Page 91 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

Bea’s heart was pounding. Love? That was a very big word. And yes, Blane was a very large man, but… She sat down again.

“Forget I mentioned that word,” Meg said quickly. “I shouldn’t have done it. You have to forgive me. You don’t even have to think about it, okay? Let it develop in its own time. Whether it does or doesn’t, only time will tell. For now, tell me how you’re doing. You’re having fun, aren’t you? And you’re settling into your new house. He hasn’t derailed any of that?”

“Oh, Meg, no. He hasn’t derailed any of it, and he hasn’t taken over anything either. He’s just…” She looked around the kitchen. “He’s simply here with me.”

It was true, and somehow it was the most remarkable thing of all.

“I do love being here,” she went on. “It’s wonderful. The house feels good. I’m getting to know the village.”

She deliberately said I, although she was painfully aware that we was the word that had come to her first. None of what she loved about this new life depended on Blane. She knew that. She’d chosen the house, the village, the garden, and Crete for herself.

He simply made all of it better by being here.

“But anyway, let’s talk about you. How are you? And what about Amy and baby Molly?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“Yes, I am. Please let me. I need to recover from what you said before I carry on. Is that all right?”

“Of course it is. And you know me; I’m more than happy to chatter away while you regroup. To answer your question, I’m fine. Looking forward to an invitation to come and visit you, although of course I won’t expect one until after Blane’s gone home.”

Bea’s breath caught. She knew it was coming, and it was coming all too fast. Blane had said he had three weeks. They were already into the second. She forced herself to focus as Meg continued.

“And Amy’s doing wonderfully well. The boys have been very welcoming to baby Molly. They weren’t thrilled at the prospect of having a little sister, but Matt seems to have cast some kind of magic spell over them. I think it involved telling them they’re big, strong protectors now and it’s their job to look after their little sister.” Meg laughed. “And you know, I could use that to segue very nicely into asking about your Blane again, but I won’t, because you need to recover. Oh, and because I bumped into Rosalind. She was asking after you. I felt a little guilty that I know more than she does.”

“Well, you shouldn’t. You’ve known more about me than my sister has since we were eight years old, Meg. Why start feeling guilty now?”

“Oh, all right. I don’t feel guilty at all, not really. But I suppose I felt a little sorry for her. She’s quite lost, you know, now that she has no one to take care of. I still can’t believe she really expected you to move into the annex, though.”

Bea closed her eyes. “I can. I love her dearly, you know that. But her version of the world is very different from mine.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s move on from that as well. But you should perhaps give her a call, Bea, at some point when you’re feeling up to it.” Meg laughed softly. “You know, after Blane’s gone.”

Bea squeezed her eyes shut. She really didn’t want to think about the time after Blane had left.

“You know, perhaps I’ll leave telling you about him until then, too. For now, I simply want to enjoy it, Meg. I don’t want to examine it, and there’s really no point. He’ll be gone soon enough; we can carry out a post-mortem then.”

“Oh, don’t say it like that, my love. You don’t really expect this thing to die when he leaves, do you? Post-mortem sounds so… terminal.”

Bea let out a short laugh. “It does, doesn’t it? And I probably used the word because it feels so awful. But I really don’t want to think about it now.” She made herself smile. “And in another change of subject, I did want to report that I signed up for Greek classes with Yiannis.”

“My heart’s breaking for you here, Bea, but if you want to change the subject, I’ll go with you. So, good for you. Whenever we were there on holiday, you picked up bits of the language so quickly. I’m sure you’ll do fine once you have actual lessons. And have you seen anything more of Katerina? Or anyone else in the village? You must give the ladies in the bakery my best when you go in. And what about that lovely old chap at the garden center? Have you seen him?”

That made Bea smile. “We’ve seen him a couple of times now, and he and Blane seem to have struck up quite a friendship, which is funny really, because Blane doesn’t know the first thing about gardening and barely speaks two words of Greek.”

Meg laughed. “That’s how it goes sometimes, isn’t it? Some people just connect. They don’t even need a common interest or a common language.”

Bea’s smile faded into something softer. “Sounds like you’re talking about Blane and me.”

“I won’t push. But I’m here whenever you do want to talk. You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

She looked up when she heard a car outside and went to the window to make sure she really had heard one this time. She had; Blane was climbing out of the little white SUV.

“Are you still there?” Meg asked.

“Sorry. Yes, I am. Blane just arrived back and…”