He took the handle of her case and they set off up the hill. “You don’t have to worry; if you need a new job, we’ll find you one. In the meantime, I won’t let you starve …” Panic flashed in his eyes and he pulled his phone out.
“What’s wrong?”
“I quit my job today,” he said, tapping away on his phone. “I need to tell Charlie to ignore that conversation. Otherwise we might both be starving.”
“I can’t live off you,” she said, feeling a wave of nerves at the thought of moving. “I don’t even know how much it costs to rent here. Is it much more expensive than Bristol?”
He frowned deeply. “I presumed you’d live with me.”
“Yes. But I’ll need to pay half the rent.”
“I don’t pay any rent.”
Keira stopped short. “You live in your mum’s house without paying her any rent?”
“No. It’s not Mum’s house, it’s mine. I have a mortgage but the repayments are low. Part of my reasoning for living in Bristol for a year was so I could rent out the cottage. Holiday rentals make a lot of money around here.”
She fell into step beside him again, confusion wrinkling her forehead.
“I inherited some money a while back,” he explained. “We all did. I used it to buy one of the cottages from Mum and Dad. Trystan did the same – he rents his out for most of the tourist season. Kit bought his train and Lowen bought the pottery studio. I think Jago got himself out of debt.”
“How come you never mentioned that before?”
“It never came up,” he said with a shrug.
“What about when I was worrying about you working in a pub? Didn’t it occur to you to mention that you own a house and are financially secure?”
“Not really, no.”
She pulled on his arm to stop him. “Was it a test? Were you worried I’d just be interested in your money?”
“No!” He chuckled as he slipped his arms around her waist. “Why would I worry about that with my good looks and sparkling personality?”
She gave him a gentle shove. “I’m being serious.”
“I’m not exactly loaded,” he said. “I’ve still got a mortgage to pay off. It honestly just never occurred to me to mention it.”
“Maybe it would be nice to be a lady of leisure for a while,” she joked as they continued walking.
“When can you move?” he asked eagerly.
“I need to talk to work again, confirm whether I can work remotely or whether I need to quit and work out my notice.”
“What about Mel?”
“She’s been very encouraging.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m going to make sure you love living here. You won’t doubt the decision for a moment.”
“Seren pretty much said the same. I could have a lot of fun holding you both to it.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said, draping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
She smiled, feeling utterly content.
It only lasted a moment – until she remembered the situation with her dad. Moving away while he still wasn’t talking to her would be hard. She couldn’t worry about that now, though. When she was back in Bristol, she’d confront him properly. Either he’d forgive her for what she’d said or she’d have to live with them being estranged. The thought made her feel sick, but she needed to do what was right for her.
“Are you okay?” Noah asked. “You look worried. Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind already?”