Page 67 of A Change of Heart

Forcing himself to look at Seren, he flashed her a smile, then made a dash for it.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Lunch at Mirren’s place couldn’t have been more painful for Seren. As though her hangover wasn’t enough to contend with, she also had to listen to conversations about Kit and Holly. The whole situation would be funny if it wasn’t so hurtful. Only a few weeks ago he’d told her he lovedher.And now he was already seeing someone else. Someone he’d go running off to meet as soon as she called.

The only upside to Kit rushing off was that Seren didn’t feel so bad for not hanging around after lunch. She made an excuse about having washing to do and headed home.

She’d just got back when Felix called her. Overriding the temptation to ignore him, she sank onto the couch and answered hesitantly.

“What time did you sneak off?” he asked.

“Early.” She sucked in a breath. “Sorry about last night.”

“No worries.”

“It’s a bit of a blur,” she admitted. “I thought you were going to drive me home.”

“I was. But you kept crying. It felt wrong to take you home in that state so I persuaded you to get in my bed.”

“Sorry,” she said again.

“I just wanted to check you’re okay.”

“Aside from my hangover?”

He chuckled. “Aside from that.”

“I suppose I’ll survive,” she said as tears burned the back of her eyes.

“I can come over if you want? We can hang out and watch TV or something …”

“No thanks.” She shook her head as she realised what he was up to – pretending to be concerned but really using her misery to get close to her.

“Okay. Give me a shout if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” she said without feeling.

* * *

“I hope it’s not annoying having me tag along,” Holly said, as the train set off.

“No.” Kit glanced in his rear-view mirror, making sure his passengers were sticking to the rules and keeping in their seats. “It’s fine.”

“It won’t distract you?”

“No. To be honest, I’ll probably forget you’re here.” He winced. “Sorry. That sounded bad. I tend to get so absorbed that I don’t notice if anyone’s beside me or not.”

Thankfully, she didn’t seem offended by his lack of tact. “I’m surprised you don’t slip into autopilot since you make the exact same trip day after day.”

“I try not to work on autopilot. Even though the maximum speed is fifteen miles an hour and there’s barely any traffic, I still don’t like the idea of losing concentration.” He surreptitiously checked that the PA system wasn’t accidentally broadcasting to the passengers. “The chances of there being an accident are slim, but it would kind of wreck my livelihood if I put the train in a ditch.”

“That’s true,” she said brightly.

“I also try to not give the exact same tour every time. It’s more fun for me that way, and I feel as though passengers would be able to tell if I said the same thing every time.”

“You’ve got one of those voices that is easy to listen to anyway. You could recite the alphabet and people would be enthralled.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling self-consciously. “Let’s hope you still think so in an hour.” After putting on his headset, he switched the PA system on and directed his passengers to look to their left, then gave them information about the police station and the housing for the police officers beside it.