“Because it’sKit,” Seren said, pulling the blanket up to her chin. “He’s so young … and I’ve known him forever.”
“He’s very mature for his age.” She gave Seren a sympathetic smile. “I don’t know why it’s a bad thing that you’ve known him for so long.”
“It feels weird.” Seren took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago he told me he’s in love with me.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s been looking at you as though you’re some kind of goddess for years.”
“I gave him the brush-off,” Seren said. “Told him I don’t feel the same.”
“But that wasn’t true?”
“No. But the thought of being with Kit …”
Mirren wrinkled her brow. “Feels wrong?”
“No. It doesn’t feel wrong. But I guess lots of people will think it’s wrong. He’s so much younger than me.”
“So you’re not going to be with him because of what other people might think? And for the record, I don’t think anyone would care.”
Seren grimaced. “What about you?”
“Why would I care?”
“Won’t it make things weird?”
“I don’t see why.”
“But what if I got together with Kit and things didn’t work out? What would happen then?”
“That’s a very pessimistic attitude,” Mirren said lightly.
“I’m trying to be realistic. I don’t want to end up as an outsider like Lowen.”
Mirren shook her head. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Things are so strained between you and him,” Seren said cautiously. “I can’t stand the thought of things not working out between me and Kit and you being upset with me.”
“Unless you really tried, you’re not going to upset me.” Mirren shuffled along and put her arms around Seren, giving her a big kiss on the cheek. “I promise.”
“You’d really be fine if me and Kit got together? What if I hurt him?”
“Try not to hurt him,” Mirren said with a look of mock consternation. “But I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t give it a go. I might still think of Kit as my little boy, but he’s a grown man. If the two of you want to be together, don’t use me as an excuse not to.”
“I’m scared,” Seren admitted. “I’m pretty good at messing up relationships. I hate the thought of messing things up with Kit.”
“I don’t think you mess up relationships. You’ve just haven’t picked your boyfriends very well in the past.”
Seren thought about her conversation with Felix the previous evening. “I don’t think me having bad taste in men was the only problem.”
“The relationship wasn’t right then. It doesn’t matter, you can’t give up on relationships just because they haven’t worked out in the past.” She tilted her head and smiled. “I just thought of something … do you remember a few years back you came over to the house and Kit was hiding around the corner and soaked you with the hose?”
“It rings a vague bell.”
“The next time you came over you got him back. He was about to go and meet his friends and he was annoyed at you for messing his hair up.”
Seren beamed at the memory. “He chased me around the garden and we both ended up soaked.”
“Terry came home from work to find you two fighting like a pair of kids, and he made some comment to me about how long it would be before your play fighting would turn into something else entirely.”