He wished he understood whether it had been his reaction that had quenched her sparkle. Or her realisation that she was moving dangerously close to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Chapter Twenty-Two

As evening neared, Clancy returned to the Roundhouse. Aaron had a long-standing arrangement with Mick, Nick and Rick to go to the Princess Cinema in Hunstanton to see a live streaming of the Flow Festival in Helsinki. He’d be back by eleven, he’d said, and made her welcome to stay and await his homecoming. But she couldn’t settle to work on the website.

The day’s events were on her mind. Buying into the B&B would anchor her in Nelson’s Bar and … and … and … what? She wished Aaron’s reaction had been easier to read. Nothing he’d said was wrong. Buying into a business was an enormous decision and it did have to be the right one for her.

She would have welcomed a beaming smile or maybe even, ‘It would be so great if you stayed!’

Her feet slowed as she squeezed up to the hedge in Long Lane to let a car nose past, exchanging nods with the woman behind the wheel. OK, think this through.

She and Aaron were sleeping together. Sleeping with someone wasn’t a decisive tie. People had sex all the time. You found someone who made you feel desire, you used a condom and bingo. The deed was done.

It wasn’t a commitment unless you made it one.

And they hadn’t talked about what their relationship was. They’d talked roundabout it, and that was a different thing. That was what people who didn’t want to commit did. It didn’t matter if a couple set fire to the sheets … if that was all they wanted then that was all they wanted.

Aaron hadn’t committed to Genevieve. In fact, she hadn’t asked him the direct question and so Clancy didn’t know that he’d ever committed to any girlfriend in a joint-future way. He might not want to commit to her either.

She arrived back at the Roundhouse feeling dispirited. Just to cheer her up, she found Genevieve there with Hugo and Alice. Genevieve and Alice were curled on the sofa, chatting and screaming with laughter, a bottle of wine in a cooler beside them, an empty on the table. Clancy didn’t recall Alice even mentioning Genevieve when she’d lived in the village previously but here they were acting like lifelong best friends.

Alice waved her wine glass when she saw her. ‘Clance! It’s wine o’clock! Grab a glass.’

Clancy debated. By the looks of things she was about four glasses of wine behind but here was an opportunity to mend a bridge or two with Genevieve and perhaps recapture some of the old relationship with Alice. Even Hugo seemed to be making an effort, sitting upright in a chair instead of lolling on the sofa. He was even smiling, although that could have been because he was the only one drinking red, which gave him a full bottle to himself.