Page 17 of Strawberry Moon
I scramble off the bed and follow him as he strides to the door. He flings it open and puts out a hand to stop his mum faceplanting. She’s taken off her painting overall and is nowwearing a blue-and-white patterned evening dress that sweeps the floor. It looks expensive, but I notice the paint splatters on it with a smile. She’s made an effort to braid her hair, but strands are already making an escape.
“What emergency?” Harry demands.
She waves her hand. “Well, not really an emergency but we’ve got to sort it out. Your grandfather’s been arrested again.”
“What?” he says.
“Again?” I ask.
She smiles at me. “It happens once a month. Sometimes more if England aren’t doing well at the cricket.”
I can’t think how to respond, but Harry is obviously made of sterner stuff. “What’s he done now?”
“The community transport bus arrived to pick up his neighbour for a hospital appointment, but they couldn’t get up the neighbour’s drive because someone had parked across it.”
“Oh god,” Harry sighs with resignation.
She grimaces. “The police took a teeny bit of a dim view of him hitting the offending car with his walking stick. He smashed two windows before they could get it off him.”
I bite my lip hard to hold in the laugh waiting to come out. “Ohdear,”I say demurely.
Harry smiles crookedly at me. “You can dial the astonishment down, Clem. This doesn’t even count as bad behaviour to you.”
“True.”
He chuckles and his mum looks between us with a smile. “Anyway, your dad and I have got to go and get him out of the pokey. I’ve made a lasagne. It’s in the Aga and should be ready about fiveish. Help yourselves, because I don’t know what time we’ll be back. Last week when we visited him, he made your dad watch a recording of our win over the Windies.” She gives me asmile laced with a lot of Harry’s charm. “So sorry we’re leaving on your first night, Clem.”
I shrug. “Family comes first.”
Her smile brightens and then with a wave she vanishes down the stairs. We hear the murmur of voices and then the front door slams and silence descends.
I turn to face Harry and shake my head.
“What?” he asks.
“NowI know why you get on with my grandad so well.”
He smiles and takes a step towards me making my heart thud. However, before he reaches me, he stops. “Shower’s all yours,” he says evenly.
“What?”
His lip twitches. “The thing that gets you wet is all yours.”
“How come when you say it, it sounds dirtier?”
“It’s a knack.” He grins. “Go and get changed. I want to take you out.”
“You do?” I say in far too breathy a voice.
He drifts a little closer. “I thought I’d take you for dinner.”
That sounds very much like a date to my hopeful heart, but I know if I were to say that, he’d beat Roadrunner in a race to exit the bedroom.
“Would you like that?”
I realise he’s still waiting for my answer. “I amveryokay with that idea,” I say firmly.
His eyes sparkle and he’s so handsome and golden in the late afternoon light that I can’t take my gaze off him. “Well then,” he says in a hoarse voice. “Go and get changed. I’ll deal with my mum’s dinner.”
