Liam reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’ll be there soon enough, or maybe your aunt will call. The second she does, I’m taking you back to London and tying out my box of goodies on you.”
Beccy smiled but it quickly faded.
“Are you hungry? There’s some fresh bread behind you. It’s probably still warm if you’re lucky.”
She twisted in her seat and reached over to the back.
“Did you make this?” She asked, turning back and unwrapping the loaf.
“I’d love to say yes, but it’s one of those part-baked thingies. I only had to put it in the oven.”
She offered him a slice.
“Maybe later. Are you sure you don’t want anything on it? We can stop at the services.”
“No, thanks. You know I love it naked.”
“Me too.” Liam grinned.
“I mean the bread,” she said with a chuckle.
“That’s what I meant too. I don’t know what—” Liam frowned. “Oh? You thought I meant... Really, I would have expected better of you. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Hey.” Beccy slapped his thigh and laughed.
He grabbed her hand before she had time to pull it away and brought it up to his lips.
“Only I get to do the spanking round here.”
He gently kissed the soft skin on the back of her hand. A faint murmur drifted from her slightly open mouth.
Beccy’s phone rang.
The world is conspiring against us, thought Liam with a silent groan.
She snatched up her phone.
“Hello?...Yes.” After a long pause. “Oh, okay. That’s strange, but thanks for telling me... Yeah, we’ll catch up soon.”
Beccy rested her phone in her lap and stared at it. “Kathy went back to the house with Sue to double check and found a note on the table. She said she must have missed it the first time. It was from Aunty Di, saying she’s gone to stay with a friend for a few days and she’d be back on Monday.”
“There you go. All sorted.” Liam saw the sign for the next junction and pulled into the inside lane behind a van advertising pet food. He glanced over at Beccy’s sombre face. “Not sorted?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She screwed up her face then let out a long, heavy sigh. “Why didn’t she call me to let me know? She wouldn’t have gone off without telling me. Who’s going to feed Shadow? It’s not like her. Something’s not right.”
Liam looked at the worry brimming in her amber eyes.
“Sandborn?” he asked.
“Do you mind? I need to see the note, and check on Shadow.”
“Not at all,” he said and flicked on the indicator. One day I’ll get her back in my apartment.
For a few minutes the only sound was the rumbling engine of the Jaguar as it zipped along the motorway.
Liam thought of all the things he could say to reassure her, but in the end settled on asking her what her aunt was like.
Beccy settled back in her seat and pulled off a small chunk of fresh bread from the centre of the thick slice and popped it in her mouth.
“She’s a character. You know she moved into the house to look after me after Mum died. I was only five, so I guess she’s had more of a hand shaping my life than Mum. She was fun but strict too.
“She had some weird ideas like...she’d lock my bedroom sometimes at night because she’d heard there were prowlers in the area. Said if anyone broke in, I’d be safer behind a locked door. Terrified the crap out of me when I was younger.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “What if there was a fire or you needed the loo?”
“I had a bucket.” She rolled her eyes. “And a spare key in my drawer but was forbidden from using it unless there was an emergency.”
“Did you ever?”
“What? Pee in a bucket? All the time.”
Liam grinned. “I can’t picture you hovering over a bucket. No, I meant use the key”
“Once.”
Beccy chewed on another piece of bread.
“Well? What happened? Did she catch you?”
“I was about twelve or thirteen, I’d woken up with a bad stomach and wanted to use the proper toilet. So, I quietly unlocked the door, and crept along the hall to the bathroom. I remember I’d just pushed the door open when I heard something from downstairs. Then it went quiet. I was trying to be brave. Told myself I’d imagined it. Then I heard this noise like a snarl or something. Oh my God, I’ve never moved so fast in my entire life. I was back in my bedroom and locking that door before you could say ‘I don’t believe in ghosts’.” Beccy giggled. “Forgot all about needing the toilet, I can tell you.”
“What do you think it was?”
“It was probably Aunty Di, scaring me into not leaving my room again. It worked. It’s probably why I don’t like going out much, either.”
“How long did she do that for?”
Beccy shrugged. “Until I left home.”
“What? How old were you when you left?”
“Twenty-one,” Beccy mumbled through a mouthful of bread.
“And you let her?”
“I suppose I’d gotten used to it, and it was only ever for a few days every now and then.”
“That’s messed up. No wonder you’re so weird,” Liam smirked.
“It would explain why I like you then.”
“Touché,”
Beccy folded up her hollowed-out slice of bread in a napkin and returned it to the bag. “I make her sound like a nutjob, but she isn’t. She did the best she could seeing she had to look after me unexpectedly.”
“She never married or had her own kids?”
“No. She never seemed interested in having a relationship and said it was her moral duty not to bring any more children into this messed up world. But that didn’t stop her showering me with love though. I think I broke her heart the day I moved out. She begged me not to leave.”
“I can understand that.”
“It didn’t stop her from visiting her ‘Pup’ every day and insisting on making me one of her goddam awful herbal teas.” She pulled a face. “Valerian root, chamomile, raspberry and nettle leaf...you name it, she made a tea out of it.”
Liam laughed. “I can just picture a little old lady force-feeding you tea.”
It was Beccy’s turn to laugh. “You think she’s a little old lady? She’s 45, just short of six-foot-tall, a noted historian, and she’d kick your arse any day without breaking a sweat.”
“It’s just ‘Aunty Di’ conjures up for me a frail old lady pulling a chequered shopping trolley and whacking naughty kids with her walking stick.” Liam grinned.
“She’s going to eat you for tea when you finally meet her,” Beccy’s shoulder shook as she snorted with laughter.
“Ha, Master Winters can be pretty impressive when he needs to be.”
“If you try that with h—” Beccy winced and clutched at her stomach.
Liam’s heart jumped. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m okay.”
“Obviously you’re not. What is it?”