This Could Change Everything(108)

Oh God, he smelled completely delicious, of lemons and limes and sunshine.

‘Wait and see.’ She kissed him on the mouth once more. ‘I’ll tell you if I’m right.’

Twenty minutes later, after Conor had reluctantly left for work, she made her way across the square. The Red House wasn’t open yet. When Lucas opened the door to her, he took a step back and double-checked his watch.

‘It’s only ten thirty. You’re half an hour early.’

‘I know. I want to talk to you.’ She followed him inside. ‘In private.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘About what?’

‘Be patient. Here.’ She opened the folder, took out the two photos and laid them side by side on the bar. ‘Take a look. Tell me what you see.’

They had been taken here in the bar last Sunday evening. The first photo was of Brendan and Caz, their heads both thrown back with laughter because Caz had just made a racy comment about a courgette. The second one, featuring the man holding his beloved rescue dog, captured the moment the dog had reached up and enthusiastically licked his ear.

But it wasn’t the subjects in the foreground that had caught Scarlett’s attention, and she knew at once, discreetly observing Lucas, that he had seen it too. Like her, he’d zoned in on the people in the background.

In the first photo, there he was behind the bar, and there were Essie and Zillah standing several feet away, having dropped in for a quick drink because Zillah had complained that she was going stir crazy at home. Essie was looking at Zillah, whilst Lucas’s gaze was fixed on Essie, and the expression on his face was almost heartbreaking in its intensity.

In the second photograph, Lucas was serving one of their regulars and Essie, this time standing alone, was watching him with an almost identical look of longing in her eyes.

It had been two chances in a million, but Conor had unwittingly managed to capture them both.

Was that serendipity, or what?

Because right now, it certainly felt like it.

Scarlett looked at Lucas in his white cotton shirt and black jeans, with his dark hair falling into his eyes and a muscle going in his jaw as he continued to avoid her gaze.

Finally he exhaled. ‘What’s she told you?’

Which instantly made her want to make up something outrageous and trick him into confessing all. But no, he hadn’t denied it, she mustn’t do that. Instead, with absolute honesty, she said, ‘She’s told me nothing at all. Which is what makes it so interesting, because Essie’s my best friend and she always tells me everything.’

‘Maybe there’s nothing to tell.’ But this was so clearly a hypothetical suggestion that all Scarlett had to do was glance down at the photos laid out on the bar, then up again at Lucas.

He blinked first.

‘So, I’m right. I think you should tell me what’s been going on. Were you seeing each other before Scotland?’ Surely not, though. ‘Or was that when it happened? Oh wow . . .’

‘Nothing’s happened.’ Lucas shook his head. ‘Before or after Scotland. Look, can we change the subject?’

Was he serious?

‘I’m sorry, but we need to talk about this. We have to. You and Giselle broke up, then Essie finished with Paul, which I was delighted about, by the way. So I don’t get it.’ Scarlett frowned. ‘If you two are crazy about each other, which you clearly are . . . well, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t . . . Aaahh.’ She nodded as light dawned. ‘It’s to do with Zillah, isn’t it? That’s why Essie was so guilty . . . I get it now.’

‘She felt guilty?’ Lucas looked taken aback.

‘Hello! Have you not seen what she’s been like with Zillah? No, I don’t suppose you have.’ She pulled a face. ‘Honestly, though. She’s like a cross between a bodyguard and a baby koala. She feels terrible about not being there when Zillah was ill, and we keep telling her it wasn’t her fault, but she still blames herself because she just feels so guilty and ashamed . . . and that’s why she won’t leave Zillah on her own,’ Scarlett concluded with a triumphant jab of her finger. ‘Which is driving Zillah completely nuts, by the way.’

‘Right.’ Lucas nodded, just a bit. He was looking pretty stunned.

‘Did you really not know?’

‘I assumed she’d had second thoughts about me.’

‘But she didn’t actually tell you that.’

‘Well, no, but . . .’

Honestly, some men. ‘How much have you two said to each other about this?’

‘Nothing,’ said Lucas.

Scarlett surveyed him with fascination. ‘And how much does she mean to you?’

‘Oh God.’ He exhaled heavily. ‘Everything. And I can’t believe I just told you that. This isn’t the way things usually are for me.’

She smiled, because Lucas was so good-looking and normally so confident that discovering his unconfident side was quite the revelation. Practically every female who met him fell under his spell, but only in that fantasy out-of-reach kind of way you’d fancy someone like Hugh Jackman or Chris Hemsworth.

Yet somehow she just knew instinctively that this time he had met his match.

‘Time to have that talk with Essie,’ she told him kindly. Oh, and she fully intended to take all the credit for this, once it was sorted out.