Pete.
‘He doesn’t need to be discreet,’ countered Serena. ‘His intentions are pure.’
‘Not that pure,’ said Nico.
‘What about honourable?’ said Pete.
‘They’re mostly honourable,’ said Nico.
Chloe glared at them both. ‘Do you mind? There’s a child present.’
Sam rolled his eyes, Pete grinned his sympathy. ‘I just figured Sam should probably know the difference between courtship and seduction too. You know … for future reference. At first I thought it had something to do with speed, seduction being the faster of the two methods of wooing a woman. Then I got to thinking it might have something to do with a man’s intentions, but, no, man’s intentions are a grey area. Who in their right mind would base it on that?’
‘A woman might,’ said Nico. ‘They get some strange notions in their heads at times.’
‘You’re right,’ said Pete.
‘Aren’t they sweet?’ said Serena. ‘All that brawn, so little brain. Puts me in mind of Winnie the Pooh. He was a bear of little brain too.’
‘But cuddly,’ said Pete. ‘Generally happy with his lot.’
‘Well, that rules you out, flyboy,’ she murmured, handing him a plate of food. ‘You can’t even find your lot.’
She was right. But it still stung. ‘I’ll know it when I see it,’ he said defensively.
‘It’s in your folder,’ she said dryly. ‘Three pages in.’
Pete unwound over the course of the dinner, everyone did, with the help of Chloe’s excellent cooking and hospitality skills and Serena’s knack for turning conversation into entertainment. Caring bubbled beneath the surface; bonds of friendship and of blood; ties of affection and of love.
The ache around his heart was gone.
They didn’t make it a late evening, what with early starts for him and Nico the following morning and Sam looking increasingly sleepy.
‘Walk me to the door,’ he murmured to Serena as Nico made his farewells to Chloe and Sam.
‘I’m sorry the evening didn’t quite go to plan,’ Serena said to him when they reached Chloe’s front step. ‘It probably wasn’t what you had in mind. It certainly wasn’t what I had in mind.’
‘I’m not unhappy with the way it turned out,’ he told her.
‘The lack of mind-blowing sex doesn’t bother you?’
‘Is this a trick question?’ Because he didn’t have the faintest idea how to answer it.
‘No, it’s just a regular question.’
He still didn’t know how to answer it. ‘Hell, Serena.’ He opted for the simple unvarnished truth. ‘I just wanted to see you again.’
‘Are you courting me, Pete Bennett?’
‘Damned if I know.’ He thought he might be. He thought he might just keep that bit of information to himself.
‘When are you leaving in the morning?’ she asked.
‘Early.’
‘When will you be back?’
‘Soon. Alternatively, you could come up with another reason to get off this island. You could come with me in the morning.’
‘You do miss the mind-blowing sex!’
Pete reached out to run a wayward strand of her hair through his fingers, noting with interest the way her eyes seemed to darken at his nearness and his touch. ‘Maybe a little.’ Maybe he wasn’t the only one.
‘The need is there, don’t get me wrong,’ she told him. ‘But practically speaking it’s just not possible to get away right now. I have Nico and Chloe to throw together… Vespa hire to arrange so I don’t let my grandparents down. How about we aim to meet up in Athens in a few days’ time?’
‘We can do that,’ he said. And with more bravado than sense, ‘It doesn’t bother you that I had to come and see you tonight?’
‘Should it?’ she whispered, her eyes dark and fey.
‘I don’t know,’ he muttered. ‘But it sure as hell bothers me.’
‘Where’s Nico?’ Serena asked Chloe when she came back into the kitchen. ‘And Sam?’
‘Nico’s gone to talk to Theo about fish-hooks for tomorrow,’ said Chloe. ‘I dare say he’ll also find a way to casually mention that dinner’s over, Pete’s back in his hotel room, and that you and he are about to head back to the cottage. He’ll be back in a few minutes. Sam’s putting the rubbish out.’
Serena started stacking plates in the dishwasher while Chloe found containers for the remaining food.
‘I was watching you with Pete Bennett tonight,’ said Chloe, uncharacteristically hesitant. ‘He’s more than passing fond of you, Serena.’
Serena shook her head. ‘He’s playing a game, that’s all. And he’s very, very good at it.’
‘Maybe he is,’ murmured Chloe. ‘Maybe that’s exactly what he’s doing. But for what it’s worth I think you should start thinking about what you’re going to do if he ever decides to stop.’ Sam swung in through the back door and Chloe turned towards him. ‘Thank you, Sam.’
Sam shrugged awkwardly.
‘Had enough to eat?’ Chloe said next.
He nodded.
‘Then it’s bedtime.’ Chloe paused awkwardly. ‘Would you like me to come up with you?’
‘I’m not six,’ he said scathingly, shooting her a dark glare before scooping up his schoolbooks and heading from the room.
‘I thought things were improving,’ said Serena into the silence Sam left in his wake.
‘They are. This is one of our better days,’ said Chloe with a strangled laugh. ‘I don’t know how to help him, Rena. He wants nothing from me. He’s so defensive. So fiercely independent.’
‘Maybe he’s had to be,’ she said gently. ‘It can’t have been easy looking after his mother.’ Watching her die.
‘I know.’ Tears welled in Chloe’s eyes. ‘I hate the thought of it. There was no need for it. One phone call from my sister, one single phone call, and I’d have been there. She knew that, but no. She was too proud for that; too damn selfish. Even if she wanted nothing for herself why didn’t she ask it for Sam, Serena? Why? What kind of mother makes an eleven-year-old bear the brunt of her illness alone?’
There was
