2
Thank God for Shane Walker.He was going to save Faith’s bacon. When the door of his 1920s villa closed behind her, she let the tension ease from her shoulders and glanced up at the sky. Tonight the stars wove between the pink and purple twists of the milky way. The sight of the night sky had always soothed her.
A cool breeze stirred her hair, and she continued down the drive to her car, a retro VW Beetle she’d had restored. She slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. A couple of minutes later, she arrived outside her cottage on the opposite side of the Haven Bay township. She slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way up the path, then let herself in the front door. The cottage was cozy and opened into a small hall, with her bedroom on one side and the living room on the other. The spare bedroom came off the living room, as did the kitchen. She didn’t have a dining area—she ate on the couch most nights, or at the kitchen counter.
She dropped her things in her bedroom and found her parents in the living room, side by side on the couch, with Leon on the armchair. Since there were no other furnishings—at least not that she could sit on, she perched on the arm of the couch.
“Did you find everything you needed?” she asked, wondering for the first time what they intended the sleeping arrangements to be. There were only two beds and too many of them to fit.
“Sure did,” Katherine replied. “Your father and I made the spare bed, and Leon has a sleeping bag, so he can sleep in here.”
Faith sized Leon up. He was all of six feet, and her couch wasn’t much more than five. He wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep this week.
She sighed. “Why don’t you take my bed, and I’ll take the couch?”
His eyes widened. “That’s kind of you, but not necessary.”
She shook her head. “I insist. I couldn’t live with myself if you came all this way for nothing and then had a miserable time.”
A smile curved his lips. “Okay, then. Thank you, Faith.”
“No problem. Would you like fresh bedding?”
One corner of his mouth hitched up higher. “I think I can survive your secondhand sheets.”
Glancing at the ceiling, Faith cursed inwardly. Leon was looking at her the same way most guys her age did: like she’d given them the all-clear to strip her naked and take her for a spin.
This was why she didn’t do relationships.
“So, Faith, how long has this affair with the teacher been going on?” her father asked. He was one of those pleasant sorts of people who was hard to ruffle and rarely had a bad word to say about anyone. He also tended to use outdated language, like “affair.”
She smiled. “Only a couple of months. It’s still early days.”
He nodded. “You could certainly do worse. He has a respectable job, and from what I understand, a good standing in the community.”
Oh, yes. Because those were the metrics one should use to find a suitable spouse. She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes or make a sassy comment about how well that had turned out for her sister.
“That he does.”
“He also comes with two sons and quite a history,” Katherine reminded her, as if she’d ever forget.
“Two lovely children,” Faith replied. “And it was hardly his choice to be abandoned by his wife.”
Leon watched this back and forward with interest. Her mother seemed to notice this and stood. “Faith, can I speak to you in private?”
Faith led her into the kitchen and closed the door behind them. “What is it?”
Katherine wrung her hands and took a few moments to put her thoughts together. Faith gave her time, familiar with her mum’s need to have a fully formed idea before verbalizing it.
“This is terribly awkward,” she said eventually. “We should have asked if it was okay to bring Leon before just turning up with him. Would you like us to find somewhere else for him to stay? I’m sure he’ll understand if you or Shane are uncomfortable with him being here.”
Faith considered the question. It would certainly make life simpler if she said yes, but Leon had come all this way to meet her, and it would be rude to kick him out. She’d made it clear there would be no romance between them, which meant there wasn’t really a reason to ask him to leave. A few wisps of red hair tickled her nose, and she blew them aside.
“No, he can stay.”
Katherine’s expression softened in relief. “You always did have a kind heart.”
She’d often wondered if it was too soft. “Shall we rejoin the men?”