“What’s wrong?” Mirren asked her.
“I might have misjudged this,” she said, grimacing. “I wanted to do something nice for you, so I thought I’d bake a cake. It seemed like a good idea when I thought of it, but I just realised it might be insensitive to bring a cake today. And I also thought that maybe you’d rather it’s just family this evening. I can go and take the cake with me if you want?”
Kit moved swiftly to take the cake from her. “You’re not takingthatanywhere.”
“Of course we want you here,” Mirren said. “You’re family now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Mirren’s voice was thick with emotion, and tears spilled down her cheeks.
“But I’ve made you cry,” Keira said, placing a hand on Mirren’s arm.
“Only because I was annoyed with myself for not baking a cake. Now you’ve brought one, so that’s perfect.” She wiped at her cheeks. “We’re all emotional wrecks today, aren’t we? We could do with Trystan here to put the music on and get us dancing around the kitchen.”
There was a noise at the door as Trystan dropped his bag and then wandered into the room. “That could probably be arranged.”
“What are you doing here?” Mirren asked, through more tears.
“Kit called me this morning and it sounded as though he could use a hug, so I jumped on a plane.” When Kit raised a sceptical eyebrow, Trystan smiled sadly. “Fine. I thought I could use a hug.”
“You big softie,” Mirren said as she embraced him. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” He hugged them all in turn. “It sounds like dancing and cake is in order.”
Mirren sighed. “I’d never have mentioned dancing if I’d known you were in hearing distance.”
“And we can’t have cake until Noah gets here,” Keira said.
“Where is he?” Trystan asked.
“Still at work,” Mirren told him. “But he should be finished soon.”
Trystan checked his watch. “Perfect. We can all go down there. I managed to convince Lowen to come over and meet me for a drink.”
“Can’t you get him to come up here?” Kit said, his voice tinged with annoyance. “Mum’s cooking.”
“We can eat late,” Mirren said. “Going to the pub first is a good idea.”
“It doesn’t mean anyone gets out of dancing,” Trystan announced as they bustled out of the door. “We’ll dance around the pub.”
“You’re really embarrassing,” Kit told him.
Out in the fresh air, Trystan draped an arm around Kit’s shoulders and pulled Seren close to him at the other side. She put her arm around his waist and smiled in the sunshine. As usual, Trystan had managed to bring the mood up in an instant. Everyone was in better spirits as they headed for the Mermaid Inn.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Having Trystan around for the weekend felt like a breath of fresh air for Kit. Life felt normal again. From drinks in the pub on Saturday evening, to the usual rowdy dinner, then the lazy day with all of them hanging around at their mum’s place on Sunday, everything was relaxed and easy. Being around Seren gave him hope that they’d be able to get back to some semblance of normal.
If nothing else, the weekend had shown him that he couldn’t ignore her forever. She was a huge part of his life, and he didn’t want that to change just because he wanted more than friendship. Even if she didn’t love him the way he loved her, she still loved him; that much had been obvious from the way she’d come looking for him on the boat on Saturday.
His mind returned repeatedly to the moment she’d kissed him. He’d known at the time that it didn’t mean anything, but he couldn’t help but hope that her feelings for him had changed. It had been slightly embarrassing asking her about it later, but he’d needed to know for definite so he wouldn’t go back to spending his time pondering the possibility of there being more between them. She loved him as one of her oldest friends, and that was all. He had to learn to live with that.
His phone rang shortly after he got home from work on Wednesday, and he swiped to accept the call from Holly.
“Fancy going out for a midweek drink?” she asked him.
“Sure. Where and when?”