was clear Mum didn't think much of him.
Lee decided she needed to talk to Drew about this situation. She felt she'd sort of pushed him and Nicki together, and now she worried he might be sad about whatever had happened between them yesterday. Plus, there was the whole problem of Drew returning to America next week. If Nicki liked him, that would make her sad, too, probably. Lee had looked at the reservations book her mum kept by the kitchen phone and knew other people had reserved the cottage starting the following week, so even if Drew wanted to stay, he couldn't—at least not at Shepherd's Cottage. She didn't want Drew to leave. She liked him, liked the way he treated her like a grown-up. A lot of grown-ups treated kids as if they weren't worth wasting time on, or as if they weren't even there at all. But not Drew. He always made time for her, as if she mattered. She left the umbrella hanging from a branch, tucked her book between the waistband of her shorts and the small of her back, returned to the ground, and headed down the valley toward the harbor.
“Reckun yon chield wanna ax yew summat, Andrew,” Burt said, nodding toward the distant end of the wall. The hedge-laying crew was sitting by the river, finishing lunch.
Andrew followed his gaze and saw Lee, who was standing, storklike, with one knee bent, foot resting against the opposite knee. He'd no idea how long she'd been there. The girl was capable of the kind of deep quiet that made you think she'd appeared out of thin air. When she saw he'd noticed her, she grinned and waved.
“Don't go getting snared by these local lasses, now, Andrew,” Jamie teased. “We've work to do yet.”
Andrew got to his feet and walked stiffly to where Lee waited, marveling that she could hold her balance on one leg. “Hiya, toots; whatcha doing down here?” Andrew said.
“Came to see you,” she answered, dropping the other foot to the ground.
Andrew smiled and bowed. “Then I am honored, madam.”
“We need to talk,” Lee said, her pale eyebrows knit together to signal serious business.
“We do?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Now?”
“Uh-huh. Can you?”
Andrew looked back at the crew, who were tidying up and going back to work. He knew Jamie wouldn't mind. “Sure, for a bit anyway.”
Lee turned and started walking toward the entrance to the car park. Andrew followed. When they were out of earshot from the others, she said, “You like Nicki, right?”
Andrew kept walking. “Well, yes, Nicola is a lovely woman, plus she's your best friend, too, and any friend of yours …”
Lee leveled a look at him. “Don't treat me like a kid.”
Andrew was about to protest, but he caught himself. “All right, yes; I like her. I think she's pretty terrific, although a lot of the time we seem to be at daggers drawn.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, you know, sort of teasing each other all the time.”
Lee nodded, and said nothing for a few moments.
“Lee, what's troubling you? Something is, or you wouldn't have come down here when you could be in your tree.”
“Nicki called Mum this morning, all upset. About something that happened between you two, I guess.” She left the implicit question hanging.
“Yes, well. We … um … had a bit of a disagreement.”
Lee reached the bridge and stopped. She pretended to watch the water rushing underneath. “I think Nicki's got another boyfriend, Drew. His name is Johnny. Mum told her she should let him go. I don't think Mum likes him. Mum likes you, though,” she added.
Andrew leaned on the parapet beside the gangly girl. “Girl” was such an inadequate term for this wonderful little human being beside him. She was destined for an exceptional life, he was sure. For one thing, even at this age, she didn't suffer fools. She'd never “go along to get along” like other girls. She'd never hide her brains to fit in. In another five, maybe six years, she'd be dating boys, and he almost felt sorry for them. They'd be no match for this one. Five years after that, a little more, she'd be a scientist, or studying the law, or running some activist organization.
He sighed. “It must have been hard for you to come down here to tell me that,” he said.
“A little,” she confessed.
Andrew turned and scooped up the bony child in his arms in a giant hug. “I love you to pieces, Lee Trelissick, and if I had a daughter I'd