Chapter 23
23
JOE
Skye peered past him. ‘Has your mother left already?’ Skye asked. ‘I’ve put the kettle on in case she wanted a cup of tea.’
‘No, she’s gone.’
Skye squinted, then placed a hand on his forearm. ‘Is everything all right between you both?’
‘Was it my scowl that gave it away?’ he joked, wanting more than anything to kiss Skye at that moment. Well, he mused, he wanted to do that most of the time, if he was honest with himself. Deciding not to push his luck, he went to speak, then his phone rang. Unsure where he had left it and not liking to ignore a call in case it was his mother having forgotten something, he gave Skye an apologetic smile. ‘I’d better see who that is.’ He followed the sound into the kitchen and saw that he had left his phone on the worktop. Picking the phone up and looking at the screen, he saw it was Paul, one of his colleagues from work. ‘This might be interesting,’ he said as Skye followed him into the room.
‘Hi, there.’
‘Sorry to interrupt you, Joe,’ Paul said. ‘I’ve just spoken to my mum about her time working at the hotel and she said she’d love to meet your friend Skye tomorrow morning, if that’s possible.’
‘I’ll ask Skye,’ Joe said, unsure how much time Skye and he might take talking with the woman and not wishing to be out when Brodie and Lettie brought the baby to the farm.
‘Sorry for the short notice,’ Paul continued, ‘but Mum is going away for a couple of weeks to stay with her sister, and tomorrow morning is the only time she’ll be free until she’s back on the island. You mentioned that your friend is only over here for a short time, so I thought I’d better call you straight away.’
‘Thanks, that’s very thoughtful of you, Paul. Skye is right here.’ He muted the call and relayed everything Paul had told him. ‘What do you think?’
She seemed startled for a moment before gathering herself. ‘Um, yes, I’d love to meet with them tomorrow.’
Glad Skye was taking up the opportunity, Joe said, ‘It’s very kind of you, Paul. And your mum. Thanks. We do have something we have to be at the farm for tomorrow but that’s not until late morning, so could we meet up, say around ten-ish?’
‘That sounds perfect. I’ll send you the directions to her house.’
Joe thanked Paul and ended the call, excited to share the news with Skye.
‘Joe, that’s amazing,’ she cried her hand immediately covering her mouth in her shock. ‘I’ll try not to get too excited but I am going to enjoy this moment.’
He rested a hand on each of her arms, wanting to reassure her. ‘And you’re right to do so. This is a tremendously exciting time for you.’
‘And you’re helping make it happen.’ She beamed at him. ‘Do you realise you’re the one who is seeing to it that my dream has every chance of coming true? And that’s incredible.’
Not wishing to take all the credit, he said, ‘We haven’t found your dad yet, although I am hoping we do.’ A thought occurred to him but he decided not to voice it.
‘I can see something’s bothering you,’ she said, the intensity of her gaze seeming as if she was reading his mind. ‘You’re worried that I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t want to meet me.’
‘Maybe.’
‘And you’d be right, but I won’t let my fear of that happening ruin this for me. I’m going to enjoy every single moment and if I have to deal with it not panning out as I hope, then so be it.’
She was incredibly brave, he decided. ‘And you won’t have to do it alone because I’ll be with you every step of the way.’
The look in her eyes changed and Joe couldn’t miss how thankful she was to him. Not wanting her to think too highly of him, because after all wasn’t he was only doing what anyone else in his position would do, he said, ‘This is exciting for me too, you know.’
‘It is?’
Joe shrugged. ‘Yes.’
‘Why, though?’
‘Because it’s not every day I get to go on a hunt for a mystery man and try to help someone I like very much to discover more about their history.’
‘Aw, that’s so sweet of you, Joe.’
He couldn’t tell if she was teasing him, then decided this was far too important to Skye to think about teasing anyone. ‘I do my best,’ he said, giving what he hoped was an angelic expression.
‘I know, and I appreciate your efforts.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘Seriously. I really do.’
Now she really was teasing him and he was grateful. He didn’t want things to become too heavy, especially when neither of them could bank on what the outcome of their search might be.
‘We’d better get up an hour earlier if we’re to do all the chores before leaving to meet up with Paul’s mum,’ Joe suggested. ‘After that we’ll have to race back to be here to welcome Brodie and Lettie.’
‘And baby Isla,’ she reminded him. ‘They’re going to make such a cute family, don’t you think?’
He thought about it and tried to picture the three of them together. ‘I do. Although I’m not sure how they’re going to cope if they don’t hurry up and decide which house they’ll live in.’ He thought of Brodie’s practice. ‘His cottage is right next to his work and Lettie’s is at hers.’
‘But they’re both down the road from each other, so surely it couldn’t be too difficult to choose.’ Skye wondered what Brodie’s cottage was like. ‘Surely if Lindy and Gareth return and stay here when they’re not travelling, then wouldn’t Lettie want to be at the cottage?’
‘I’ve no idea. I do know though that the cottage is tiny and there’s barely room for Brodie, so even if they have to share this house with her parents and occasionally her brother and Melody, I have a feeling this is where they’ll end up living full-time.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’ Skye sighed. ‘After all it’s not as if they can leave the animals alone overnight if there’s no one else here to take care of things in case of an emergency.’
He saw that Skye was becoming concerned and presumed she was wondering about when she might need to move on from the farm. He decided to change the subject back to her meeting tomorrow. ‘I’m sure they’ll work it out. After all it’s not our problem or any of our business really, is it?’
She pouted. ‘No, I guess not. I seem to have forgotten that this isn’t my farm, or yours.’
‘No.’ He grinned. ‘We’re just here to take care of things for a short time.’ He saw her face drop as he spoke and knew he had ruined the mood, so patted her shoulder. ‘However, we’re here now, and thanks to Brodie, it looks like we’ll be able to carry on as we are at least for another week.’
She frowned thoughtfully. ‘Unless Lettie disagrees, and they come here tomorrow and move back in.’
He hadn’t thought of that happening. ‘Ah, that could be a possibility.’