Page 17 of The Summer Escape

With the sound of waves in her ears and the sun’s rays warming her skin, it was hard to think of a reason not to extend their holiday.

CHAPTERSIX

It was a long time since a woman had affected Trystan the way Beth had. Her shy smile was magnetic and there was an elegance to her movements that was almost angelic. Building a sandcastle with her daughter had been a fairly shameless way to linger with them on the beach, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. It turned out that building sandcastles was surprisingly therapeutic too. Working on moats, turrets and drawbridges had him completely absorbed.

The trouble came when he sat down with his laptop at the desk in his mum’s living room and found his mind wouldn’t settle on work. Mentally, he was still out on the beach, soothed by the rays of the sun and the warmth of Beth’s smile. Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, he managed a productive few hours before the sound of voices drifted from the kitchen. Ellie’s high-pitched chatter brought a smile to his lips and he crept to the doorway. He fought the urge to go into the kitchen but couldn’t resist listening in on the conversation between Beth and his mum.

Once he’d heard Beth accept the offer to stay longer, he moved away again. The relief he felt that she wasn’t leaving the following day was crazy. As was the fact that he couldn’t stop grinning to himself. When his mum wandered in ten minutes later, he schooled his features to something more appropriate for a grown man poring over the London housing market.

“Beth and Ellie were just here,” Mirren told him.

He looked up from his laptop, making a show of stretching his neck. “Oh, really?” Casual as anything. He should probably have been an actor.

“They’re going to stay on in the house with me from tomorrow.”

“That’s nice.” He massaged his left shoulder as though the conversation was of little interest to him. If he had gone into acting, he’d probably have won several Oscars by now. “How long will they stay?”

“I’m not sure. I told Beth they can stay for the whole summer as far as I’m concerned. It’ll be good to have some noise in the house again.”

He smiled gently but refrained from commenting.

“I told Beth you’d help them with their bags tomorrow.”

“Sure.” He put his attention firmly back on his laptop, running his fingers over the mousepad to scroll through the property listings.

“I’ll leave you to it.”

Running his thumb over his bottom lip, Trystan squinted at the computer screen – his serious business face.

“Trystan?” his mum said loudly.

Slowly, he swivelled in the chair and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Just because you’re refusing to smile doesn’t mean I can’t tell that you’re delighted about Beth staying longer.”

“What?” He almost choked on a laugh at the knowing look his mum gave him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I care?”

She shook her head and turned to leave. “You must think I’m a complete idiot,” she muttered as she walked away.

Maybe he wasn’t destined for an Oscar after all.

* * *

Beth had just got Ellie settled in bed when her phone rang. Smiling, she answered the call from her best friend and wandered from the kitchen to the living room.

“It feels as though you’ve been gone for way longer than a week and a half,” Dee said. As usual, her words came out in a rush as though they might run out of time to speak. “I’m coming over to your place as soon as you’re back tomorrow. We need to talk about the plan for Saturday …”

“I don’t think we need to-”

“No! You can stop that right now. I don’t want to hear about how you don’t want to celebrate your birthday. It can be something low-key, but we’re not letting your fortieth pass without acknowledging it. There’s no point in arguing with me on this.”

Beth perched on the window sill, admiring the way the setting sun made the surface of the water sparkle in varying shades of red and orange. “I was going to say we don’t need to plan anything because I won’t be there.”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming home tomorrow.”

“That was the plan, but Mirren offered us a guest room in her house.”

“Who?”