Page 84 of The Christmas Holiday
I let out a sigh and turned. ‘Yes?’
‘It really wasn’t a criticism. I promise. I’m not doubting any of your abilities or any of the other thoughts careering through that brain of yours right now. People standing on theedges of cliffs always unsettles me a little.’ He pulled the beanie off this time and scrubbed his hand over his hair as he spoke. ‘And when that person is someone I…’ He stopped suddenly, looking past me out to sea.
‘Someone you what?’ I asked him.
‘Someone I work with,’ he finished quickly. ‘When it’s someone I work with, it makes me nervous. Something happens to you and the paperwork’sgoing to be a real pain in the arse.’
I rolled my eyes at him. ‘You really know how to make a girl feel special, don’t you?’ He caught me mid eye-roll and the unspoken thought that both of us knew he did in fact know exactly how to do just that hovered in the air between us. I cleared my throat and unnecessarily readjusted my scarf. ‘Anyway, I was... umm… just heading back in.’
‘Good plan.’He laid his hands gently on my shoulders and turned me around so I could see a huge black cloud rolling in from the sea, heading directly for the island. ‘I’m pretty sure that guy has another delivery of snow for us.’
‘Ah! Yes. It does rather look like that, doesn’t it?’ Through the padded thickness of my coat, I could still feel the weight of Hunter’s hands where they rested on my shoulders.‘How long until it gets here, do you think?’ I asked, turning back as he let his hands drop away.
‘We can beat it. You walk pretty fast for a short stuff.’
‘You know, I don’t particularly mind paperwork so I’ll happily chuck you over the cliff if you keep it up.’
His laugh broke the last tendrils of tension before it was carried away by the gathering wind, and he fell into step besideme as we turned back towards the hotel.
‘How are your family?’ I asked, hearing the hesitancy in my voice as I did so. When Hunter had accused me of thinking myself better than his mum, it had hurt deeply. I’d loved his family to pieces. It had only added to the emptiness I’d felt that day – not only had I lost the man I loved more than anything, or anyone, but I’d also had to cut the tiesto a family who had taken me to their hearts without question, and given me the loving, supportive experience I’d not had from my own. I’d never thought myself better than any of them. I loved them and, in contrast to what he’d accused me of, I admired the hell out of his mum for the amazing job she’d done of raising two boys who had grown up with good values and respect for the world, and the peoplein it. I desperately wanted to know about them, still missing the contact I’d once had with them. But I wasn’t sure if Hunter would be willing to open that door for me any more. As he’d said back at the cliff top, I was just someone with whom he worked.
‘They’re good, thanks. Actually,’ he glanced down at me, ‘I’m an uncle now.’
‘You are?’
He nodded, laughing, a broad smile softeningthe sharp planes of his face. ‘Jacob has a nine-month-old son and a four-year-old daughter. That was her on the phone back at Heathrow the day we left on the trip.’
I cast my mind back, remembering the way the tension had slid from him, the genuine smile he’d worn as he’d answered the phone and walked away from me. I’d been sure at the time that his caller was female, but I had to admit, thisscenario hadn’t even crossed my mind. He shifted his camera bag higher up his shoulder as we climbed a hill.
‘She likes to call when she knows I’m going on a trip to make sure I bring back plenty of pretty pictures for her. She hasn’t quite grasped the concept of commercial photography yet. I always make sure I take some just for her so that when she asks if I took them for her, I can honestlysay that I did.’
‘Did you take some especially today?’
‘Every day.’
I grinned up at him. ‘She has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn’t she?’
He waggled his head for a second. ‘Yeah. Pretty much.’
I laughed and he shrugged, his face showing that she might well have, but that he loved every moment.
‘Bella found out she was pregnant a few months after we broke up.She was pretty upset not to be able to share the news with you. You two had got pretty close.’ Hunter was right. His sister-in-law, Bella, and I had hit it off the moment we’d met and had spoken in some shape or form several times a week. His face clouded for a moment. ‘I’m sorry you lost that friendship because of what happened. Really. I know she wanted to contact you but she wasn’t sure if you’dreply and I think it would have hurt her more if you hadn’t than not contacting you in the first place.’
‘Honestly? I don’t know what I would have done. She was caught in the middle. Her first loyalty would be, and should be, to you. I didn’t want to make things any more difficult than they already were so I never picked up the phone either. I still miss her terribly.’
Hunter slid me aglance. ‘Kind of a mess, huh?’
‘I don’t think these things are ever easy.’
‘True.’
We walked a few more steps, each lost in our own thoughts before Hunter spoke again.
‘Man, I got some grief from them for breaking up with you.’ His eyes were on the horizon, and his mouth held the promise of a half-remembered smile.
‘To be fair, I had quite a lot to do with it.’
‘Yeah, Idid try to tell them that.’
