“Oh god!” Keira put her hands over her eyes. “Can you pretend you didn’t hear that conversation?”
“Yeah.” He nodded emphatically. “I think that’s a good idea.”
After flashing Keira a look of mock panic, he got back to work. Apparently getting Mel a ticket had earned him more brownie points than he knew what to do with.
* * *
As usual at the end of a shift, Noah’s body screamed for sleep while his brain refused to switch off. Having a best friend on a similar work schedule was handy; their late-night chats always felt therapeutic.
“I have a problem,” he said to Seren as soon as she answered the phone.
“Anything to do with your date on Friday? She’s cute, by the way. Kit showed me a photo.”
“Yeah. She is.” He shifted the pillow behind him to get comfy against the headboard. “The date went really well. We’re going out again on Wednesday. To this cinema under the stars thing. They have a live orchestra playing the soundtrack.”
“That sounds romantic.”
“Yeah, except Keira’s best friend got really excited when she heard about it, so now she’s coming with us.”
“That’s the problem? You’re going on a date with two women and it’s more than you can handle? If you need advice on threesomes you might have been better to talk to one of your brothers. Although, they probably wouldn’t be much help. Kit’s completely innocent and Trystan’s been in a serious relationship for ten years and I can’t imagine Jenny being into threesomes. Maybe try Jago …”
“Are we really discussing which of my brothers is most likely to have had a threesome?”
She laughed. “Now that I think about it, my money would be on Lowen.”
“No way.” His eldest brother was almost forty and lived alone on one of the smaller islands in the Scillies.
“I reckon he was pretty wild before … well, you know?”
“Before he turned into a recluse?” He sighed. “Anyway, being on a date with two women isn’t my problem. Mel’s a lesbian. Let’s pretend that’s the only reason I won’t be having a threesome any time soon.”
“You’d totally freak out with two women in your bed, wouldn’t you?”
“At this point I’m not sure I remember what to do withonewoman in my bed.”
“I imagine it will come back to you. That’s not the problem, is it? You don’t seriously need me to remind you how sex works?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Can you get to the point, then? What’s the problem?”
“The problem is I really like Keira. But I haven’t told her I’m leaving.”
“Why not?”
“I wanted to tell her at dinner, but I was worried she might decide going on more dates with me was a waste of her time … so I kept quiet.”
Seren stayed silent for a moment. “Youreallylike her, don’t you?”
“Yeah. So?”
“You’re coming home in six weeks! Youhaveto come home.”
“I know that. Why are you freaking out?”
“Because you said you’d be gone for a year … experience living somewhere else, save up some money … and then come home…”
“Hey,” he said softly. “What’s going on?”