Alex already had his heavy charcoal pea coat on, and waited at the front door as she ran upstairs to fetch a puffy jacket.
‘Ready?’ he asked, watching her jog down the stairs.
‘Yup.’
He held the door open and out she stepped. The cold bit at her cheeks. They trudged down the steps onto the gravel, then Alex stopped. Curling his lip over his teeth, he whistled loudly and waited. From around the side of the house two large fluffy dogs bounded towards them. Tails wagging frantically, they jumped up, trying to get as close to Alex as possible.
‘Hey guys!’ He patted their heads and scratched their chins. ‘Okay, that’s enough. Sit!’ he commanded, and instantly they listened. ‘Good boys.’ He looked at Emma. ‘This is Clifford and Gatsby.’
Emma remembered the Airedale Terriers he had told her about and she had wished she could meet them. Now she was.
Holding her hand out to them, she let both dogs sniff, and once again their tails began to wag. ‘They’re beautiful!’
He grasped her hand in his and turned to walk away. ‘Clifford, Gatsby—let’s go.’
The dogs were at their side as they followed the path that crunched beneath their feet, through a copse of trees.
‘It’s so lovely here,’ Emma said, looking out over an empty paddock. ‘Horses?’
‘Yes. To both.’
‘But you don’t like coming here?’ Emma looked at Alex, who was watching the dogs run ahead.
‘Not particularly. When I was young and Matt would come, it was fun. There was plenty of mischief to get up to.’ He smiled fondly at the memory. ‘But there’s a lot I don’t like being reminded of here.’
‘I understand. Especially after meeting Catherine.’
‘What did she say to you?’ he asked.
His feelings were masked but his eyes spoke volumes. Emma could see hurt and anger burning in them.
‘She just made a snide comment,’ Emma said.
Alex let go of her hand and stuck his in his jacket pockets. Emma followed suit.
‘Which was?’
‘I don’t want to upset you, Alexander.’
‘Youwon’t.’
Emma sighed, and told him exactly what Catherine had said. Saying the words to him now made her just as angry as she’d been on hearing them the night before. Catherine was cruel, and Emma could only imagine how it must have made Alex feel to see her.
You understand what it’s like. You can help him, that inner voice said.
Alex pulled on her sleeve, forcing her to stop. ‘You know that’s not true.’
‘I know. I told her she doesn’t know you at all.’
‘And you know who she is?’
‘I do. Although when you said you didn’t have a mother I assumed...’
‘She was dead?’ he said, without the tiniest hint of emotion.
‘Yes.’
Alex moved to the paddock, folding his arms on the high white fence. His gaze was far off. ‘Dead or alive, it makes no difference.’