‘Whatever,’ her sister said, flouncing off to the sink and leaving Jennifer to head for her shower unscathed, her plan to put some much-needed distance between her and Marcus occupying her mind.
The question was, would he agree to it?
And would it be enough?
* * *
It turned out that the longest week had nothing on the weekend. Two days without her and Marcus had the oddest feeling of what it was like to actually miss someone.
He owed her. He’d spent two days playing the perfect grandson, making up for lost time, being ribbed by his grandmother and led astray by his grandfather down at the local pub. It had felt good. Really good. And some strange cloud had lifted over his past.
Still, none of it truly explained why he was currently standing outside King’s Cross Station waiting for her train to come in. Not when he should be sitting at his desk getting some much-needed work done.
When Anna had told him Jennifer’s train had been delayed, that she’d been stuck stationary for over an hour and was going out of her mind, he’d offered to collect her out of the goodness of his heart.
Whatever.
Yes, there’d been an element of that, but the truth came down to a multitude of reasons—some he barely understood. He wanted to thank her, he wanted to see her—badly—and he wanted her answer. He craved that above all else.
He prayed he’d imagined the weird mood she’d left in, but when Anna had told him she didn’t want to be collected it had stirred up his worry and made him all the more determined to go.
And he’d not come empty-handed. She’d grumbled to Anna about the coffee on board and he’d already learnt how much she liked her caffeine fix. Cue him, two coffees in hand, his eyes skimming the crowd for her unmistakable red mane in the flurry of people.
He spotted her as soon as she emerged, her hair once more pinned up, her face distracted as she towered above the majority of those around her. And then she spotted him, her eyes narrowing, her face becoming set.
Ah, hell, she looked pissed off.
She wove through the masses towards him, her beige trench coat tied snugly to her waist, her jaw-dropping walk unhindered by the trolley suitcase she towed or the hefty handbag hooked over her shoulder.
‘I told Anna to tell you not to come,’ she said, as soon as she was within earshot.
He grinned. He couldn’t help it. The fighter in her just got him every time. ‘And I told Anna that it made sense for me to collect you—and you can’t tell me you’re not happy to see this.’
He held out the coffee and his keen eye detected the minute semblance of a smile as she took it from him. ‘On that you’re right.’
She sounded weary, and now she was close he could see the shadows under her eyes, the stress lines he hadn’t noticed before creasing her brow.
His grin became a frown. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m good,’ she said, taking another sip. ‘Or I will be when this caffeine takes effect.’
He didn’t believe her. But standing outside a busy station trying to get to the bottom of it wasn’t going to work.
‘Here—let me take that.’
He moved to take her suitcase but she twisted to block him. ‘I can manage just fine.’
‘Ah, yes—sorry, I forgot.’ He backed away, palms raised. ‘Modern world and all that.’
She gave an unexpected laugh, the melodic sound warming him through—it felt good that he could still coax a laugh from her when she was clearly suffering in some way.
‘Colin’s not far away,’ he said. ‘Shall we go?’
‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather take a short walk first,’ she said, her lids lowering as she faced the wind, one hand smoothing over her hair. ‘After being stuck on that train I’d like to get some fresh air and stretch my legs.’
‘Of course. We’ll drop your bags with Colin on the way.’
‘You don’t need to come wi—’