“No. You timed it perfectly,” she replied, standing and moving towards the kitchen. “The lasagne should be about ready.”
“My mouth’s watering already.” Seren caught Kit’s eye and smiled. It hit him like a blow to the solar plexus and his appetite vanished. Apparently he was never going to be okay enough to casually hang out with her now that she knew how he felt.
“Have you managed any solo train rides yet?” Seren asked, touching Keira’s arm as she sat beside her.
“So far Kit’s always been with me.”
“I don’t actually do anything,” Kit said. “She’s a natural.”
Noah draped his arm around Keira’s shoulders. “It’s funny how adamant you were that you’d never manage to do the tour and how much you love it now.”
“I’ll never be as good as Kit,” Keira said. “But I really enjoy it. I just feel a bit bad for the people who get stuck on my tour instead of Kit’s.”
Kit smiled at her. “Remember, Noah used to take tours sometimes. Think about those poor people.”
“Hey!” Noah chuckled. “I might refuse to drive for you again if you keep on like that.”
“It doesn’t seem as though I’ll need you to. Keira’s stolen your job.”
Noah tilted his head. “I actually liked working on the train.”
“Food’s ready,” Mirren called through the kitchen window. “Someone come and give me a hand.”
Kit jumped up and carried the lasagne out while his mum brought the salad and serving spoons. He ended up sitting next to Seren to eat and was constantly aware of her arm close to his.
“You’re quiet,” she remarked when he didn’t speak for a while.
“Are you hungover?” his mum asked. “You usually devour my lasagne in a matter of moments.”
“I’m not hungover.” His brow wrinkled as he tried to figure out why she’d jump to that conclusion.
“Did you go out last night?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, then noticed Keira and Noah both had their eyes fixed on their plates. He glared at them as he realised his mum knew full well that he’d been out – and who with. Kit had mentioned it to Keira, who’d obviously passed the info on to Noah. Presumably he’d been the one to loop their mum in.
“Did you have a good night?” Seren asked when no one else spoke.
“It was fine,” he said. “I’m definitely not hungover. Just tired. I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
“Really?” Noah said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
“Shut up! Not like that …” His cheeks felt as though they were on fire and he didn’t dare glance in Seren’s direction. Not that she’d care; she’d most likely be glad to hear he’d spent the night with someone. That way she could stop worrying about him following her around. He was still mortified by his confession about his stalker-like behaviour towards her. Why on earth had he thought it was appropriate to tell her that he timed going to work so he’d bump into her?
He focused on his food, hoping for a change in conversation. Racking his brain, he failed to come up with anything himself. Sleep really had been in short supply the previous night. He’d lain awake after his evening with Holly feeling terrible for leading her on. She was sweet and easy to chat to – both times they’d been out had been perfectly enjoyable – but his feelings were completely platonic, and he was guilt-ridden that she might think there could be anything more between them.
“I should hurry up,” he said, swallowing a mouthful of lasagne. “I have to get back to work in a bit.”
His mum glanced at her watch. “I thought the next train ride wasn’t until three?”
“It’s not.” He only did one morning and one afternoon trip on Sundays. “I just need to nip home first.”
“What for?”
He put his knife down and rubbed at his jaw while he searched for a reason.Because he needed to get away from Serendidn’t seem like an appropriate response. “To pick something up,” he mumbled, then felt a wave of relief when his phone rang. Holly’s name flashed up and he caught his mum leaning over to look at the screen. He moved away from the table to answer it.
It was too much to hope that the conversation around the table would continue. He was sure they all kept quiet specifically to eavesdrop on his phone call.
“Hi,” he said, wandering to the front of the house and watching a butterfly land in the flower box under the kitchen window.