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“I know,” Sam said to Omar, the hint of a waver behind his voice. “She’s one of a kind.”

“Anyway,” Maya said, flipping her hair in order to cover her discomfort. “Enough about my attributes for one evening.”

“Sam,” Yvonne interjected, and Maya nearly kissed her mother for sweeping in. “Would you like to come for dinner at the weekend? It’d be nice to all eat together. And hopefully by then Hana will be feeling better.”

“I’d love to, thanks, Mrs. B. I mean—Yvonne,” Sam finished quickly. If he’d clocked that her dad hadn’t extended the same courtesy of requesting to be called by his first name, then Sam didn’t let on.

They finished their tea with Yvonne making small talk and Omar interjecting with short responses, and then Sam stood. “Thanks very much for the tea, and the dinner invite. I’ll leave you good people to it.”

Maya followed him out of the kitchen, closing the door behind them. She took his hand again as they walked down the hallway to the front door, leaning in for a kiss. “Sorry about Dad.”

Sam put his arms around her. “He just wants what’s best for you.” He kissed her again, but there was a sad look in his eyes, and Maya regretted that she’d told him about her dad’s resentment. But she had felt it better to forearm him, and it made the fact that he’d turned up out of the blue even more heartwarming.

“Hey,” she said, lifting her hands to his face. “You know that was all bluster, don’t you? All the ‘my daughter is set to jet off and save the world’ crap?”

Bumping his nose against hers, he smiled. “It’s just that sometimes I think he’s right. Maybe you belong away in a big city somewhere, crunching numbers for a big firm and raking it in, not stuck here with me mucking around on the slopes.”

Maya pulled him in, kissing him so deeply that she hoped he could taste what she really wanted, and the way in which he was imprinted upon her heart. “I’m going nowhere, buddy. So get used to it.”

He smiled against her mouth, and guilt stabbed in her chest that she hadn’t told her dad how she really felt about her future.

She pulled back to meet his eyes. “You know what’s weird?”

“What?”

“It’s weird how this isn’t weird at all. We loved each other, then we hated each other. Now we’ve only been friends for a few weeks, but last night felt as if it was meant to be.”

Sam reached over to squeeze her hand. “I know. I kind of feel like the last eight years never happened.” He grinned. “And for the record, I didn’t hate you. I just didn’t like you that much. But unfortunately for me, I still fancied the arse off you.”

Maya laughed. “Same.”

Sam’s phone buzzed, and he lifted it out of his pocket. “It’s Vicky. She’s all settled in Inverness.” His face fell as he seemed to catch himself. “You remember me mentioning my friend Vicky? She took the kids’ classes before you did? And the message is really from both her and her fiancé, Gary. Do you remember me saying that they moved to Inverness?” He was speaking so quickly that she had to concentrate to catch the individual words.

Maya raised her eyebrows, trying to keep up with his fast-moving speech and attempting to fathom why he appeared panicked. “Yeah, I remember. I’ve heard she was a great teacher.” Taking both his hands, she met his gaze. “Are you okay? Was there something to worry about in her message?”

Sam hesitated, appearing thrown. “No, everything is good. They’re doing great.”

Maya nodded, trying to work him out. “Then why are you so panicky?”

Sam took a breath. “I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. You know, about me getting a text from a woman.”

Maya looked at him for a moment, still lost. “Get the wrong idea . . . about a friend messaging you?”

He glanced down. “Yeah.”

She raised her eyebrows, things falling into place. He thought she’d be jealous. “Sam. There’s nothing wrong with friends messaging each other.”

He lifted his head to meet her eyes again.

She smiled. “So don’t expect me to give you a commentary every time Brodie and Ben message me, because I can’t be arsed.”

Sam laughed, and it sounded very much like relief. “No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He gave her another kiss, then stepped away to open the door, and she waved him off into his car.

Shutting the door, she headed quickly into her room, pulling out her phone to video call Liv.

She appeared on-screen, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Good morrow, Miss Maya.”

“Miss O, good morrow to you too. Listen, I need your twin psychic ability.”