Page 52 of The Summer Swap

Cecilia squeezed his arm. “You can stay. And you don’t need to wedge yourself into the sofa and give yourself a backache. You can take the master bedroom.”

“The master?”

“The master, and no questions.”

“All right. If you’re sure.” But his gaze lingered on her face and then shifted to Lily, as if he was hoping to find answers there.

Lily couldn’t think of anything except the fact that he was no longer with Amelie.

“I’m going to bed,” she said. “Early start tomorrow and I’m tired.”

But being tired didn’t help her sleep.

An hour passed. And then another hour. She turned over in the bed, then turned over again and checked the time on her phone. She counted how much time she had left to sleep before the alarm woke her. Not enough.

But still she didn’t sleep. Her mind was too active. She was too hot. She plumped the pillow, turned it to the cool side and tried a different position. The breeze and the sound of the sea wafted through the skylights.

She lay there, wide-awake, thinking about Amelie and Todd, and then just about Todd. And herself. And why people had to fall in love with the wrong person.

She wanted to know what had happened. Or did she? What if Todd was brokenhearted and that was why he was here?

Irritated with herself, knowing that she was never going to sleep if she carried on lying there, she slid out of bed. She might as well get up, go outside and see if that helped.

Trying not to make a noise, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and headed downstairs.

She tiptoed across the room, opened the door and stepped onto the porch.

She stood for a moment, breathing in the night air and the scent of the ocean. Then she walked to the beach.

The sand was cool under her feet, and she walked almost to the water’s edge. The moon sent slivers of silver across the water. She stared out to sea and imagined the early explorers navigating the shoreline and the shifting sands. The seabed in this area was littered with shipwrecks.

She felt a little like that herself. She’d been forging ahead, trying to navigate the storms of life, and suddenly she’d hit a sandbank and sunk.

She sat down on the sand, arms hooked around her knees.

One thing she knew for certain was that she couldn’t stay here for much longer. She’d swapped her old life for this new life, but it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be forever. She needed to do something to earn money.

“Lily?”

His voice came from behind her and she turned, dismayed.

She hadn’t expected or wanted company.

“I’m sorry if I woke you.” There was enough light from the moon to be able to see him.

“You didn’t. I couldn’t sleep. Too much going on in my head.” He’d pulled on track pants, and his T-shirt was a pale faded blue, washed until it barely held together. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He sat down next to her, close but not touching. “Maybe because you’re sitting on a beach at two o’clock in the morning when I happen to know from my grandmother that your alarm goes off at five thirty.”

The thought made her wince. “I like it out here. It’s special.”

“I’m not arguing with that.” He paused. “I didn’t expect to see you here. How long have you known my grandmother?”

She was too tired to field awkward questions. “I met her once when I was with Hannah. It must have been around ten years ago.”

“So how did you come to be staying here with her?”

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