Page 90 of The Summer Escape

There was a lot of waving and grinning at the screen before they finally got off the phone.

“Now can we call Trystan?” Ellie pleaded.

Glancing at the clock again, Beth realised she wasn’t only worried about him being at work, but that he’d been annoyed with her for not getting in touch sooner.

“Let’s get some dinner first,” Beth said. “Then we’ll call him.”

* * *

Trystan had two missed calls from Kit. He called him back as soon as he got home from work on Friday, putting the phone on speaker and dropping it on the bed so he could get changed while he waited for the call to connect.

“What’s up?” he said when Kit answered.

“I spoke to Beth.”

Trystan pulled on a pair of shorts, wondering if he’d heard right. “You did what?”

“She called me earlier.”

“Beth calledyou?” Roughly, he pulled a T-shirt over his head, shoving his arms into it before snatching up the phone. “Are you kidding me?”

“No. I think it was Ellie’s idea. She wanted to show me her new nail stickers.”

“I sent the nail things,” he growled, walking back to the living room.

“Yeah. She told me that.”

“Why the heck did she call you and not me?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Did Beth say anything about me?” He ran a hand through his hair as he sat on the couch.

“Not really. But I said something stupid and it got a bit awkward …”

“About me?”

“Not really.” He sounded as though he was speaking through gritted teeth. “I was talking about Seren, but I said something about how she’d be annoyed if I kept her waiting too long … it totally sounded as though I was making a comment about you.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing really. I don’t understand why she hasn’t been in touch with you. Why don’t you just call her?”

“I don’t know.” He flopped back on the couch. He’d really expected that she’d get in touch when they received his parcel, but maybe she really was set on not seeing him again. The thought made his chest tighten. “I can’t believe she called you and Mum, but not me.”

“Sorry,” Kit said. “Your phone’s doing something weird. I keep hearing beeps like there’s another call coming through. If it’s a work call ignore it. Also if it’s Noah, ignore it. Or Mum. Don’t hang up on me for any other family members.”

Trystan sat up straight and stared at the phone.

“Are you still there?” Kit asked.

“It’s Beth.”

There was a momentary pause. “You can hang up on me for Beth,” Kit said. “Call me back later, okay?”

“Okay.” He swallowed hard as he pressed the button to switch the call. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at the sound of her voice quietly saying hello. “Hi,” he replied, then smiled at the sound of Ellie in the background asking for Beth to show her the phone.

“It’s not a video,” Beth told her.