Page 93 of Just Say Yes
‘Of course,’ I said, lifting Bod up and laughing as he snuggled in for more cuddles, his tail wagging madly. I glanced over at Lorcan, the dog’s antics for the moment breaking the tension that had slid between us.
‘Told you he’d missed you,’ he said as he opened the door for us and I clambered in, busying myself with fussing the little dog as Lorcan strode round to the driver’s side and slid the seat back in order to get in. ‘It’s actually pretty roomy in here. I thought I’d be ducking.’
‘I know. Great, huh? So cute.’
He turned the key. ‘It is. You should get one next time. It suits you.’
Forcing myself to try and forget our spat, I smiled up at him. ‘A few more weddings like this one, and maybe I will. Assuming it goes well, of course. If it doesn’t, I think I’ll be walking for ever more.’
‘Relax. It’s going to be just fine.’
32
‘I don’t like him,’ Lorcan said as we drove away from the castle after I’d finally managed to pin down the photographer for a quick meet and greet. Calum had then insisted we stay for a cup of tea, taking advantage of a moment of calm in the planning, before we headed back to Lorcan’s mum’s house.
‘You don’t have to like him.’
‘You don’t like him either.’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t have to. I’m good at reading body language,’ he stated. Somehow that wasn’t too hard to believe.
‘Fine,’ I agreed. ‘I don’t like him either. But it doesn’t matter. All I have to do is make sure he does a good job with the photographs.’
‘He’s shifty.’
‘Maybe it’s nerves. He’s not done anything this big before. I think he’s hoping it will help his portfolio.’
‘It won’t help yours if he cocks up.’
‘Yes. Thank you for that insightful comment,’ I snapped.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean…’ He ran a hand back through his hair, the soft black waves parting as he did so. ‘I just don’t want him messing anything up for these two after the first debacle and… I know how hard you’ve worked on this and what it means to you, in more ways than one.’
I nodded. ‘Yes. I know. And I appreciate all of that. I just need to keep an eye on him.’
‘We.’
I looked up at him and a small smile curved my lips, a feeling of warmth curling its way through my body at the sincere tone of support issued in that one word.
‘We,’ I agreed.
* * *
‘There you are, now.’ Maria O’Malley came hurrying towards me as we returned to Lorcan’s family home having seen the photographer and done our best, unsuccessfully, not to judge him. ‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to greet you properly yesterday. The perils of being a grandma. Always on call for emergency babysitting.’ I could see now where Lorcan got his eyes and smile from. His mother’s smile, however, seemed far more easy when I’d thanked her for opening her home to me at such short notice, especially around the Christmas period.
‘It sounds like you have quite a big family, so I’m sure the last thing you need is to be having me under your feet right now.’
‘Oh no, no. I love some company, don’t I, darlin’?’ she said, looking up at her son and picking a bit of fluff from his jumper as she did so. ‘Although from what I hear from this one, I doubt I’ll be seeing much of you, which is a shame as I’ve heard so much about you.’
‘You have?’ I asked, looking round at Lorcan.
‘You were a new face in the village. People like to talk.’
‘About what?’
Again, he gave a shrug.
