‘And he knew exactly what to do—’
‘Yes.’
Lexi gave a sniff and adjusted her position on the rock. ‘He’s so cool. And you were good, too, Mum. I’ve never seen you work before. I didn’t know you were so—I dunno—so great.’
Jenna smiled weakly. ‘It’s amazing what you can do when the tide is coming in.’
‘You and Ryan get on well together. You look like—a team.’
Jenna stilled. Had Lexi guessed that her relationship with Ryan had deepened into something more? ‘We are a team. A professional team,’ she said firmly, and Lexi lifted her head.
‘Do you like him, Mum?’
Oh, no, not now. ‘Of course I like him. I think he’s an excellent doctor and—’
‘That wasn’t what I was asking!’ Lexi’s teeth were chattering. ‘He was really worried about you. You should have seen the look on his face when he had to decide whether to hang onto me or you. He never took his eyes off you. If you’d been swept into the water he’d have been in there after you. What’s going on?’
This was the perfect time to say something.
Jenna licked her lips. ‘Do you like Ryan, sweetheart?’
‘Oh, yes. And I like Evanna and the kids, and Fraser. Loads of people, actually. I never thought this place would be so cool.’ Lexi clung tighter. ‘I’ve got used to it here, Mum. I like Glenmore. And do you know the best thing?’
Ryan, Jenna thought. He was the best thing. ‘Tell me the best thing for you.’
‘The fact that it’s just the two of us. I love that.’
Just the two of us.
Jenna swallowed down the words she’d been about to speak.
How could she say them now?
Lexi buried her face in Jenna’s shoulder. ‘Dad was awful to you. I see that now. He didn’t even tell you stuff face to face. He just let you find out.’
‘I expect he did what he thought was best.’ Burying her own needs, Jenna watched as the sea level rose. ‘Don’t think about it now.’ They needed to climb higher, she thought numbly, glancing upwards with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Now that the immediate crisis was over, the impossibility of it overwhelmed her.
‘I want to talk about it, Mum!’ Lexi seemed to have forgotten her surroundings. ‘You’re always protecting me, but I want the truth.’
Shivering, wet, chilled to the bone, Jenna tried to stop her teeth from chattering as she searched for the right thing to say. ‘Dad—He—Actually, Lex, I don’t know what happened with your dad. The truth is that sometimes the people we love disappoint us. But I’m not going to do that. I will always be here for you. Always. You’ll have a home with me always.’ She smoothed the girl’s soaking hair. ‘Even when you’re off at university, or travelling the world, you’ll still have a home with me.’
If they survived.
If they didn’t both drown in this isolated, godforsaken gash in the cliff face.
‘Dad just acted like he didn’t have a family—’ Lexi’s voice jerked. ‘I mean, he made you sell the house so that he could have the money, and he didn’t even want me to go and stay with him this summer. That’s why we came up here, isn’t it? You made it impossible for me to get back there, so I wouldn’t find out the truth. But when I rang him he told me it wasn’t convenient for me to come—he didn’t want me around, and that’s why we came up here.’
Jenna stroked her daughter’s soaking hair, smoothing it away from her face. ‘I don’t know what’s going on in your dad’s head right now, sweetheart, but I do know he loves you. You need to give him time to sort himself out.’
‘He loves me as long as I don’t mess up his new life.’ Lexi scrubbed tears away with her hand. ‘I’m sorry I was so difficult. I’m sorry I made it hard for you.’
‘You didn’t. It always would have been hard. Having you is what’s kept me going. Having you is the best thing that ever happened in my life.’ With a flash of relief, Jenna saw the helicopter and drew Lexi back against the rock face. ‘Right. They’re going to get us out of here. You go first.’
Lexi clung to her mother. ‘I don’t want to leave you here—’
‘I’ll be right behind you, I promise.’
As Lexi was clipped onto the rope and lifted into the helicopter Jenna had a few moments alone on the rock.