‘No,’ he said, although he’d got over the death of his parents and the trouble he’d subsequently had years ago.
‘So you’ve done pretty impressively too.’
Funny how the compliment warmed him. The novelty of a sign of approval after so many years of the opposite. Or maybe it was just the sun beating down on the thick fabric of his coat. ‘Thanks,’ he muttered.
She turned to look at him and her expression was questioning. ‘Why am I telling you all this anyway?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘Must be the brandy.’
‘Must be.’
‘I don’t need sorting out, you know.’
‘Of course you don’t.’
‘I don’t need rescuing.’
‘I know.’
She shot him a quick smile. ‘I definitely don’t need to see my father for at least a decade.’
‘A century, I should think.’
At the fountain that sat in the middle of the garden they turned left and carried on strolling down the path, passing raspberry nets and then runner-bean vines that wound up tall, narrow bamboo teepees before stopping at a bench that sat at the end of the path amidst the runner beans.
‘I’m sorry, Marcus,’ she said eventually.
He frowned, not needing her continued apology and not really liking it because, honestly, he preferred her fighting. ‘So you said.’
‘No, not about that,’ she said with a wave of her hand. ‘I me
an about the things I implied you were going to do with your time now you’d sold your business. It was totally childish of me to suggest that you’d be partying with floozies. Your plans sound great. Different. Interesting.’
‘I hope they will be.’
‘I was wrong about that and I was probably wrong about why you were late getting here too, wasn’t I?’
‘Yup.’
‘No trio of clingy lovers?’
‘Not even one.’
‘Shame.’
‘It was.’
‘So what happened?’
‘I was in Switzerland tying up a few last details surrounding the sale of my company but was due to fly back yesterday morning. I should have had plenty of time, but because of the ash cloud my flight was cancelled, as were hundreds of others. By the time I got round to checking, all the trains were fully booked and there wasn’t a car left to rent for all the cash in Switzerland.’
‘What did you do?’
‘Found a taxi driver who drove me to Calais. From there I got on the train to cross the Channel, rented a car in Dover and drove straight here.’
‘Oh.’ Celia frowned. ‘When did you sleep?’