Page 3 of Strawberry Moon
“Are you sad?”
“Are you nosy?” I ask. They both ignore me.
“Not really,” Harry says after a second’s consideration. “More mortified.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be,” I immediately protest.
He looks at me, one eyebrow raised. “Really?”
“Absolutely not. It’s not your fault that your ex has the personality of a pickled onion.”
He laughs. “Well, I won’t really miss that. Only…”
“What?” Grandad asks.
“Oh well, we were due to go to my family for a couple of days. It’s my cousin’s wedding and they were going to meet James for the first time.”
“You were introducing him to yourparents? Was it that serious?” My heart sinks.
“Oh no. It’s not that.” He hesitates.
I look at him encouragingly. In my family we talk about everything, so it’s a familiar expression.
He finally says, “It’s just that my family have encountered some of my previous men, and it hasn’t gone well.”
“Did you introduce them to Claude?” I ask sympathetically. “Fisting was the only subject he really got enthusiastic about, and I bet that didn’t translate well to after-dinner conversation.”
“Peoplewererather reluctant to shake hands afterwards.”
I snort. “So?”
“Lad, just let him talk without interrupting,” my grandad says.
Harry sighs. “Just once I would have liked to have gone to a family wedding with someone my family would actually like.”
“Is that important?” my grandad asks, his eyes very intent.
He shrugs. “I’d never let family disapproval sway me from someone I had strong feelings about, but I happen to actually like my family, and it would be nice to take someone home that they’d get on with.”
“And you thought James was it?” I say incredulously. “He had a fit if the newspaper around his chips was folded wrong.”
“You need a younger man,” my grandad says calmly.
My boss blinks, and I freeze in horror.
“Oh, yes?” Harry says, graciously ignoring this rude intrusion into his private business. “You think so?”
My grandad nods. “Someone kind and warm. Not like that drama queen who just left. He could make a four-act play out of putting some toast on.”
“Oh Lord, please take me now,” I say, looking up at the ceiling. “I promise I’ll make a super-sparkly addition to heaven.”
Harry chuckles and pats me on the shoulder. My shoulder’s slender, and his hand is big and so warm I can feel it through the thin cotton of my T-shirt.
“He’s probably right about his dating advice,” Harry says.
I bat my eyelashes. “Really?” I breathe. “You’d go for someone younger?”
He steps back. “I meant the warm and kind bit. Young probably wouldn’t be a good idea.”
