left. She only had one more week. Then it was back to Wiltshire, back to the house her mother had died in and to her dad’s blossoming relationship with Marilyn, the woman who was basically dancing on her mother’s grave.
‘Can we meet tonight?’ he asked her, lacing his fingers through her free hand.
‘I don’t know. It’s difficult to get my dad to believe I’m spending all this time with a friend I made up who he hasn’t seen. He’s going to start asking questions sooner or later.’
‘S'il tu plait,’ Guy said, rubbing his finger against Luc’s cheek and watching him gurgle.
She wanted to meet him. Should she really be worried about what her dad thought? At the moment he was quite content to live his life to the full. He didn’t really have the time to worry about what she was getting up to. He had raft races and Marilyn.
‘OK,’ Emma agreed.
‘Thank you,’ Guy said. He leaned forward, kissing her lips and making her sway with the feeling that gave her.
‘You’d better go back to the football. We’ll be right here,’ Emma said, nodding her head in indication of her planned reading.
He kissed Luc’s tiny face and squeezed her hand before hurrying back to his pupils.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Present Day
‘There’s a distinct lack of tuna in this tuna roll. I’m going to have to have a word. I know we’re not supposed to be serving stuff like Heston, but it is meant to rival the sandwich shop on the corner. I thought we might be able to steal some of their custom. We won’t be if our tuna rolls are just bread that was shown the fish but didn’t quite start a relationship.’
Ally placed the offending item back on its plate and reached for her pastry. She raised her eyes from her food to Emma and shook her head at her.
‘You look pasty and sleep-deprived. What’s been happening?’ she asked.
‘Guy and I… oh I don’t know.’
‘You do know and you’re meant to tell me. That’s how the whole best friend thing is supposed to work.’
‘We want to try. I want to try,’ she began.
‘Things have moved on. Tell me more,’ Ally encouraged.
‘It’s all such a mess. I don’t really know what’s going on. We met, we decided we had to see if our feelings were going to lead anywhere but I said we must make sure we do the right thing. He has a partner, I have Chris.’
Ally didn’t speak.
‘I was supposed to tell Chris. Not about Guy necessarily, but end things, make a clean break…’
‘You couldn’t do it,’ Ally guessed.
Emma shook her head.
‘Well, maybe that’s telling you something in itself,’ Ally suggested.
‘You don’t understand,’ Emma said, reaching for her coffee.
‘Listen, I know you say the bond the two of you had eons ago in France was tight, but we’re in 2013 now. You’re judging the situation on that first flush of romance suddenly being rekindled…’
‘He phoned me. Something’s happened to him but I don’t know what. He was crying and I haven’t heard from him since,’ Emma carried on.
‘Second thoughts. He’s had a change of heart. He’s realised what I’m saying. Sometimes you have to count the chicken that’s keeping your bed warm at night, not the one who frantically ruffled your feathers when you were seventeen, no matter how great it was at the time.’
‘You’re doing it again. You’re trying to make me stay with Chris. Why?’ Emma queried, her eyes meeting Ally’s.
‘Because he’s been there for you and Dominic and before him, the longest you’d ever been with anyone was four months.’
Ally held her gaze until Emma was forced to look away. Of course, Ally was right. Chris had been there. He seemed to be able to take the rough with the smooth. He was a rock in so many ways but… he wasn’t Guy.
‘Now we’re going to this football match in an hour and I’m not going to be able to avoid him. After the game there are sandwiches and tea with the team and Chris and Dom will be there. It’s going to be so awkward,’ Emma explained.
‘I can’t help you if you’re not going to be honest with me,’ Ally stated. She pulled a raisin out of her cake.
‘What d’you mean? I am being honest with you. You’re the only one I am being honest with!’
‘Who’s Dominic’s father?’
‘I told you I don’t know.’
‘No, you fed me a story about turning into some sort of teenage nymphomaniac and having it away with half our year. I was