‘I’m not avoiding anything. Just making sure nobody is following us.’
‘And now we’ve ascertained there is no evil plot to kidnap me … Why aren’t you dating anyone?’
‘Because nobody has asked.’
He angled his head to look at her and found she was staring ahead, an amused expression on her face. ‘And if someone were to ask?’
‘It would depend on the someone.’
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask, If that someone was me, but it was too obvious. He’d already made his attraction clear, and she’d not taken the bait. Pushing any further would embarrass them both. Worse, if she knocked him back, it would make their current situation intolerable.
‘Well I hope, when you find the someone to say yes to, he shares your love of …’ he indicated towards the inevitable carnage in the centre console of the Jeep. ‘Mess.’
She laughed, as he’d hoped she would. ‘Being messy is right up there on my list of attributes for the perfect man.’
He decided not to ask what the other attributes were. No doubt they included loving motorsport, not being an uptight, cagey bastard, and not being in the public eye.
***
Kat glanced at her watch, and then at Debs who was sat on her bed, fingers flying over her phone.
‘You realise the film started five minutes ago.’
Her niece’s eyes didn’t stray from the screen. ‘You said that already.’
‘No, five minutes ago I said the film was about to start. You said to give you two minutes.’
‘Oh my God, just chill.’
Kat leant against the wall. ‘I don’t mind being late. It’s my default position. But I’m not going to pay full price to see half a film, so if you’d rather stay here messaging your friends, that’s cool with me. I’ll go and get myself a beer.’
Debs huffed but stood up, squeezing her phone into the pocket of a pair of jeans so tight, Kat wondered how she could breathe. ‘Whatever. Let’s go.’
Her niece was silent on the way there, which wasn’t especially unusual, though the edge of tension Kat could see around her mouth, was. ‘Are you okay, Munchkin?’ she asked once they’d parked and were walking towards the huge cinema complex.
‘Sure.’ Debs heaved in a shuddery breath. ‘And stop with the stupid name. I’m not six anymore.’
More’s the pity. Six-year-old Debs had been cute as a button. Teenage Debs was a stroppy, hormonal disaster. ‘Who were you messaging?’
‘Mind your own business.’
If Kat didn’t know her niece so well, hadn’t lived with her for all of her fourteen years, she might have left it there. ‘Was it your mum?’
Debs glared at her. ‘So what if it was? I’m allowed to message my own mum, aren’t I?’
Kat’s heart melted at the vulnerability behind Debs’s stubborn stance. ‘You are. And you’re also allowed to be angry with her. And to tell me about that anger, because much as I love your mum, I feel it too.’ Debs didn’t reply, just stared ahead with a sullen expression on her face. ‘But once you’ve got the anger out of your system, you also need to understand that your mum doesn’t want to be away from you. She loves you. The fact that she’s prepared to put herself through this shows you how much, because she wants to change. She wants to be the mum you deserve.’
‘You said this already.’
‘I know I did. I also said when she does come home, she’ll be fitter and stronger than she’s been for a long time so it will have been worth it. I figured it was a good time to remind you.’
‘Fine.’
A lump shot into the back of Kat’s throat as she saw a single tear creep down her niece’s cheek. ‘Hey, come here.’ Dragging Debs into her arms, she soothed a hand up and down her back. ‘It’s going to be okay.’
‘You said that last time,’ Debs mumbled into her neck. ‘And the time before that.’
Damn, so she had. ‘Okay, you’ve got me. Those times I was hoping she’d be okay. This time I know she will be.’
Debs sniffed, finally pulling away. ‘How?’
Kat gazed directly into her niece’s dark-brown eyes. Eyes like hers, and like Mandy’s. ‘Before, she went because we asked her to. This time she asked to go. She wants to get better.’
The sad look Debs gave her tore at her heart. ‘I can’t stand it, the way she gets when she drinks.’
Kat squeezed her hand. ‘I know. She doesn’t mean to upset you. When she’s sober, she’s mortified that she has. But she was unlucky enough to get our father’s genes and it’s hard for her. Really hard, Debs. You have to remember that. She’s going to need all our support to get through it.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Debs sucked in a breath, wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper, and looked around her.
‘It’s okay, nobody’s looking.’
‘You don’t know that.’
Kat smiled. ‘’Course I do. It’s my job to assess the surroundings.’ She linked arms with Debs as they picked up the pace towards the cinema. ‘Come on. At this rate, we really are going to only see half a film.’
‘It’s alright. It’s Thomas Sangster. He’s not like my favourite actor.’
‘Who is then?’
‘Dylan O’Brien. Zac Edwards is fit, but a bit old.’
Kat ground to a halt just before the cinema entrance. ‘Zac Edwards?’
‘Duh, yes. He’s fit.’
‘You mean he works out a lot.’
Debs rolled her eyes. ‘Fit as in hot. Good looking.’
Well, what do you know. Smiling to herself, Kat ushered Debs into the lobby and handed over her debit card. ‘Be a sweetie and collect the tickets from the machine. I just need to message someone about work.’
As Debs flounced off, Kat sent off a quick text to Zac.
Guess what? My niece thinks you’re fit.
She knew he was out having drinks with the crew, so she was shocked when she received an instant reply.
Guess what? I am fit.
Laughing, she fired another back at him.
Does your fit self, fancy doing me a favour?
Once again the reply was immediate.
Name it.
She’d only known him five days, yet he was offering to help before he even knew what she wanted. Was he for real? Because she didn’t want to think about how much that meant to her, she deflected.
Lend me the Aston to go rally cross racing?
His reply had her shaking her head in amusement.
Do I have to be in it too?
He was kind, she realised. Beneath the glossy layers of celebrity was a funny, kind man.
That was a joke. The favour I really want is for you to phone my niece and say hello.
She pinged him the phone number just as Debs walked back to her with the tickets.
‘Here.’ As she thrust the tickets at Kat, miraculously, her niece’s mobile started to buzz.
‘You’d better get that.’
Debs frowned, digging out her phone. ‘It’s an unknown number.’