Page 46 of The Summer Escape

“Whatever you want, hun. I’m here for the evening and even if Ellie wakes up she’s never any bother.”

“Thank you.” The minute she stepped outside, Beth’s heart began to pound. Trystan might not even hear her out. There was a good chance he had her pegged as neurotic and was thinking he’d had a lucky escape.

A faint glow illuminated the front window and she was in full panic mode when she reached the door. After pressing the bell she focused on her breathing and tried to quash her nerves. Time seemed to slow but eventually it became clear that he wasn’t going to answer. Stepping back, she craned her neck to look at the upstairs window, thinking he might have looked out and decided to ignore her. Instinctively, she moved to the downstairs window and peeked inside. A light was on in the living room but she couldn’t see Trystan. She tried to placate herself with the idea that he could be in the shower, but in reality it was much more likely that he was ignoring her.

All set to give up, she had one last idea and went to look around the side of the house. The sight of him on the patio startled her. He had his laptop open on the table and didn’t appear to have noticed her. The patio door was open though so she was certain he’d have heard the doorbell.

She was about to back away when she spotted his earphones. He didn’t react when she said his name, but waving got his attention.

“Hi,” she said anxiously.

He pulled his earphones out and flashed a brief smile.

“I rang the doorbell …”

“I didn’t hear it.” He held up his earphones before depositing them on the table. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Well, sort of. Not really.” She took a few steps towards him. “Is it okay if I join you for a minute?”

“Yeah.” He closed the lid of the laptop. “I was just doing some work.”

“Sorry.” She hovered behind the chair nearest to him. “I wanted to apologise. I came over yesterday evening but you weren’t here.”

“I was at the pub with my brothers.”

She nodded. “The quiz?”

“Yeah.”

“I just wanted to say … I’m sorry for snapping at you. I really shouldn’t have.”

His brow creased. “I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I never intended that.”

“You didn’t. Honestly, it wasn’t anything you did. You just caught me at a bad moment.” She opened her mouth to explain exactly what had been going on but thought better of it. “I was having a bad day and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. You probably think I’m completely neurotic, but I swear I’m not usually like this.”

Looking at the situation from his point of view, she couldn’t see how he’d want anything more to do with her, but if she could at least clear the air it would be something. “I’ll leave you to get on with your work, but I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable about coming up to your mum’s or anything.”

“Okay.”

“I really am sorry.” She forced a smile and took a couple of steps backwards. “Goodnight.”

“Beth?” The sound of her name from his lips made a tingle shoot up her spine. She turned back and looked at him questioningly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“About what?”

“Your bad day yesterday.” He pushed the chair out from the table and gestured for her to sit down.

“Do you really want to hear? Because I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I want to hear,” he said solemnly.

“My life must seem like such a mess.” She sighed when she sat down. “Right before I saw you yesterday I had a call from my dad’s care home, and to cut a long story short, by the time I got off the phone I felt like a terrible daughter for not considering him when I decided to stay here for the summer.”

“He has Alzheimer’s?”

“Yes. He has no idea who I am, but the staff at the care home think it’s important for him to have visitors.”

“I can see why that would put you in a bad mood.”