“And Aiden, what about him?” Ember asked, as though she could read her mind. “Did the two of you talk about his relationship with Nick? Where he sees it going?” Have you decided when you’re going to tell Nick he’s his uncle?”
“We haven’t discussed it properly.” Brooke glanced over at the closed living room door. There was no way she wanted Nick to hear this conversation. Not yet. If or when she told him about his father and the Black family, it wasn’t going to be like this. Thankfully, he’d been asleep for hours, long before Ally and Ember had arrived, and he always slept like a log. “Nick was with us at lunch on Sunday, and he’ll be there when we visit the resort tomorrow.”
“You’re seeing him again?” Ally’s eyes widened. “Doesn’t that make it two weekends in a row?”
“He promised to show Nick the diggers on the construction site. He can only do it on the weekend – when there’s no building work going on. It’s too dangerous otherwise.”
Ember smirked but said nothing.
“What’s that expression for?”
Ember shook her head, the smile still curling her lips.
“You think there’s something more going on?” Brooke asked. “Because there isn’t. I know we had a thing years ago, but that’s old news.”
“Yep, sure. You keep telling yourself that. And if you believe it, you’re more gullible than I thought. You guys were in love. It was the romance of the century. He disappeared and you could hardly drag yourself out of bed for weeks. We were so concerned about you, weren’t we, Ally? We used to call each other every night, and discuss our concerns for you. About how you hadn’t eaten anything and were fading away to nothing. So don’t tell me this is old news, because some things are way too huge to die.”
Brooke’s mouth fell open. “You guys used to call each other and talk about me?” Tears stung at her eyes. “You’re so lovely.”
“You’re our friend,” Ember said, taking her hand. “Jeez, how long has it been now? More than twenty years since we first met.”
“And because we’re friends, we can tell you when you’re lying to yourself,” Ally pointed out. “Even if it makes you hate us a bit.”
“I don’t hate you,” Brooke said. “I think you’re seeing something that’s not there. And even if it is there, I need to ignore it. My life is complicated enough as it is. I don’t need anything else to worry about right now.”
“Be careful,” Ally warned. “The last time you said something like that, you ended up pregnant with Nick.
A curve ball like that was exactly what Brooke was afraid of.
* * *
“This is wonderful,” Brooke said, as she watched Nick climbing into the cab. “Thank you so much for organizing this. When you said you’d show him the diggers I thought he’d be looking at them. I had no idea he’d be able to drive one.”
Aiden shrugged. ?
?When I told Paul about Nick and his fascination for the machines, he offered to demonstrate. He’s fully trained and a good guy. He won’t let Nick do anything to put him in danger.”
“I know that.” Brooke nodded. “He’s so excited. I’ll never hear the end of it. You’re fast becoming his favorite person.” She turned her head to look at him. He was smiling back at her, the skin around his eyes crinkled up. And that’s when it hit her like a sandstorm in a desert.
They were standing close. Too close. And it was firing up all the nerve endings beneath her skin, making her flesh tingle. Even that night on her deck they hadn’t been this close to each other. Their arms hadn’t been touching, his hand hadn’t brushed against hers. But now they were and it was as though all the years were melting away. He only had to smile at her and she was a sixteen-year-old girl again, giddy and high on the first flush of love.
Stop it, Brooke. She took in a deep breath of air, but it did nothing to calm her overheated skin. From the corner of her eye she could see him still looking at her, and it made her heart race.
This was all Ember’s fault. Ember’s and Ally’s. That stupid talk last night when they’d raised their eyebrows at her coming here. They’d told her there was more to this day than she’d thought. That the old news between her and Aiden might not have been so old after all.
Paul started the engine up, the digger rumbling noisily as he showed Nick which levers to push. Beneath his small, yellow hard hat, her son looked delighted. He laughed with joy when he managed to make the scoop rise up.
And for a moment she let herself smile, too. Even let herself imagine what life might have been like if Aiden really had been Nick’s father. Would they have been standing here together before driving home and making lunch. Maybe they’d read him a story every night, and Aiden would pour her a glass of wine and they’d drink it on the deck, exchanging stories of their day before heading up to bed.
To bed? Damn, she really was blushing now.
She was being stupid. Of all people, she should know where day dreaming got you. Because he wasn’t her husband and he wasn’t Nick’s father. She was the girl who’d spun off the rails so fast they were all still barely hanging on from it.
“This place is really coming along,” she said, her voice wobbly. “How long until you think it will be ready?”
Everywhere she looked they were surrounded by building materials. Blocks of sandstone bricks piled high, pinned into place by wire fences. Sacks and sacks of bond and concrete. And a whole load of red roof tiles covered in plastic sheeting, waiting to be moved to the right place.
“It’s going to take a while,” he admitted, shielding his eyes from the sun. “We had some delays with orders, so we’ve eaten into our contingency time. I’m hoping to have it ready to be open before next Christmas.”