going unnoticed. We’ve also had a few people report missing jewellery. Just odd pieces, so they thought it was lost, but since the reports of the break-ins they’re now suspecting they might have been stolen.”
“I guess an item of jewellery or two could easily go unnoticed. That’s pretty sneaky.”
“Yeah.” He pulled over on the street behind the promenade.
“Are you allowed to use the police car as a taxi?”
“No. Definitely not.” He grinned. “Don’t tell on me, will you?”
She looked lost in thought. “I had a weird conversation today,” she said, then fell silent again.
“Are you going to tell me about it?” he asked when she looked as though she’d lost her train of thought.
Her cheeks flushed again. “It was kind of stupid, but this woman was asking me about you… wanted to know if you were single…”
His eyebrows drew together. “Which woman?”
“Oh.” She grimaced. “She’s on an art retreat. Saffron. She mentioned she’d met you.”
“I think I know who you mean. Where did you meet her?”
Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she spoke. “At the ice cream shop.”
“She’s one of the group I met the other night. I think she was flirting with me. Or maybe she’s one of those people who flirt with everyone.”
“No. I think it was just you.”
“And she wanted to know if I’m single?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yeah.”
“What did you say?”
She shrugged. “That I didn’t know.”
A laugh escaped him. “You don’t know?”
“I mean…” She shifted in her seat. “I just didn’t know what to say…”
His stomach dropped. Maybe this was why she was acting so oddly. “Are you annoyed with me because I said we should take things slow?”
“No,” she said unconvincingly.
“It had nothing to do with my feelings for you,” he said, the words feeling clumsy and awkward.
“I was trying to be romantic… and just…” He swallowed hard.
“Just not rush things. But I definitely…” He paused and cleared his throat.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can tell people I have a girlfriend.
That’s what I’d tell people. If that’s okay with you? ”
“It’s okay with me,” she said with a subtle nod.
“You could look happier about that,” he teased.
“I’m happy about it.”
He wanted to point out that she looked anything but happy, but since she didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat, he wasn’t sure there was much point.
“Do you still want to do something tonight?” she asked.
“I’d love to, I’m just not sure what time I’ll finish.”
“Yeah, of course. We can do something tomorrow.”
“I wasn’t saying no to tonight,” he said quickly. “Hopefully, I won’t need to work too late, but the sergeant isn’t feeling great, so I’m trying to take up the slack. Also, if I manage to finish at a decent time, could you come to my place? If this thief strikes again, I need to be ready to go.”
“Let’s just leave it for tonight,” she said, a vacant look in her eyes. “It’ll only stress you out trying to get out of work in time.”
“It’s fine,” he said, confused. “Also, I wanted to talk to you about my flight.”
“What flight?”
He blinked a couple of times. “My flight back to the mainland. When I leave…”
“What about it?”
“I booked it.” He’d put it off for as long as possible, as though that might change things.
“Okay.” She let out a sigh. “Why do you want to talk to me about it?”
“I thought you might like to know when it is?”
“Soon, I imagine. A couple of weeks, right?”
He nodded slowly. “A week on Saturday.” Just less than a fortnight. Two weeks today, he’d be back in London.
“The sergeant might still be able to pull some strings and make your job here permanent.”
“He’s trying,” Flynn said. “And I actually think he’ll manage it, but these things move slowly, so I can’t imagine it happening in the next two weeks.” He’d been hoping so, but that hope was pretty much dead now.
“I’ll still keep my fingers crossed.” Lily leaned over and gave him a kiss that was all too brief. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She hopped out of the car so fast that he was fairly sure she didn’t even hear him call goodbye.
He’d been hoping that telling her about his flight would be a dose of reality that would get them talking more seriously about their future plans.
At least he’d put it out there. Maybe she just needed time for it to sink in, and he’d get more out of her later.
Or maybe she’d continue to bury her head in the sand about him leaving.