Page 13 of Could It Be Magic?
‘Tristan, dear, could you just get the birthday girl’s cake out of my car for me?’ Lorelai smiled at her grandson. ‘It’s on the front passenger seat.’
‘Sure.’ Tristan strode out of the living room.
‘I hope she likes the cake,’ Lorelai whispered to Thea. ‘I was up icing it until gone midnight!’
‘Gran, you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.’
‘It was no trouble, darling. Honestly. Keeps my mind active, and goodness knows it needs to be.’ Lorelai gave Thea a warm smile. ‘You know I’d do anything for you and the children, don’t you.’
‘I know.’ Thea gave her grandmother a hug. ‘But don’t go overdoing it – we want you around for a few more years yet!’
‘I’m not going anywhere!’ Thea watched as her grandmother’s gaze shifted to Cora and Dylan, who were, for once, sitting side by side in relative harmony on the sofa.
‘Has their so-called father been in contact?’
Thea shook her head. ‘Nope. But that’s for the best. He’d only upset them if he did.’
‘Still, not even a card? I don’t know how he can just forget about them like that.’
‘I prefer it that way,’ Thea said, surprised at Lorelai’s line of thought. ‘Don’t you, after all he put us through?’
‘Well, yes, but after all this time, he might at least have sent his daughter a birthday card.’
‘And where would he send it? It’s not as if I gave him our address when we moved into this house. Some things are better left in the past, Gran.’
‘You’re right,’ Lorelai conceded. ‘I suppose I just can’t help feeling maudlin on days like this. We suffered so much loss as a family, and Ed just threw the life he had with you and the children away. I don’t understand it.’
Thea, who’d been through the reasons for the split with Ed a thousand times with Lorelai, didn’t immediately reply. She knew that Lorelai struggled to comprehend how someone could walk out on their children for the reasons that Ed did, but now wasn’t the time or the place to try, yet again, to help her to get her head around it. ‘Well, sometimes things just don’t work out, Gran, no matter how much you might want them to.’
Before Lorelai could reply, Tristan had returned from Lorelai’s car with a cake box. And behind him, looking extremely nervous to be intruding on such a family occasion, was Nick.
13
‘Sorry to just drop in,’ Nick said. ‘I was passing with a delivery and I suddenly remembered I needed to ask you something, if you’ve got a sec?’
‘No worries,’ Thea said, slightly too warmly for it to sound casual. She’d been caught off guard at the sight of Nick’s handsome face, and she tried to regain her equilibrium. ‘How can I help?’ Blushing at the ridiculousness of the question, remembering she was, in fact, in her own home and not behind the counter at the farm shop, she added hastily, ‘I mean, it’s good to see you. What brings you by on a Saturday afternoon?’
Nick had moved into the living room now, and closer to Thea’s side, as Tristan had, with an inquisitive glance at Thea, settled onto the sofa to help Cora with her continued attempts to get the Air Pods working with her phone.
Thea glanced at Tristan, and then at Lorelai and Charlotte. She hadn’t yet told any of them that she was working at Saints’ Farm Shop. She didn’t want to alert them to her worries about money and was hoping to keep it a secret while the second job lasted, at least until after Christmas. Her family would only try to ‘help’, and while their intentions were good, Thea had been used to solving her own problems for too long to accept their good intentions, or their loans. Her pride had a lot to do with it, too. After the humiliation she’d felt when Ed had left, she wanted to be able to stand on her own two feet.
‘Come into the kitchen,’ she said hurriedly, moving in that direction before he had the chance to say more. ‘And we’ll have a chat.’
‘I honestly didn’t mean to intrude,’ Nick said as she led him into the kitchen and closed the door behind them. ‘I can come back when you’re less busy.’
‘It’s fine.’ Thea gave him a quick smile. ‘It’s just that, er, my family don’t know I’ve picked up some extra work. If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather they didn’t find out just now.’
‘Of course.’ Nick’s expression registered confusion, but he didn’t ask why she might be keeping things quiet. ‘Your secret’s safe with me.’
‘Thanks.’ Thea relaxed fractionally. She looked at him directly for the first time since he’d arrived. The dark blue Saints Farm polo shirt really did suit him, setting off the beech-leaves-in-autumn coloured hair to perfection. And the way he’d shoved his hands in his pockets, possibly out of nerves, was endearing. ‘So, er, what was it you wanted to ask me?’
‘Well, this is a bit last minute,’ he said, ‘and I suppose I could have just sent you a WhatsApp, but I was wondering if you’d be free next Tuesday evening?’
Thea’s heart, only just calming down from Nick’s unexpected arrival, started to hammer again. She remembered how she’d kicked herself for turning him down when he’d asked her out for a drink last night.
‘Um, yes, I think so. What did you have in mind?’
Nick pulled a hand out of his pocket and ran it through his hair. ‘I meant to ask you this a lot earlier,’ he continued, ‘but we’ve been so busy that I just didn’t get the chance. If you can’t make it, that’s fine, but I thought, while I was passing I’d just pop in and ask?—’
