Page 42 of Second Chance Summer
‘Yes … but will you bring the girls to see me?’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Sam was now at her side. ‘Lily, wehaveto go.’
‘I’ll call you later. Love to the girls.’ She shut off the call and stared at him.
‘The helicopter’s boarding,’ he said. ‘You must gonow.’
‘I don’t want to go.’ A new certainty pumped through her veins.
‘What do you mean? The flight’s about to take off.’
‘I know, but I’m not ready to get on it. I said I’d take a proper break and I’m going to. I can sort things from here. Richie can be in charge at the office. The business won’t implode in less than two weeks.’ She was almost breathless in her haste to get the words out.
The roar from the helicopter grew louder.
Lily raised her voice and held Sam’s arms, almost pleading with him. ‘I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you but, please, Ineedto stay here.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘You havegotto be joking. She can’t stay here!’
‘Morven, for God’s sake, keep your voice down.She’soutside. And, by the way, if you can’t be civil to her – to Lily – then you and I are going to fall out properly.’
‘OK, but don’t expect me to wait on her.’
Sam stiffened. Morven had gone too far. ‘No one will be waiting on her,’ he said sharply. ‘Lily is more than capable of looking after herself, believe me.’
‘Wow, Uncle Sam, steady on. You sound as if you actually like her.’
‘She’s very nice when you get to know her,’ he said, wishing he hadn’t defended Lily quite so robustly. ‘You’ve no idea what she’s been through.’
Morven burned him with a laser stare. ‘So, basically, you fancy her?’
Thrown off kilter for a beat, he managed to recover. ‘If you carry on like this, I’m going to call your dad and make him come back right now.’
Morven tossed her hair and laughed. ‘He wouldn’t come back ifI’dalmost drowned in a kayak accident. He couldn’t give a toss about me, only himself and The Gorgon.’
‘That’s not true,’ Sam said, gathering all his patience. ‘Hedoescare, and you can’t blame Lily for what’s happening in your life.’ He decided not to refer to Grady at all.
Morven’s eyes gleamed with unshed tears. He’d said the wrong thing again.
With a vicious rattle, Morven flounced through the bead curtain that led to the kitchens. He saw her disappear out of the café’s rear entrance, headed who knew where. At least she couldn’t go far, trapped as she was on the half a square mile of land.
Sam couldn’t be irritated with her for too long. She was clearly hurt deeply by Nate’s neglect. Sam also feared that Morven might be right: although he was sure Nate loved his daughter dearly, his brother’s priorities had gone seriously off the rails.
He’d have to call Nate again, and find out when – oh, God,if– he was coming back for his daughter. If ever Nate decided to leave her for good – following on from her mother’s vanishing act – Sam didn’t know what he’d do.
What with Morven and the retreat to deal with, Sam would have liked to flounce off and hide away himself, but he was meant to be the grown-up here.
Lily was waiting outside on her mobile again, of course. He’d only just managed to persuade the ground crew to offload her bags before they’d taken off without her.
‘I’m so sorry for the about-turn,’ she’d said with a desperation that had disarmed him. ‘I really do feel bad about all the drama and inconvenience, but I’ve changed my mind. I need to stay here. Sorry, I have to take this call. We can talk later.’
There had been no time to hear the finer details of her sudden change of heart. Sam had been busy soothing the crew and grabbing back her bags.
Only when he’d retrieved them and ushered Lily into a golf buggy and over to his waiting boat, had he been able to talk to her properly.
