Page 65 of The Summer Escape

“Good, because I love spending time with Ellie. I wasn’t scheming to get her out of the way.”

Her heart suddenly felt like it was taking up more space in her chest. She touched her forehead to Trystan’s. “I honestly didn’t think that, but with Ellie in the kids’ club I was excited about spending more time with you.”

“Really?” He sounded unsure of himself.

“Yes.”

“You said you never get any time to yourself, so I also didn’t want to assume you’d want to hang out with me.”

“I do want to hang out with you. Whenever you have time.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” he said, quirking an eyebrow. “Because I can make time every morning this week.”

She brushed her lips against his. “I’d like that a lot.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

Beth and Trystan spent the following morning walking the coast and sunbathing and swimming. All while acting like a pair of lovesick teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other. When Beth needed to collect Ellie from the kids’ club, Trystan couldn’t bring himself to part from her so tagged along too.

“Would you like to go for a coffee?” he asked Ellie as they walked away from the lifesaving club.

She looked at him incredulously. “I don’t drink coffee – I’m just a kid!”

“Oh, yes. I remember now. I guess you could have a chocolate milk or a lemonade or something while me and your mum drink coffee.”

“Okay.” She took his hand, then laughed when he lifted her off the ground before lowering her back down.

Beth veered away from them when they approached the harbour, taking her camera from its case to snap a few photos. The look of concentration on her face while she peered into the viewfinder had Trystan enthralled. At least until Ellie tugged on his arm, demanding to be lifted up and down as he’d done before. He smiled at her, then shifted his attention back to Beth as he continued the action of lifting her repeatedly off the ground.

“Sorry,” Beth said when she came back to them. “I love taking photos of boats.”

“I noticed.” He set Ellie down as his bicep began to burn with the effort.

Beth gave him a quick peck on the lips, the automatic gesture seeming to take her by surprise as much as him. They both glanced at Ellie, who either hadn’t noticed or didn’t register it was anything out of the ordinary.

“Have you ever been to the Pottery Cafe?” he asked her.

“No.” She took Ellie’s free hand and they ambled along in a row. “I think we’ve been to every cafe in Hugh Town except for that one.”

“How come?”

“Because it’s full of beautiful pottery and it doesn’t feel like a good place to take Ellie.”

“It’s Lowen’s pottery,” Trystan said. “The woman who owns the cafe sells it for him on commission.”

“I know you said he sells his stuff over here, but I never twigged it was in the cafe.”

“Let’s go and grab a coffee. Ellie will be fine.”

It was busy in the cosy cafe and they only just managed to get a table.

“It’s really cute in here,” Beth said, then turned in her seat to look across the room to where Lowen’s handiwork was neatly arranged on shelves and sideboards.

“The crockery for the cafe was all made by him too.”

“I love how proud you are of your brother,” Beth said, twisting back to face him.

“Am I?”