Page 112 of The Summer Escape

“You’re still sounding very chilled about them puking all over your flat and destroying your stuff.”

“I really like having them here … even though objectively it should have been a complete nightmare. It’s been a strangely good weekend.”

“So it’s not just a holiday romance between you two?”

“I don’t think so. You can probably stop sending me photos of St Mary’s now.”

“Because you’re convinced about moving back? Should I start sending the photos to Beth instead?”

“No. Beth and Ellie are settled in Plymouth. There’s no way they’d move, and I’d never ask them to.”

“Don’t tell me you’re moving to Plymouth?” Kit groaned.

Trystan looked down at Ellie as she stretched her legs out in his direction. Gently, he curled his hand around her foot. “I’m definitely thinking about it.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE

On Monday morning Beth was roused by the sound of music from the kitchen and wandered from the bedroom to find Trystan and Ellie having a dance party. She hung back and enjoyed a few minutes of watching without them noticing her. Finally, she couldn’t keep her laughter in any longer and they both glanced up at her. She’d fully expected Trystan to be mortified at being caught teaching Ellie dance moves, but he only smiled coyly.

“You look better,” he said while continuing to pop his shoulders to the beat.

“I feel it.” She raised her eyebrows. “You’re actually a very good dancer.”

He turned the volume down slightly. “When I was in secondary school I went to hip hop classes twice a week after school.”

She grinned. “I bet all the teenage girls loved you.”

“I was pretty popular in school,” he replied, swinging his hips in a way that drew attention to the perfect fit of his jeans. “But not with any of the girls in dance class. They all hated me.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true. I got annoyed with them when they got the moves wrong or if they were out of time. Apparently women don’t like being told they’re terrible dancers.” He beamed as he twirled Ellie around. “The teacher was awesome though.”

“Oh god. Did you have a thing with your dance teacher? I’m imagining a Dirty Dancing situation?”

“We’re talking about me between the ages of twelve and fifteen. My sexual education didn’t start until later than that.” He grimaced as he glanced at Ellie, but she danced obliviously. “And my thing for forty-year-old women didn’t start untilwaylater.” Grinning cheekily, he strutted over to Beth and held his hand out. “You up to dancing?”

“Not really.” She slipped into his arms regardless, resting her head on his shoulder as they gently swayed together. “I cannot thank you enough for looking after us both.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Ellie did a twirl on her tiptoes, then looked up at Beth. “I spilled coffee on Trystan’s computer.”

“Hey!” Trystan shot her a warning glance that was full of mirth. “I thought we agreed not to tell Mummy I let you drink coffee!”

“I didn’t drink coffee,” Ellie giggled. “It was Trystan’s coffee.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “She spilled coffee on your laptop?”

“Yeah.”

“Like a few drops or …”

“A whole cup. And I was tired so it was quite a big cup.”

She dropped her head back to his shoulder. “I don’t even have words.”

“In that case, I’ll go and get my car and I can take you two home before you wreck any more of my stuff.” He poked his tongue out at Ellie as he walked across the kitchen. When Beth called out to him, he looked back and shook his head. “It was my work laptop, and I was probably due a new one anyway. Everything is stored on the cloud so there was no real harm done. Don’t worry about it.”