He walked back to the bedroom, rubbing his wet hair with the towel, and was greeted by the sound of dishes from the kitchen and the delicious smell of fresh baking. His empty stomach rumbled. There was no point in imagining Dianna living here in domestic bliss. Her work kept her too busy.

He sighed and opened the door. Keely looked up from the book she was thumbing through as he crossed the room.

“Doing a spot of cooking?” He couldn’t help but smile. Keely usually maintained a tidy kitchen but this morning things were quite different. Not only did it appear that every cooking utensil was in use, Keely herself was splotched with puffs of white, including a smudge that crossed from her cheek to the tip of her nose.

* * *

Keely jumped. “I didn’t know you were still here.” She straightened the books in front of her. She’d thought she had the house to herself. “Would you like some breakfast?”

“I’ll just get myself some toast and coffee.”

She leapt up. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to find it in the mess.”

“What are you doing?”

She bustled around Euan, trying to clear a space on the bench so he could plug the toaster in. “I thought I’d make a cake for Flynn.”

Euan raised his eyebrows. “Some cake.”

Keely followed his gaze to the benches. There were things everywhere. “Well, I thought I’d make a couple of different kinds so there’d be enough for everyone. Then I decided to make some mini pavlovas. I hope you don’t mind, there were plenty of eggs.”

“I don’t mind but you don’t need to go to all this trouble. Everyone will bring something.”

“The pavlovas will keep. I wanted to test them out before the Divine Wine and Dine weekend, anyway.”

Euan let out a deep sigh as he sat down with his breakfast. “You don’t have to be involved with that, Keely. It was Flynn’s idea. He needs to organise it.”

“Well he is, of course.” She began to stack up the dishes. “But I’m happy to help.”

“You’ve already helped us a lot about the place. Flynn and I need to have a serious talk about what needs doing but you don’t have to wear yourself out over it.”

Keely gripped the benchtop. She didn’t want to interfere but she hated to see Euan and Flynn at loggerheads. Besides, she was looking forward to the coming weekend. Living here had given her the feeling she’d swapped her life for someone else’s. She relished it and didn’t want to let it go just yet.