Sue Moorcroft - A Summer to Remember

‘Got a minute to chat?’ Aaron asked, by way of greeting.

Conscious that he owned half the building she was living in and so, presumably, didn’t really need to ask, she decided to be civilised and invite him in for coffee. ‘Good meeting?’ she asked politely, as she took down mugs. They’d been Alice’s and were plain white with Royal Doulton on the bottom. Alice was nothing if not aspirational.

Aaron had helped himself to a seat at the kitchen table, dark eyes on her as she tried to remember how to work her new coffee machine. ‘I suppose so,’ he answered. ‘The usual stuff: the school in Thornham closed in the eighties – that always gets an airing – so we need young couples to stay in the village and increase the population. We should have a village hall but no one knows how to come up with the money. Kaz at the B&B wants more tourism and is worried about the future of the business. Obviously, wanting Roundhouse Row to be as full as possible, I agreed with her, not least because the B&B is in our literature as somewhere our guests might get a meal, but some villagers huffed and puffed about not wanting Nelson’s Bar “overrun with tourists”.’

‘Three holiday rentals and one B&B won’t attract enough tourists to “overrun” will they?’ In view of her current occupation, Clancy felt an affinity with Kaz and Oli. Kaz had seemed very nice if – understandably, it seemed – a little preoccupied with business.

‘Unlikely,’ Aaron agreed drily. ‘And those same people want the B&B there when they fancy lunch on the lawn or somewhere local for friends and relatives to stay. Ernie says the B&B needs a bigger bar so more than five people can get in at a time – nobody disagreed with that one. And, as you knew she would, Dilys took the position that Nelson’s Bar needs the internet and Ernie boomed out that the internet’s full of viruses and crooks.’

The coffee machine hissed and began to emit the unmistakeable coffee-is-nigh fragrance. Clancy gave him the first cup – with a splash in a saucer for Nelson – and popped in a coffee pod for the second. ‘The B&B seems a big part of the village.’

He gave a short laugh. ‘It would certainly be a worry if it came under threat. I had a chat with Kaz and Oli afterwards, trying to remember all the points about rural communities that you’d fired at me. Anyway,’ he went on, before she could ask more, ‘I’ve come to apologise. And explain.’ He’d propped his chin on his fist.

‘Go on then,’ she said, intrigued. The second coffee ready, she scooped it up and joined him at the table.

He ran a fingertip moodily around the rim of his mug. ‘I’m not impressed with myself. I deliberately made you feel unwelcome to go to the meeting.’

‘I got that.’

He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Which makes it worse. I’m sure it felt personal but, really, it wasn’t.’

‘It was because of Lee,’ she supplied.

The dark eyes flicked open, looking wary. ‘Yes. You probably think I’m way exceeding my protectiveness but—’

‘I’ve seen him,’ she put in, remembering the fragility in Lee’s eyes. ‘He stopped to say hello.’ She told Aaron about the meeting, adding, ‘I couldn’t get over the change in him. He looks a genuinely troubled soul. I have to admit that at first I was stung that you so obviously wanted to keep me away from De Silva House and impatient if Lee was still rotting inside about what Alice did, but he looks so … beaten.’

Aaron’s shoulders relaxed a notch. ‘Thank you for saying that but it proves how misguided I was to try and protect him, when he chose to meet the issue head-on.’ He inhaled the steam of his coffee before taking an appreciative swig. ‘I’m guilty of excessive big-brotherliness – but I don’t think you have siblings, do you?’

‘I’m an only child,’ Clancy agreed slowly, ‘but did you know that because our mothers are identical twins, the DNA profiles of Alice and me are more like half-sisters than cousins?’

He lowered his coffee cup, looking struck. ‘Maybe Lee told me that once. Does it make a difference?’

‘I think so. I feel closer to her than my few cousins on Dad’s side, which allows me a glimmer of insight into why your family closes ranks around Lee.’ Clancy still had to push aside a pinprick of hurt though. ‘It’s more about Lee than it is about me.’

‘Yeah.’ But he was frowning again. ‘But you’re just as entitled to a safe haven.’

‘Oh.’ The pinprick of hurt blossomed suddenly into warmth. ‘Thank you.’ Feeling in charity with him, she broke out a packet of chocolate Hobnobs, which led to more coffee making as neither of them really had enough of the first cup left to allow dunking. Nelson jumped up hopefully when he heard the packet rustle but lay down again with a sigh when none of the bounty came his way.

Clancy resumed her seat and tried a less contentious subject. ‘I saw Genevieve at the B&B. It sounds as if her insurance company are playing ball OK. She’s moving into the B&B soon, isn’t she?’

He shrugged. ‘Think so.’ He dunked a Hobnob and popped it into his mouth whole. After he’d chewed and swallowed he added, ‘She ended things between us.’

‘Oh!’ Clancy paused. So much for less contentious subjects. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Thanks,’ he said moodily. ‘I think we were moving through the relationship at different speeds, but there’s something about being dumped, isn’t there?’

‘Yes.’ Her stomach gave the familiar lurch when she thought of Will. Will and Renée. ‘And when it’s a nice person who does the dumping, you wonder what that says about you.’

His gaze flew to her face and he cursed under his breath. ‘Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to—’

‘It’s OK.’ She buried her face in her coffee mug. Moving away from everything she knew had provided lots of distractions. Will had moved on in a brutally permanent way and so must she.

Aaron selected another Hobnob. ‘Actually, Genevieve quoted you. Something about women not being defined by men.’

‘I did say that, but I was talking about myself, not her.’ She began to add something about his love life being none of her business, but then stuttered to a halt when the memory of their kiss in the garden flashed into her mind. That had been a tiny bit of his love life, and it had certainly been her business. Did he ever think of that when he was at De Silva House? Ever look at the nook just beyond the garden arbour …? ‘I hope nothing I said influenced her decision,’ she ended.

Something flickered in his eyes, as if he were reading her mind. After a pause, he said, ‘I don’t think so. I was feeling that Genevieve was trying to manoeuvre me into asking her to move in. I didn’t want that – or not yet, anyway. When you came up with the B&B information, it got me out of that situation and apparently I let my relief show.’

Clancy’s face heated up. ‘If I interfered, it was totally unwittingly—’

He waved her words aside. ‘I’m not blaming you. Gen began demanding answers and I handled it badly. I was honest, I suppose, but not particularly gentle. She asked me if I loved her and I sort of became paralysed. So she ended things. I hate that me not wanting to commit definitely – or indefinitely – caused her pain but I can’t force feelings I don’t have.’ He dunked another biscuit.

Clancy froze. His words had jolted her heart into an uncomfortable rhythm. ‘You feel bad because you can’t care for her as much as she wants you to?’ she clarified.

‘Basically.’ He popped the biscuit into his mouth.

She felt clammy. ‘Why should you share your home with someone if you don’t want to?’

He nodded as he swallowed. ‘That’s it. I live alone because I like it that way.’