Page 83 of Artful Deceit
“What?” Flynn said, and Lily filled him in on that piece of the story and then how smug Kit was now about his character assessment.
She went on to tell him all the other parts of her investigation that she hadn’t told him.
“Sorry,” she said finally. “I should have told you everything from the start.”
“Yeah. You should have.”
“I was wondering about the pencil I found at my place, with the name of the art retreat. Do you reckon Len dropped it by accident or on purpose?”
“Who knows? Could have been either, but I imagine heknew you’d investigate. Leaving you a clue to set you on a wild goose chase makes some sense.”
“If he knew I’d investigate, you’d think he might have chosen not to target me.”
Flynn began putting lids on the Tupperware boxes. “Apparently, he was holding a grudge against you for getting the lease for the shop. He’d asked about it a while back and been turned down.”
“That makes a little more sense then.”
With the remaining food cleared away, Flynn patted the space in front of him on the blanket, and she moved to get comfy between his legs, leaning against his chest.
With the sun heading quickly towards the horizon, the sky had turned a vibrant pink with streaks of orange.
“We never talked about what Maria said about your parents,” Flynn said.
Her whole body tensed, and a lump swelled in her throat. “I’ve been avoiding thinking about it.”
“You’re not tempted to look into it?”
“Very tempted,” she said immediately. “Every time I look at my laptop, I think about doing some research and seeing what I can find about the company that wanted to buy my parents’ house. I guess I could find that information if I tried.”
“But you haven’t looked?”
“No. There’s been too much going on in my head. I can’t deal with it.”
“I don’t blame you.” He fell silent for a few minutes. “We need to talk properly about how we make a long-distance relationship work.”
“They don’t work,” she replied automatically, anger rippling through her.
Flynn didn’t argue, just tightened his arms around her. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.
“Don’t do that,” she snapped, fighting the urge to wriggle out of hisembrace.
“What?”
“Tell me you love me just to reassure me.”
“That’s not why I said it. But if it helps reassure you that we’ll be okay, that’s a bonus.” He threaded his fingers through hers. “When you were growing up, and moving around a lot, did you keep in touch with people?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t allowed. Not when I was a kid anyway, but even when I was a teenager and had more control, it still didn’t matter. I had friends, and we swore we’d keep in touch, but it never worked out that way. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that.”
“Okay, so it makes sense that you don’t think this will work, but I love you. It’s never going to be a case of out of sight, out of mind. You’ve been on my mind pretty much constantly since I met you, and I can’t imagine a few hundred miles is going to change that.”
She nodded, but didn’t believe him.
“I was thinking we could see each other every three weeks.”
She turned her head to look questioningly at him.
“I think it’d be realistic for us to visit each other every three weeks. Will you come to London first?”
