A Proposal to Remember

right, we’ll share the meal. But we’ll live to regret it. I’m willing to bet that someone is watching.’

‘Let them watch.’ Sam sprawled in a chair and lifted his beer, his eyes resting on the surf.

‘You used to hate all that. The fact that everyone knew everything about you,’ she reminded him, picking at an olive. ‘It was one of the reasons you couldn’t wait to go to London. You wanted to be anonymous.’ She laughed as she realised what she’d said. ‘Not that you’re exactly anonymous, Dr Hotshot.’

His eyes swivelled to hers. ‘I’m just a normal, everyday kind of guy.’

‘I hate to disillusion you, but you’ve never been normal, McKenna.’ She took another olive, admired its shiny blackness before popping it into her mouth. ‘Arrogant, self-assured and wrong about virtually everything. Never normal. These olives are good. What exactly does Hilda do to them?’

‘No idea, but they’re always sold by lunch-time so it must be something special. How long has my dad been struggling?’

The swift change of subject threw her, just as he’d known it would. ‘Most of last winter,’ she admitted finally, dropping an olive stone onto her empty plate. ‘He had a chest infection in October that he just couldn’t throw off. After that he just seemed to slow down. I kept hoping he’d pick up but he never did.’

‘Damn.’ Sam stretched long legs in front of him. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t notice. He just seemed the same to me.’

Anna stared across the beach. ‘That’s the strange thing about parents. You see them the way you think they are—the way they’ve always been—rather than the way they really are. I remember it took me ages to realise how ill Dad was. To me he was just Dad. And then I came home from university one holiday and for a moment I saw him as other people must see him. And I realised he’d aged. And lost weight. And grown old somewhere along the way. I just hadn’t noticed.’

She felt a wave of emotion swamp her and blinked several times to clear her vision. No matter how much time passed, she still missed her parents.

‘I remember that time. You walked around the whole holiday looking like a ghost.’ Sam watched her across the table. ‘That was a hard time for you, losing your dad and your mum so close together.’

‘Neither of them would have been any good without the other, so it was probably for the best,’ Anna said gruffly, turning her attention back to her plate, ‘and I got through. Your parents were brilliant.’

‘You’ve always been the daughter they never had.’

Their gazes locked and Anna’s eyes narrowed as a thought entered her head. ‘McKenna, you don’t think— I mean, they wouldn’t…’

He didn’t pretend to misunderstand her. ‘They’re as capable of matchmaking as everyone else in the village, so I suppose it’s possible.’

She put her fork down with a clatter. ‘But they know us so well. They know that we clash, that we drive each other nuts—that we just couldn’t—’

‘Couldn’t we?’ He reached for the pepper, a strange light in his eyes as he glanced towards her. ‘Just as well they didn’t see that kiss the other night.’

Her heart hammered her ribcage. ‘We agreed not to talk about that.’

‘Your rules, Riggs. I’m willing to talk about it any time you like. And go for a repeat performance.’

Her pulse jumped and she took some sensible breaths. ‘That would be ridiculous.’

‘Would it? Why?’

‘Because we are completely and totally wrong for each other,’ she snapped, ‘and that kiss was a mistake.’

‘You didn’t enjoy it?’

‘What do you want me to say?’ She glared at him. ‘That you’re good at kissing? Yes, you’re good at kissing. Yes, I enjoyed it. But it wasn’t real.’

‘Felt real enough to me.’

‘Look, McKenna…’ She took a deep breath and struggled with her patience and the rush of unfamiliar feelings inside her. ‘We’d managed to get through a whole evening without killing each other, I’d drunk champagne, which always goes to my head, the atmosphere was gooey, it was dark…’ She ladled on the excuses and he studied her carefully.

‘You want me to kiss you in daylight when you’re sober, just to test that theory?’

‘You’re being deliberately annoying.’ She stood up and picked up the empty plate. ‘I’ll get the seafood pie.’

Of course she didn’t want him to test the theory.

She didn’t want him to touch her again.