Page 43 of The Summer Swap

“What?” Lily put her fork down. “No. I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true, although I’m sharing this in confidence, obviously. He suffered terribly, particularly at the beginning, when his career took off.” There had been a reason for that, of course, but she wasn’t going to share that with Lily. “The point I’m making, is that many people suffer from imposter syndrome. The thing that matters most is that you don’t let it stop you doing things. Are you proud of your work?”

Lily spooned sauce onto her salmon. “I enjoy doing it. I sometimes like what I produce. Not always. I feel like less of an imposter when I’m painting than I did when I was a medical student, so I suppose that’s something.”

“Maybe after we’ve eaten you could show me just one of your paintings.” Cecilia focused on her food. “Now tell me about your day.”

Lily took a sip from her glass of iced water. “I spent most of it trying to scrub tomato sauce from white cabinets. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have known a family of six could make so much mess. This bread is from the new French patisserie near the marina, by the way. They’d just pulled it from the oven when I was cycling past, and the smell was incredible. I couldn’t resist.”

“I can see why.” Cecilia spread the bread with creamy butter. She noticed that Lily was eating more than she had been at the beginning of the week. “How does tomato end up on cabinets? That’s a story I need to hear.”

“According to the mother, who stayed just long enough to apologize for the mess, they were making homemade pizza.” Lily picked up her fork. “Judging from the amount I scrubbed off the walls, not much of it made it onto the pizza. I suspect they ate wood-fired dough. It has put me off ever having kids. I’m thinking I might settle for a dog instead.”

“Dogs can be as messy as kids. And they chew more.”

“Okay, then, maybe I’ll have a rabbit.” Lily finished her salmon.

Cecilia laughed. “Your partner might not go for that.”

“No partner.” Lily put her fork down. “Just me.”

“For now.”

“Probably forever.”

“You’ve been hurt?” She felt a flash of sympathy because she knew exactly how that felt.

Love could be sweet, but it could also sting.

“Yes, but it was nobody’s fault but mine. No drama there. No one to blame.” Lily nibbled some bread. “I fell in love with someone who didn’t share my feelings. I basically messed up my choice of job, and my choice of man. I’m winning at life.”

The flippant tone didn’t fool Cecilia. You didn’t have to be a psychologist to see that Lily had been through a tough time.

“You’re here,” she pointed out. “This was one of your choices. And that seems to be working out.”

Lily sat back. “That’s true. Now it’s your turn to tell me about your day.”

Her day?

She’d spent far too long thinking about the past, but she wasn’t going to admit that when Lily was trying so hard to make the cottage more welcoming for Cecilia.

“My day was productive. I cleared the second bedroom and the attic.”

“Oh, well done. Not the master?”

“No.” Cecilia spooned more sauce onto her plate. “Not yet.” And she felt like a coward for not doing it.

Lily leaned forward. “I could help with that if you’d like me to. When my grandpa died, I helped my gran clear out his things. She found it so upsetting. It might help to have someone do it with you.”

“You’re very kind.” If there was one thing she dreaded more than going into that room, it would be having someone with her to witness her distress.

Lily was looking at her. “Or I could do it for you if you prefer. I could pile the personal stuff into a box, and you could go through it separately on your own, when you feel up to it.”

She’d never met anyone as intuitive as Lily.

“I don’t know what’s in that room, but I don’t want to keep any of it. Not a single thing.” She said it with far more emotion than she’d intended, perhaps because Lily had already been so open with her, and she braced herself for the inevitable questions.

But Lily simply nodded. “In that case, why not let me clear it out? And why don’t I freshen the whole room while I’m at it? I could change the bedding. The cover in there is old-fashioned. Maybe a fresh coat of paint on the walls. We could give everything a modern, beachy feel.”

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