Chapter Twenty-One
Guilt gnawed in the depths of Keira’s stomach as she sat on the couch and stared at her phone.
“Please don’t say there’s trouble in paradise?” Mel said, breaking her thoughts.
Keira dragged her gaze from the phone screen. “How long have you been home?”
“Just walked in.” Mel drew her eyebrows together. “What’s going on? You’ve done nothing but smile like an idiot for the past two weeks, but you suddenly look like someone’s died.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh god. No one died, did they? Me and my big mouth.”
“No.” The corners of Keira’s mouth twitched upwards. “No one died. Everything’s fine.” Except for the fact that in the two weeks since she’d got back from Scilly, she’d spent every spare minute either with Noah or thinking about Noah.
Thankfully, it hadn’t affected her ability to do her job. In fact, she was sure her elevated mood was having a positive effect on her creative output. She’d come up with some advertising campaigns which had stretched her out of her comfort zone and shown good results.
The problem with her newfound blissful state was that she’d been neglecting certain areas of her personal life. Namely her parents. They’d messaged three times in the past fortnight, asking to see her. Each time she’d told them she was busy but promised to visit soon. The latest message came with a guilt trip about how long it’d been since they’d seen her. Usually she saw them every couple of weeks; sometimes that stretched to a month, but she rarely went longer than that without seeing them.
“What’s going on?” Mel asked, dropping beside her.
“Dad asked me to go over for dinner tonight, but I already have plans with Noah. I haven’t seen my parents in a while, though, and I’ve been fobbing them off. Dad called twice this afternoon.”
“What did he say?”
“I was at work so I didn’t answer.”
“No doubt he wants something,” Mel said tersely.
“Yes.” Keira’s jaw clenched. “To see me.” She’d messaged her dad earlier in the day to say she’d go over on Sunday, but apparently that hadn’t placated him. He’d just tried to call her again and she’d ignored it on the basis that Noah would be over any minute, so she didn’t have time for phone calls.
“At least it’s not only me who you’ve ditched in favour of Noah.” Mel’s jokey tone seemed to be intended to lighten the atmosphere. It didn’t quite hit the mark, and Keira tensed even more as she shifted to face Mel.
“I told you we could go out tonight if you wanted.” It was Friday, so usually they’d have been in the Flute and Fiddle for the evening, but Noah had been switching his night shifts whenever possible so their work schedules were more aligned. Mel had insisted she didn’t mind the change to their weekly routine.
“Chill out,” Mel said. “I was only joking. I made other plans for tonight anyway.”
“But if you want to hang out, I’ll always hang out with you.”
“I know.” Shuffling along the couch, Mel slung an arm around Keira’s shoulders. “And if I wanted to hang out with you, I’d happily invite myself along with you and Noah.”
Keira laughed at the truth of the statement. On Monday evening Mel had insisted the three of them have a movie night and hadn’t been at all concerned about being a third wheel. Although it was arguably Noah who’d been made to feel like the outsider as Keira and Mel had spent most of the evening teasing him.
“What time are you going out?” Mel asked.
“Noah should be picking me up soon …”
“Are you going to speak to him tonight?” Mel asked, leaning on the arm of the couch.
“We’re going out for dinner. It’ll be super awkward if we don’t talk.”
“You know what I mean. Are you going to speak to him about him moving to Scilly?”
“I hadn’t planned on it.” She checked her phone when the screen lit up; it was a message from Noah saying he’d be there in five minutes.
“Don’t you think you ought to speak to him about it?” Mel said. “He’s supposed to leave in two weeks.”
“I realise that.” Her voice had an edge to it. “But given how well things are going between us, I really think he’ll change his mind about leaving.”
“Babe …” Mel’s tone was condescending. “If he’d changed his mind, wouldn’t you know? Surely he’d need to have made the decision already so he can sort out keeping his job and his flat.”
“He works in a bar.” For once Keira was glad that he only had a casual job. “I don’t think it’s a big deal if he asks to keep his job at the last minute.”