“He lives in London?”
“Yeah, but he comes back here pretty often. He and Noah are quite protective of me.”
“That’s nice. Who’s the fourth brother? I’m missing one.”
“Jago.”
“I’ve never heard of him. Not that I recall anyway.”
“He’s also a lot older than me. He moved out of home when I was about four. Over to the mainland to go to sixth form, then uni. After that he moved to London for a while, then France, then New York. He doesn’t get back to visit much, so I don’t feel like I really know him at all.”
“That must be so weird.”
“It is a bit. He came over for Dad’s funeral but only stayed for a few days and that time was all a bit of a blur.”
She squeezed his arm again and they continued in silence for a couple of minutes.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you,” she said hesitantly. Kit had the distinct impression that whatever she was going to say was something she wouldn’t bring up when she was sober. “It’s about Lowen. There are a lot of rumours floating around about him …”
Kit’s jaw tightened. If there was one thing he hated about island life it was the gossip. Over the past few years, his family had been at the centre of a lot of it. Mostly he ignored it or just refused to comment.
“Is it true that he’s a millionaire?” Holly asked.
That hadn’t been the question he’d expected and his shoulders relaxed. “I don’t actually know. Maybe.”
“But he’s your brother. You must know.”
“I know he has a lot of money. He’s never told me how much.”
“How do you get to be a millionaire from making pottery?”
“He didn’t. He used to be an investment banker. He knows a lot about the stock market and made some good investments. I think the pottery is more like his retirement project.”
“There are other rumours too,” she said, tightening her grip on him as she stumbled slightly.
“Oh, I’m sure there are a lot!”
“Are you going to get annoyed with me for asking questions?”
“No.” He chuckled. “I just won’t answer any questions I don’t like.”
She cast him a sidelong glance. “Where did you get the money for the train and the bus?”
“I inherited some money,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t dig any further on the matter.
“From who? I heard some people say it was from grandparents and some people say it was some long-lost relative who you never even knew.”
“Something like that.” He breathed a sigh of relief that they were almost at Holly’s place and he could wrap the conversation up.
“Which one is it?”
“I can’t tell you,” he said lightly.
“Why not?”
“Because if the truth got out, no one would have anything to speculate about. It’d ruin everyone’s fun of making up stories.”
“Kit!” she chastised with a hint of a pout.