Page 68 of The Summer Swap

“I think precisely because it was a special place. It felt tainted. We were trying to move on, and I associated the cottage with her. With betrayal and lies. I wanted him to sell it. He promised me he had.”

“Given that the cottage is still there and you’re staying in it, I’m assuming he didn’t. And in the spirit of honesty, I must confess that in my opinion selling something so special would have been a terrible thing.”

“At the time the terrible thing was discovering that he hadn’t. That he’d lied to me again. Rebuilding the trust after the affair wasn’t easy. This felt like another betrayal.”

“I can imagine.” He drank the water. “When did you find out?”

“After he died.” She thought back to the day the lawyer had given her the envelope. “He left me a note and a key.”

Seth gave a low whistle. “He kept it? Why?”

“Obviously my first thought was that he was using it as some sort of love nest, but I’ve discovered since that the cottage has never been used. No one has stayed there.”

“But he had it maintained.”

“Yes. For all those years.”

He put his cup down. “What do your family think?”

“They don’t know. No one knows about my connection to the cottage, apart from the lawyer and now Lily, who was caretaking the place.”

“Lily is your artist?”

“How did you guess that?”

“Your protective tone. Why didn’t you tell your family?”

“They didn’t know the cottage existed, and it would have been impossible to tell them about it without revealing parts of our relationship history that I didn’t want to reveal. I thought I could come back without anyone knowing. But I didn’t really think it through. It was naive of me to think I could hide it.” She sighed. “Yesterday, my grandson showed up to check on me. He tracked my phone, which was a possibility that hadn’t occurred to me.”

“Why would he feel the need to check on you?”

“Because he was concerned. I disappeared from my own party, you see. Or rather, I didn’t exactly disappear as much as leave. But I told no one where I was going.”

“You wanted to come here on your own.”

“Exactly. I knew that if I told them about this place, someone would insist on being with me and this was something I had to do by myself. I didn’t know how I’d feel.”

“And how did you feel?”

She thought about the smashed frames. The broken glass. “Emotional. I was angry. I came here intending to do what Cameron should have done—sell the place.”

“And now?”

“Now?” She took a sip of water and stared out to sea. “Now I don’t know. I was angry, but when I discovered no one had used it, I felt better. I don’t understand why he didn’t tell me about it, but I do know he wasn’t using it as a place to entertain women. Knowing that changed the way I felt. It helped. Talking to you has helped, too. You’ve made me remember things that perhaps I’d forgotten. Talking to you has given me some clarity.”

She’d been determined to sell the cottage, but now she wasn’t sure. She felt a tug of regret. They’d had happy times there. Was that why Cameron had been unable to sell it?

“You don’t need to decide right away, surely? There’s no hurry.” He took her hand again and she felt a flush of warmth as she stared down at their locked fingers.

“It’s been years, Seth.”

“So? A friendship isn’t measured by time, it’s measured by depth of feeling. My feelings for you haven’t changed.” He tightened his grip on her hand. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

“We’ve just had lunch.”

“So? You’ll be hungry again by dinnertime.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

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