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“Come on,” Dylan said. He opened the gate to the back of the bookshop’s garden and held it open for her.

Lucy shrugged. She may as well follow him. She was actually feeling a bit hungry, and Dylan was right, she wouldn’t end up cooking for herself properly if she was alone. She followed him along the path and into the back door of the shop. Dylan turned the main light on, illuminating the beautiful shop with its gorgeous artwork by Seren, the shy young artist who worked in the shop part-time, adorning the walls and shelves. The shop looked so cosy, it never failed to bring a smile to Lucy’s face.

Dylan unlocked the door to the stairs leading up to the flat and they went up.

The flat was tidy; only the huge kettlebells in the corner of the living room gave any hint that Dylan lived there; but then it was only a stopgap for him.

Dylan went into the kitchen and began taking food out of the fridge.

“Would you like a ginger tea?” he asked. “It’s supposed to be good to settle your stomach.”

“Yes, please, that sounds good.”

Dylan nodded and turned on the kettle.

Lucy went over to the large window, and looked out onto the high street illuminated by the street lamps. “It’s a great view from here,” she commented. “My windows are much smaller, so it’s nowhere near as good from my flat.”

“It is,” Dylan replied. “I’ll miss it when I’m not here anymore.”

“Do you know how long you’ll stay for?” Lucy asked.

“Until I find a place to buy,” Dylan replied. “I’ve put my place on the market and started putting out feelers for a place around here.”

The look on Lucy’s face must have given away her concern, because he quickly added, “Don’t worry, I won’t be driving you mad all the time, or at least I’ll only be as annoying as you allow me to be. But I want to be close by when the baby’s born. I want to be a proper father to them, and that involves being a constant in their life, not just flitting in and out of it. I can’t be more than half an hour’s drive away. Well, I could, but it’s not how I want to do it.”

Lucy nodded. “I understand.” She came over to the kitchen island and climbed up onto a stool. Dylan passed over her drink. “Thank you,” she said, wrapping her arms around the mug. “And I do appreciate everything you’ve been doing. It has helped. Today, in particular, was made a lot easier, thanks to you being there. I was honestly dreading it, but it went better than I could have hoped — minus the quiche incident.”

“It was my pleasure. It was good to meet your parents, actually, and to see where you grew up.”

“And where I moved back to as an adult when everything went wrong,” Lucy said. “I ran a cake-making business a few years ago, and it folded. I ended up having to go back to Mum and Dad’s while I licked my wounds and saved up enough to open this place.”

“It’s impressive that you started again. It must be good to have that kind of support, to know that there’s a place you can always go to if things get rough.”

“It is,” Lucy said. “I think it’s easy to take it for granted though.”

“Children should always be able to take for granted that their parents will be there for them, even when they’re grown up,” Dylan said. He was turned away from her, frying some onions in a pan. There was something about the way he’d spoken that made Lucy feel a sudden urge to go over and give him a hug, but she wasn’t quite sure why, and that would be weird, so she forced herself to stay seated.

“Are you handling the smell of the cooking?” Dylan checked, breaking the tension that had developed. He added chicken to the pan.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks for checking,” Lucy said.

“Excellent,” Dylan replied. “I’m making a chicken pilaf. I figured it would be gentle on your stomach. Plus no dairy.”

“It smells good. Are you sure you won’t mind living in this little town?” Lucy asked, bringing the conversation round to a more comfortable topic.

“Nah, you know I can work from anywhere and I love this town. Having my best mate so close will be great. I should have moved back years ago, I just had something holding me back — stuff from childhood . . . but this is the best place to bring up a child, by the sea and with such a great community.”

“We’ll have people fighting over being allowed to babysit for us,” Lucy joked before realising that sounded like they would be going out together and feeling her cheeks flush.

“We will. I hope our baby is friends with Michael and Carrie’s.”

“They’re going to be so sweet playing together.”

“I just hope it doesn’t get too awkward when our baby is so much cuter and smarter than theirs!” Dylan lamented.

“Well, there’s not much we can do about that!” Lucy laughed. “Michael and Carrie are just going to have to deal with it.”

She laid places for them both at the island while Dylan finished off cooking. He served up the pilaf in two bowls, and handed one to Lucy.