Page 85 of Second Chance Summer
‘Is cauliflower cheese OK for dinner?’ Lily asked whenSam walked into reception after dropping Morven back home. ‘Hope so, ’cos I’ve already made it.’
She showed him a dish with the veg smothered in a cheese sauce.
‘Er … yes,’ Sam said, hoping his stomach wouldn’t rumble too loudly. ‘I could do some steak to go with it. There are some in the fridge.’
‘I spotted them.’ She chuckled. ‘Don’t worry, I need more than cauliflower cheese too.’
He exhaled. ‘I’m very glad you said that. You don’t have to cook everything though.’
‘I know I don’t have to, but I want to. My recipe portfolio is expanding. I might book myself on a cookery course when I get home. You could offer courses here too. I’ve been thinking about it. Cookery, foraging, yoga, creative writing. There are so many talented people on the islands who could be tutors and you could charge a premium to the guests who attend.’
‘That is a very good idea,’ Sam said, feeling so comfortable in her presence that she could be his business partner – more even? What was happening here? Lily cooking for him and him cooking for her … her waiting at home for him as if they were living together.
He was thinking back to Aaron’s comments and a veiled remark from the pub landlady, and to a conversation he’d had with Elspeth that morning.
‘People are bound to gossip. You’re alone on that island with her every night. Be careful, love. I like Lily a lot but don’t get your heart broken again.’
‘There’s zero danger of that.’
Sam snapped back to the present. ‘Let’s get these steaks going,’ he said more gruffly than he’d intended.
By dinnertime, a mizzle had blown in so they ate inside.
‘I hope it clears up for Saturday. I checked the forecast and it’s looking dry.’
He smiled. ‘The forecasts don’t mean much here. It was supposed to be sunny today but Elspeth’s seaweed was damp this morning and she reckons she knew the rain was coming.’
‘That doesn’t give me a great deal of faith to be honest.’
He laid his knife and fork down. ‘Rory said the Met Office long-range predicted a dry weekend.’
‘NowthatI can buy into. Penny has every eventuality covered but I so want the girls to see Stark at its best.’
‘As opposed to not being able to see it at all?’ he said. ‘I’m sorry it was crap when you arrived. No wonder you were pissed off.’
‘You couldn’t help the weather.’ Her eyes gleamed with mischief. ‘Though you weren’t exactly a ray of sunshine yourself.’
Sam remembered how tense and nervous he’d felt at taking in a guest when the retreat wasn’t ready.
‘I suppose I know you well enough now to admit I regretted accepting the booking pretty much from the moment I put the phone down.’
She rested her hand on her chin. ‘Why did you, then?’
‘Richie said you’d had a horrible time and were desperate for a break and I was gung-ho enough to think I couldpull it off. I always think I can get more done than I have time for.’
‘You’re as bad as me, trying to do everything yourself. No man is an island …’
He’d cut himself off since Rhiannon had left. ‘No, and I think I’ve realised that lately.’
He hovered on the verge of telling Lily that she was the reason he’d looked up at the sky again, instead of living inside the walls of his darkest thoughts. He’d realised that he’d been through a bereavement – a double one.
‘After the kayak thing, you talked about loss.’
Lily’s lips parted in surprise.
‘I said I hadn’t lost anyone, not in the same way as you, but perhaps that’s not quite true.’ The words froze in his throat, words he’d never said to anyone.
‘Rhiannon was pregnant, but she had a miscarriage. The baby – our baby – died.’
