The Summer Swap

Chapter 16

Lily

“She didn’t come home last night.” Lily poured coffee into two mugs. She’d taken some vacation days that were owing to her and negotiated a few extra days unpaid. She and Todd been working flat out on the cottage for the best part of a week, and it was finally starting to take shape. Her arms ached and her shoulders ached. Her clothes were flecked with paint. She’d never been so tired in her life, and never been happier. “Should we be worried? She didn’t call or anything. This must be how mothers feel about their teenagers.”

“Don’t ask me. I’m incapable of conversing intelligently on any subject until I’ve had coffee, you know that.” He suppressed a yawn. “Don’t be fooled. My body may be upright, but my brain is still asleep. What time did we finish last night?”

She liked the way he looked first thing in the morning, with sleepy eyes and rumpled hair. “It wasn’t last night, it was this morning. My phone told me it was 3 a.m. I did suggest taking a break at midnight, but you insisted we carry on. Are you listening to me?” She put the mug in front of him and waved her hand in front of his face. “Wake up! And I thought I was bad in the morning.”

He picked up the mug. “I’m awake, I think. Mostly. Three o’clock. That explains a lot.” He was silent for a moment as he drank half the mug of coffee. Then he put it down. “Right. You asked me if we should be worried. The answer is no. My grandmother isn’t a teenager. It’s not as if we don’t know where she is. Dinner turned into dinner and a sleepover. Natural progression, I’d say.”

She topped up his mug without waiting for him to ask. “Do you think something is going on?”

“I hope so. Her life has been pretty sad since my grandfather died. She just rattles round that big old house and tends the garden. Did you see her face when those flowers arrived?”

“Not only the flowers. When she talked about Seth.”

“Yes. She lit up.”

Lily picked up her mug and walked from the kitchen to the living room. They’d thrown open doors and windows to help let out the paint smells and she could hear the shriek of gulls and the sounds of the sea.

“He’s obviously special to her. And maybe it’s a good thing that she’s not here. We’re making progress.” She felt a rush of pride as she surveyed their work. “I can’t believe you managed to source the wood so quickly.”

“I leveraged contacts.” He nudged one of the strips of wood with his foot. “This came from an order that was canceled, so one person’s indecision is our new shelving unit.”

She was seeing a new side of him. Todd the craftsman.

“It’s looking great. It transforms the room. Bookshelves were a good idea.” She sipped her coffee. “Do you think this will work? Do you think she will still want to sell the cottage when we’ve finished?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. I’m not sure she knows what she has here.”

“She knows. But you and I see a gorgeous beach house with unbeatable views and masses of charm. She sees memories. And not good ones.”

“Yes. Damn.” He nursed his coffee mug. “I can’t believe my grandfather had an affair. Not sure how much I want to think about that. I just saw them as my grandparents. I thought of them in the context of my life. As family, not as people with their own problems, needs and emotions. I never really thought about what was happening in their lives. Is that selfish?”

“No. I think it’s natural. Also, parents and grandparents don’t usually share intimate pieces of their lives with their kids and grandkids, so it isn’t always that easy to put it all together. Were you close to him?”

“Not particularly. I was always much closer to my grandmother. When we were young, Hannah was usually the focus of attention. She was smart and funny and loud and dominated every room she entered.”

The description so perfectly encapsulated her friend that Lily smiled. “Sounds like Hannah.”

“Yes. And I was fine with it.” He finished his coffee. “She’s my little sister and I love her, obviously. We’ve always been close—until recently—but she always brought the drama. And she was so competitive. If it looked as if I was going to win something, she’d storm off. Sometimes I let her win because it led to a quieter life. I think my grandmother knew that and always insisted that she and I spend time together, without Hannah. I have special memories of those occasions.”

“What did you do?”

“Different things. Sometimes she’d take me on a trip, and sometimes we’d paint or do something creative. I remember I made her a birdhouse once. It was my first piece of carpentry. But mostly we’d just sit and talk. She was a great listener, and she always encouraged me to be me. She was interested in me. And I suppose that was good for my confidence. She taught me that it was okay to be nothing like my sister.”

It hadn’t occurred to her that Todd might ever have felt insecure, or unsure about himself.

Thinking of her own conversations with Cecilia, Lily felt a pressure in her throat. “She’s wonderful.”

“Yes. When my parents and I didn’t see eye to eye on my future plans, she was the one I talked to.” He put down his empty mug. “She was the main reason I didn’t do what you did and take the wrong path. She gave me the courage to do what I knew was right for me.”

She thought she knew him well, but every day she was discovering something new. She felt as if she was accessing a secret part of him.

“But your parents are proud of you.”

“Now, I think they are. At the time they thought I was throwing away my life, although they didn’t say as much. Those were turbulent times.”

Her parents had actually said as much. She badly wanted to be in the place Todd was in now and skip the turbulence.

“So how did you win their support? What did you do to persuade them this was right?”

“I didn’t do anything to persuade them. I lived the life I wanted to live, and eventually they came round to it. It took a while and was probably helped by the fact that I was earning a living, and happy doing it.” He looked at her. “In the end, there was no decision to make. I knew I would rather live this life without their approval, than the life they wanted for me with their approval. I left it to them to figure out how to handle that. The problem was theirs.”

The problem was theirs.

Lily stared at the walls she’d painted the day before. She’d spent hours and hours figuring out how to make things better, how to fix this problem, but Todd was right. It wasn’t her problem. It was her parents’ problem. They were the ones who needed to make the adjustment.

“You were lucky to have your grandmother in your corner.” Lily thought about how kind Cecilia had been to her. “She never passes judgment.”

“She’s the best. But now I feel guilty because I never really thought about her relationship with my grandfather, or the details of their life together. And she never said anything. Never mentioned it. I don’t like to think of her suffering, with no one to talk to.”

“Even if you’d asked, she wouldn’t have talked to you. She would have protected you. She even kept it from your mother.”

Todd nodded. “And I won’t say anything. I hate to think of her alone, that’s all. I’d like to think she has someone to talk to.”

Lily thought about the flowers. “I think she probably does.”

“Seth? I hope so,” he said. “Did she take a bag when she left yesterday?”

“Wine and chocolates. That’s all she took. If you’re asking me if she packed for an overnight stay, then my answer would be no.”

He grinned. “So she’ll be doing the walk of shame later today.”

“I don’t think you should feel shame for finding joy in your life,” Lily said, “particularly when you reach your seventies.”

“Neither do I. I was kidding. And presumably she feels the same way, or she would have packed a bag.” He gathered up both mugs and carried them back to the kitchen. “Enough slacking. We have a full day ahead. I appreciate you donating your vacation days, by the way.”

“I’m having fun.” Not just because of the work, but also because of him. Spending time with him didn’t just make her happy, it made her feel stronger. More sure of herself. It was inspiring to see him living the life he wanted to live. And maybe allowing herself to get closer to him was going to make things harder for herself in the long term, but she wasn’t going to think about that now. She enjoyed being with him too much to deny herself his company. Everything about him fascinated her. “When is the new sofa arriving?”

“Tomorrow. I persuaded them to sell us the one we saw in store. Otherwise we would have been waiting for two months.”

“This must be the fastest makeover ever.” She tensed as he reached out a hand and stroked her hair. “What are you doing?”

His fingers combed gently through the tangled strands. “You have paint in your hair. It’s a whole new look.”

Her heart was pounding. “You have paint on your nose.”

He trailed his finger across her cheek and smiled. “Does it suit me?”

She wouldn’t have cared if he’d poured the entire can of paint over himself. She still would have wanted him more than any man she’d ever met and standing this close to him made it almost impossible to concentrate. There was something in his eyes that made her wonder if he knew how she felt.

She hoped not. “We should get back to work.”

He didn’t move, and for a single breathless minute she thought he was going to kiss her, the way he had that night of the party. Then he let his hand drop and stepped back.

“You’re right. We should. This place isn’t going to transform itself.” His voice was roughened, and he turned his back on her and focused on the shelving unit.

She stared at his shoulders, feeling as if something special had just slipped through her fingers. “I can’t bear the thought of her selling it.”

“I know. If she’s going to sell somewhere, I’d rather she sold that big old house she is currently living in.” He picked up the drill. “It’s like a shrine to my grandfather. Interestingly she took all his paintings off the wall in her bedroom.”

“She did the same thing here.” Lily watched as he drilled holes in the wood, his T-shirt pulling tight over the width of his shoulders. She loved watching him. His hands moved over the wood with confidence, as if he was working with a friend he knew well. “Can I make a suggestion?”

“Go ahead.” He turned to look at her, and this time his smile was friendly and neutral.

The intimacy that had been there only moments earlier had vanished.

Or maybe it had never been there. Maybe it was wishful thinking on her part.

“The attic room. I was thinking that instead of a rollaway, you could build storage under the beds.” She outlined her idea and he listened and made a few suggestions of his own. Then he grabbed a pencil and sketched a plan.

“It would work.” He studied the drawing. “It’s a great idea.”

Lily grinned and returned to the wall she’d been painting.

They worked side by side for the next few hours, Lily painting and Todd working on the shelves.

She was concentrating so hard on doing the best job she could that it took a moment for her to realize that the hammering had stopped.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was watching her.

“You’re a hard worker, Lily.”

She looked back at the wall she’d just finished. “This doesn’t feel hard, and it doesn’t feel like work.”

He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “Maybe you are looking at a future career. Do you know how much people around here will pay for a talented decorator? You might want to think about it. It would be a way of boosting your income while you develop your art career.”

“I don’t have an art career.” She daubed paint on a spot she’d missed. “I don’t have a decorating career, either.”

“If my grandmother’s instincts are correct, you will have an art career. And you could have a decorating career, too,” Todd said. “Once word gets around, your phone will be ringing nonstop. Recommendation goes a long way in this part of the world.”

“Who would recommend me?”

“I would for a start. You enjoy it, don’t you?”

“Decorating? Yes. It’s satisfying.” Just how satisfying had surprised her. It wasn’t something she’d ever entertained doing before.

“More satisfying than medicine?”

“For me, yes.” But her mind was on what he’d said a few moments before. About decorating giving her an income. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Maybe this was a way to find artistic satisfaction, while still earning a living. And if she was earning a living doing something she enjoyed, surely her parents might feel proud of her?

He wiped his hands on his shorts. “Sit down. Time for a break.”

“I can’t let the paint dry on my brush.”

“Fine. Clean your brush, and then take a break. Unlike the rest of your life, there is no pressure here. We will do what needs to be done. We don’t have to kill ourselves to get it done in the shortest possible time. No one is going to die if we haven’t finished the place by next week.”

She wanted to feel that way. She would have given anything to feel that way.

“I wish I could be as relaxed as you, but no matter how hard I try I just can’t.”

He crossed the room and removed the paintbrush from her fingers. “Only you would see being relaxed as something you need to try hard at. If you want to relax, you start by easing up on yourself. By deciding that you don’t always have to push yourself to your limits.”

She wished he wasn’t standing quite so close to her. “I’ve always been this way.”

“Why? You were born a perfectionist?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She’d never really thought about it. Just accepted it as being who she was. Her personality. “The consequences of not being the best version of myself have always scared me.”

“Consequences?”

“Fail an exam and you’ve missed an opportunity. My parents worked hard to give me those opportunities, and I’ve always felt I had to make the most of them. Not just because I didn’t want to disappoint them, but also because deep down I felt that it was how my life should be. Work hard and pass this exam, and that exam, and then your whole life will come together. Fail, and it’s over.” She hadn’t realized how much of that pressure she still had stored inside her. She’d been afraid to ever let it out. Afraid of letting her guard down even for a moment, in case revealing her true self stopped her from being the person she was pretending to be. But she’d shared her feelings with Cecilia, and now she was sharing them with Todd. “I suppose I felt that if I didn’t fulfill my potential, if I slipped, if I failed, I would have lost my chance to live my best life. I would have let not just my parents down, but myself.”

Todd was still holding the brush, but his gaze was fixed on her face.

“That’s a lot of pressure you’re piling on yourself there, Lily.”

“I know.”

“And when you were doing all that, working that hard at something you didn’t love, did it feel as if you were living your best life? Were you happy?”

“No.” She didn’t even have to think about it, and it occurred to her that these past few days had been the happiest she could remember, and not simply because she was with Todd.

Her work had transformed the cottage, and witnessing that transformation was more satisfying than she could have imagined. She was making a difference. Surroundings could affect the emotions, and she was determined that by the time she and Todd had finished, Cecilia’s emotions would be positive ones.

She took the brush from him, quickly finished the section of wall that still needed to be painted and then stopped.

“There. Done. And no more talking about my boring problems. Are you hungry?” She walked to the kitchen, washed her hands and then opened the fridge. Scanning the contents for a moment, she pulled out some cold chicken and salad items.

“Starving. I could eat a camel. And you’re never boring, Lily.”

She felt her cheeks warm. “I’ve checked the fridge and we’re fresh out of camel, but would a chicken salad work?”

“It would work. What can I do?”

“Grab some plates. Forks.” She worked quickly, rinsing, chopping, throwing everything into one of the large bowls that Cecilia kept on display. She made a dressing, added chopped chicken to the salad and took it onto the porch.

“I ache all over. Even this dish feels heavy.”

“I know what you mean. This looks great, thanks.” He served her first and then himself and ate hungrily, diving into the salad and pausing only to break off a thick chunk of bread from the Italian loaf she’d put in the center of the table. “How is the master bedroom coming along? When are you going to let me see it?”

“When it’s finished. I’m nearly there. Finished the walls and all the decorating, but I’m waiting for the new bedding to arrive.” She pierced a piece of chicken. “I hope your grandmother will love it. It looks like a totally different room to me, but I don’t suppose that means she will want to sleep in there.”

“You’re kind to my grandmother. Thank you.”

“She is the one who has been kind to me. She let me stay here when she should have thrown me out. Without her I would have ended up back at home. And she listened to me.” She put her fork down. “For the first time ever, I felt as if someone cared what I thought.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” His voice was gruff. “You should have called me. You always used to when things got tough.”

She picked up her fork again and focused on her chicken. “That was before.”

“Before what?”

Before Amelie. “Before I realized that no one could solve this but me.” She finished her salad.

“I know how much pressure your parents put on you.” He glanced at her. “I’ve known you for a long time, Lily, don’t forget that. This salad is delicious, by the way. What’s in the dressing?”

“Lemon. Olive oil. Herbs. It’s just something I threw together. Help yourself. I’ve eaten all I want to eat for now.” It was true they’d known each other for years, but over the past few days something felt different. New.

He served himself another portion. “You can’t live your life trying to please your parents, Lily. But you already know that.”

“Yes. But disappointing them is hard. It’s the reason I needed distance. I was worried that if I stayed at home, they might have persuaded me to go back.”

He looked troubled. “Why would they do that? You didn’t tell them how you felt?”

“I tried, but they didn’t get it. They didn’t understand that I found it emotionally exhausting. And terrifying.” It stressed her to think about it. “And also nauseating.”

“The blood and guts?”

“No. The responsibility. The idea that someone’s life might depend on me having the right knowledge—I didn’t find it empowering or fulfilling. It gave me panic attacks. It was the pinnacle of pressure. All my life I’ve been worried about failing an exam, of not living up to people’s expectations, but that was just an exam. If you fail, no one dies. But medicine...” she paused “...that was on a whole different level. In medical school if you get something wrong, do something or miss something, someone can die. And plenty of people are fine with that level of responsibility. They thrive on it. Hannah is one of them. But I’m not Hannah.”

“Which is a relief.” He finished his salad. “I love my sister but sometimes her intensity makes me want to lie down in a dark room. Did you tell her how you felt?”

“I tried once, but she dismissed it. She told me I’d be fine. That I was great with people, that kind of thing.”

His mouth tightened. “In other words, she didn’t listen.”

“I think it’s more that she couldn’t understand the way I was feeling. She didn’t know what to say. But in a way that contributed to my sense of isolation. There was literally no one I could talk to about it. No one who understood. No one was in my corner.” She could feel herself becoming emotional. “Do you want more food?”

“No thanks. I couldn’t eat another thing.” He reached for her plate and stacked it on top of his. “Was that why the two of you had a falling-out? Because you wanted to give up medicine?”

“She told you that we fell out?”

“Yes. It came out during a delightful shouting match. She was the one shouting, by the way. She obviously didn’t like Amelie, but wouldn’t say why, just accused me of being stupid for not seeing who she really was, and then she yelled something about how you’d feel about it, which made no sense to me.”

Lily stared at him. “When was this?”

“I don’t know. Not long. A couple of months?”

After she’d left medicine. After she and Hannah had stopped communicating.

Hannah had still been thinking about her. Worrying about her.

Hannah had been upset with her brother because she’d known how Lily would feel about him dating Amelie.

She’d thought Hannah didn’t care, but maybe she did.

Hannah hadn’t called her, but her friend was stubborn and proud. And Lily hadn’t called her, either. All it needed was for one of them to give a little. All it needed was for one of them to believe their friendship was worth fighting for. And she did believe that.

“We should get back to work.” She stood up, but he caught her hand.

“Wait. I want to ask you something.” He held her hand tightly. “Why did Hannah think you’d be upset that I was dating Amelie?”

She tugged at her hand. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Lily,” he spoke softly, “you’ve always talked to me about everything. And I’ve talked to you. We’ve always been good friends.”

Which was exactly why she couldn’t talk to him about this. But she sat back down because he wasn’t giving her much choice. She wondered if he even knew he was still holding her hand.

He wanted an answer from her, so she formulated one.

“Hannah didn’t want me to give up medicine. She loves it so much. She really is living her best life and she can’t understand why others wouldn’t feel the same way.”

“So why was she ranting about Amelie?” He kept his gaze fixed on her face. “She said she couldn’t believe I’d been stupid enough to be taken in by her. Apparently she knew things about her, but when I asked her about it she wouldn’t tell me what they were. I already knew I’d made a mistake of course and maybe I would have talked to Hannah about it, but she wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. The irony was, Amelie and I weren’t even serious. It was just casual, for me at least. Although it’s obvious to me now that she felt differently.” He let go of her hand. “You knew Amelie, didn’t you?”

Lily’s lips felt stiff. “Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me why Hannah disliked her so much?”

“I—you’d have to ask Hannah.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Todd—”

“Okay, so I’m going to take a guess at it.” He studied her for a moment. “The girl who bullied you at school—that was Amelie wasn’t it?” When she didn’t answer, he nodded. “It took me a while to figure it out. Too long. Damn, Lily—”

“I don’t know why you’d—”

“Because I put together all the things Hannah threw at me and added in Amelie’s reaction when your name came up.”

Her heart started to race. “My name came up?”

“Yes. Before we were dating. She wasn’t really part of my social circle, but occasionally we’d find ourselves in the same place at the same time. We were talking about friends. You’re one of my friends. But when I mentioned your name, Amelie changed. She became upset—moody.”

“I don’t see why us being friends would upset her.”

It was a moment before Todd answered. “I think,” he said slowly, “it was because she was jealous. In fact, I’m wondering now if that’s why she got involved with me in the first place.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does. And I think you know it does.” He leaned forward and took her hand again. “She knew you were in love with me, didn’t she, Lily?”

The world stopped.

“Todd—”

“You were in love with me, and Amelie knew that. That was why she was suddenly interested in me.”

This was a nightmare. She didn’t know which was worse. Todd knowing, or Amelie knowing.

Todd. Definitely Todd. It was one thing loving him, and him not knowing. A completely different thing, loving him and knowing he knew. It was mortifying. She didn’t want him feeling sorry for her. Pitying her. Everything would be awkward now. These past few days, where they’d worked together so closely and had such fun, were in the past.

She stood up suddenly and Todd stood up, too.

She freed her hand and turned to walk away but he caught her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.

“Wait. I have a question, and it’s really important to me that you answer it honestly.” He was still holding her. “Are you still in love with me, Lily?”

Oh God, he was going to sympathize. He was going to be kind and understanding. This was her nightmare. The moment she’d always dreaded, and it was as bad as she’d feared it would be.

It was terrifying to be this vulnerable.

She opened her mouth to deny it. And then she stopped.

She was tired of denying who she was, and what she felt. She’d been honest with her parents, and even though it hadn’t been easy, she didn’t regret doing it. She could be honest with Todd, too.

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter.” She couldn’t look at him, so she fixed her gaze on the middle of his chest. “People fall in love with the wrong people all the time. It happens. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means something to me. It matters to me.” He was standing close to her now, so close that she could hardly breathe.

“Why?”

“Because I’m in love with you. I’m crazy about you, and I need to know if you feel the same way.” He slid his fingers under her chin and tilted her face so she was forced to look at him.

And she saw in that moment what she hadn’t seen right away.

He was nervous, too. He was vulnerable. He was feeling all the things she was feeling.

He was in love with her.

It seemed like such an impossible dream that at first her brain rejected it.

“You dated Amelie.”

“I know. Big mistake, and I’ve made a few in my life. I’m hoping we can get past that.” And right then, when she’d given up hoping it would ever happen again, he kissed her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her and it felt even better than she remembered. He kissed her until every one of her senses were screaming, until the desire was so acute, so excruciatingly intense that she desperately needed him to do something to ease it. She needed him to do something. She gave a low moan, and he finally lifted his head. “Lily?”

Did he expect her to talk? Her brain wasn’t capable of stringing together a coherent thought. The moment his mouth had claimed hers, her brain had fused.

She looked at him groggily, saw that familiar gleam in his eyes, and finally regained her powers of speech.

“Todd Buckingham, are you laughing at me?”

“No. Definitely not. I’m smiling.” He kissed her again, but briefly this time. “You still haven’t said the words, but I’m taking that as a yes.”

“Yes?”

“You do love me.”

She couldn’t resist teasing him. “You’re very sure of yourself.”

“I’m not sure of myself at all. I’ve never been this scared in my life. You still haven’t said the words, by the way.”

She’d said them so many times in her head that it felt as if the whole world must know.

“I love you, Todd. I love you.” She tried to say it again, just so there could be no mistake, but he was kissing her again and this time there was no sign of him stopping.

His mouth still on hers, he backed her into the cottage, his hands ripping at her shirt while her fingers fumbled with the button on his shorts. It crossed her mind briefly that perhaps they should close the door, but they were too busy undressing each other and kissing, and then he pulled her hard against him and she was no longer thinking of anything but his mouth and the urgent touch of his hands and how badly she wanted him.

They tumbled onto the rug, and he rolled so that he was the one on the floor and she was the one on top. And she was happy with that because it meant she could see all of him, touch all of him. She trailed her mouth across his jaw, over his neck and lower, distracted from her purpose only when he made a few intimate explorations of his own. His skilled touch seduced and teased until she was drunk on sensation, dizzy with longing, needing more. Needing everything. She reached down, closing her hand over him and she heard the sharp intake of his breath. He shifted position and lifted her and then they were moving in a perfect rhythm, and she felt nothing but heat and sensation and the feeling that they were made to be together.

Afterward they lay on the floor, trying to catch their breath.

She stared up at the ceiling, drowsy and sated, thinking of the wonder that was Todd. “Are you alive? This floor is hard. We should have made it to the sofa.”

“Wouldn’t have made any difference. That sofa is as uncomfortable as the floor.” He pulled her closer. “I’m alive, although possibly injured. You? Any bruises?”

“I don’t care.”

“Next time we’ll aim for a mattress. Apologies for being impatient.”

“Don’t apologize.” She wanted to tell him how good it felt to be wanted that badly, but her mind was drowsy, and her eyes were closing, which was annoying because she knew there was something she’d wanted to ask him. And then she remembered. “Why did you think Amelie was only interested in you because of me?”

He stroked her back with his hand. “Because she never showed the slightest interest in me until you and I kissed at the school reunion.”

She turned her head to look at him. “You remember that?”

He frowned and rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “I remember. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Because you never mentioned it.” She put her hand on his chest and then moved it to his jaw. She couldn’t stop touching him.

“You didn’t mention it, either. I thought you regretted it. People do all sorts of things at those reunions. They’re a nightmare. I was being a gentleman, but that was because I didn’t know how you felt.” He leaned down and kissed her slowly. “That’s never going to happen again.” And to prove it he pulled her close and it was another hour before either of them spoke again.

“Todd?”

He pulled her closer. “What?”

“I think we left the front door open.”

He laughed. “I thought you were going to say something profound.”

“I don’t know about profound, but if your grandmother does come home unannounced it could be embarrassing.”

“That’s true.” He eased his arm out from under her and sat up with a wince. “I’m going to lock the door, and then I think we should move somewhere more comfortable.”

He dealt with the door and was pulling her to her feet when they heard the muffled sound of his phone ringing.

They both stared at each other and then at the discarded clothing strewn across the floor.

“Where is it?” She reached for his shirt, rummaging through the clothes they’d abandoned on the floor and finally he found the phone in his shorts.

He answered it before it went to voice mail. “Hi, Nanna. Yes, we’re here. No, nothing’s wrong—a long time to answer the phone? We were up a ladder, that’s all—”

She tilted her head and mouthed, Up a ladder?

He gave a helpless shrug and carried on talking to his grandmother. “Yes, we assumed that was the case—” He paused and listened and then nodded. “Good plan. The place stinks of paint. Reeks. And I have wood spread across the floor so if there’s an alternative place for you to stay, that would be a good idea. Stay as long as you like.”

Lily raised her eyebrows and he winked at her as he continued the conversation.

“No problem...we’ll be working until we lose the light anyway. There’s lots to do...don’t worry about food, we’ll figure it out. Lily? She’s fine, I think.” He allowed himself a slow scan of her naked body. “Yes, I’ll take care of Lily. No problem.”

He ended the call and tugged Lily against him.

She lost her balance and had to hold on to his shoulders to steady herself. “What are you doing?”

“Following my grandmother’s instructions and taking care of you.” He kissed her jaw and then her neck. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to string a sentence together with you standing there naked?”

“Yes. I witnessed it. You were stammering.”

“And whose fault was that? You did it on purpose, didn’t you?” His fingers trailed down her spine. “I mean, you could have been generous and pulled clothes on.”

“I didn’t see the point.” She rested her forehead against his chest. After wanting him for so long, loving him for so long, any moment apart seemed like a moment wasted. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Believe it. And the good news is that my grandmother is staying another night with Seth, so we have this place to ourselves.”

She looked up at him, digesting what he’d just said. “She’s staying another night? That has to be a good sign, don’t you think? How did she sound?”

“I have no idea. You were naked.”

“Did she sound happy? Excited?”

“As I said, you were naked.”

“I hope she and Seth are—”

“Can we stop talking about my grandmother?” He silenced her with a kiss, and she wound her arms around his neck.

“So, what are we going to do with the rest of the day?”

“I have a few ideas we can test out. But first there’s something I need to say to you.” He smoothed her tangled hair back from her face. “Something you need to know.”

“What?”

He cupped her cheek with his hand and held her gaze. “You said you had no one in your corner. And I want you to know that I’m in your corner, Lily. Always. No matter what happens, or what choices you make, you will always have me in your corner.”

It was possibly the best thing anyone had ever said to her. “Thank you.”

“Also, I love you.” He kissed her gently. “I may have told you that already.”

“I have a terrible memory.” She stroked her fingers through his hair. “Maybe you should tell me again, just so I’m clear about it.”

“I can do better than that.” He scooped her up and carried her to the stairs. “I can show you.”