‘You’re just feeling a bit unsettled, which is natural with all the changes, but I don’t think you’ve anything to worry about. He’s a straight arrow, is Matt.’ Hailey picked up her tea while she carried on talking. ‘As far as I can tell, he’s still upset that he lost his job. Feels he’s let you all down, but he’s determined to make this business a success.’ She looked at Sara. ‘Honestly, I’ve never seen him so fired up and passionate about anything. And he loves the fact he gets to spend time with his kids.’

Sara picked up her mug and took a sip, letting her sister’s words settle in her mind. She was right. Maybe she had heard the woman in her dreams the previous night and thought she was real. That was very possible.

Her mind was being devious, deflecting attention from herself. If anything was going to tear the family apart, it was her own actions. She would be the one to blame.

Chapter Sixteen

The next day, James came into the office to drop off some figures he’d been working on for the new project.

‘I wonder if you could ask Fiona to run her eye over these when she’s in later.’ He held out a file. ‘Deadline’s on Monday and she’s getting twitchy. You know what she’s like. Has to dot every i and cross every t herself. But I’ve got all the supporting documents together, so I think we’re about there.’

Sara had work to do on the project herself and was reminded now that she needed to push it up her list of tasks. ‘No problem,’ she said, and took the file from him, slapping it on the desk on top of the other papers.

James cocked his head, looked at her. ‘Things any better today? You still look a little peaky.’

She caught his eye and sighed. He sat down on the other side of the desk and she looked away, gathering up the invoices she’d been sorting out. ‘Everything’s okay for next Thursday, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘I’m worried about you, actually.’

She glanced at him and saw genuine concern in his eyes. Those very blue eyes, which held her in their steady gaze as she tried to work out what she was feeling, what was pulling at her insides, making her want to reach out to him.

‘Look, I never meant to cause trouble,’ he said gently. ‘I’ve only ever wanted to help you. That’s all.’ He gave her a quick grin. ‘Tell you what. How about I take you out to lunch? I need to brief you for next Thursday anyway, and it’ll do you good to get out of the office.’