‘Yes, it’s very nice. You’re a lucky boy to have two such wonderful bedrooms.’
‘I am, aren’t I?’ Ben said, smiling. ‘Can I go and watch some telly now?’
‘Yes, of course you can.’ Daniel was glad of the chance to speak to Lucinda alone. ‘Do you want some coffee?’
She looked surprised for a moment. ‘If you want me to stay?’
‘Yes, I think we need to talk.’
She groaned as she pulled out a chair. ‘I knew it! I’m about to get a lecture.’
‘I’m not going to lecture you. Have I ever done that?’ He brought over two mugs of coffee and sat down next to her.
‘No, I suppose not, but I sense your disapproval.’
‘I appreciate that things are changing and that can be difficult to deal with. But we’ve always promised that, whatever happened, we’d do right by Ben. I realise I’ve upset the apple cart by wanting to see more of him, and I do appreciate you letting me do that. You’d be quite within your rights to make me stick to our agreed routine.’
‘I’ve never wanted to stop you from seeing him,’ Lucinda replied. ‘It’s always the location that’s got in the way, what with your work being in London. This is my home and I never want to move from here again. But now that you’re planning on spending more time here, perhaps we could . . .’
‘Perhaps we could what?’
Lucinda shifted uncomfortably in her chair. ‘You’re right, we’ve always tried to be amicable for Ben’s sake, but a lot has happened since we split and maybe now we can start being better friends.’ She placed her hand over his. ‘We used to be really good friends, didn’t we?’
He pulled his hand away. ‘I think being amicable is enough for now.’
She scowled. ‘Why, wouldn’t Anna like it?’ Her voice was bitter.
‘I don’t think Axel would like it much either.’
‘No, I suppose not,’ she said swiftly. ‘Well, I’d better go. I’ll just say goodbye to Ben and then see myself out.’
Daniel stared after her as she left, convinced she’d implied they could be a lot more than friends. He wondered if her sudden change in attitude was a knee-jerk reaction to him no longer being available. There had been a time when he would have jumped at the chance of getting back together, but meeting Anna had made him realise how wrong he and Lucinda were for each other. And while, from Ben’s point of view, being a family again would be ideal, he knew it would never work. Not with Lucinda.
* * *
It had been five days since Anna had seen Daniel. While she’d been incredibly busy, she’d missed him desperately and couldn’t wait to see him again.
She’d decided to cook a meal to welcome him home. She’d dressed up in a little black dress, set the table with candles and queued up some music to play softly in the background while they ate.
As he walked through the door he dropped his bag, pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.
‘Wow, you look amazing. And something smells amazing too.’
‘Welcome home,’ she said simply and kissed him again.
‘Whatever it is you have cooking, would it spoil if it waited a while?’
‘I think it will be okay.’ She made sure that everything was turned off before she allowed herself to be led upstairs.
Afterwards, they sat at the dining table in their dressing gowns, eating the beef bourguignon she’d cooked for him.
‘This is delicious,’ he said between mouthfuls. ‘And it’s so good to be here with you. I’ve missed you.’
She smiled at the thought of him being here with her. It was his home, not hers, but she’d been spending so much time there recently, she could almost imagine it was her home too.
‘I’ve missed you too. Did you make good progress?’ she asked him.
‘I did. I met a woman who had her own school and she was happy to show me round.’
