'You're evil, Abbie Carter. Evil. And I love it! Where were you when I needed revenge on my cheating partner?'
'Too busy consoling you, sweetie, but it's never too late. Crap, speaking of late, they'll be serving the food upstairs. I'd better go back before I'm missed.'
'I wish I could be a fly on the wall in that room tonight,' Georgie pouted.
'Me too,' I agreed.
I disposed of the gloves and bag in one of the receptacles outside the lift and headed up to find everyone was taking their seats. I hurried over to where Martine was barking orders into her Bluetooth device, ticking items off the huge list on her clipboard. She raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question when she saw me. I gave her a discreet nod and slipped the card into her jacket pocket as I asked which table I was supposed to be at.
'Thank you,' I over-emphasised
'You're welcome,' she smiled.
'Where have you been?' Miller asked as he held out my seat for me.
'Let's just say if payback's a bitch, you're looking right at her.'
'What did you do?' he groaned.
'We'll talk after dinner, but you owe me a favour for hiding who you were from me, and I intend to collect.'
'You said you understood and it wasn't an issue,' he reminded me as he took his seat.
'Do you know nothing about women?' I uttered. 'We tell you all is forgiven and that something won't be brought up again, when really we have every intention of blackmailing you with it time and time again for the rest of eternity.'
'Am I going to regret this favour?' he sighed.
'She will,' I grinned. I just about stopped myself from rubbing my hands together in glee, Dr. Evil style.
Chapter Seven
Doing The Locomotion
August
'I CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE never been out here,' Miller observed as he carried Sumo out through the kitchen French doors while I followed, carefully balancing a tray with our lunch on it.
'Well, you're experiencing the rare phenomenon of a British summer. And on a Saturday for everyone to enjoy, too. If we're really lucky, it will last all day before the rain returns or it starts hailing or snowing.'
'It's an amazing view,' he nodded as he looked around.
'Hardly Central Park,' I scoffed. I was still adjusting to the news he'd shared with me in New York. Telling someone you were wealthy was one thing. Showing them was something completely different. I swore I already had a bruise on my chin from the amount of times it had hit the floor before I'd headed home with him last weekend, in his private jet no less.
'Still stunning, in a very different way. There you go, boy,' he added, setting Sumo down on the blanket he'd spread out on the grass earlier, next to my patio table and chairs. 'Some fresh air and sunshine will do you good.'
I smiled even more when Sumo started wiggling his big butt, signalling his delight in this plan, then turned around and around, circling incessantly as he panted before finally flopping down and rolling onto his back for a tummy rub. He just adored Miller, and it made me happy to see my pooch so content, even if he was never like that with me. I swore he pined for Miller when he left, even more than I did. I dished up the grilled chicken salad and opened a couple of bottles of cold beer as Miller gave Sumo the fuss he was demanding.
'Abbie?'
'Miller?'
'Why do you have a set of train tracks in your backyard?'
'Garden. A backyard sounds like something that's been filled in with concrete.'
'Don't overload me, I'm still getting over the whole pants, fanny-pack, and vest misunderstandings,' he chuckled. 'So?'
'My dad,' I nodded, taking in a deep breath as my eyes automatically drifted towards the large studio room down at the bottom of the garden. The one he'd done up to look like a country station, complete with signals and station name. 'He was a train enthusiast and when he retired, he purchased a working miniature train and some carriages to attach to it, and he could sit on it and go all of the way around the back garden. That was the main station down there,' I advised, pointing to it. 'He spent most of his free time in there tinkering. Sumo loved it. Dad adapted it with a flat-bed carriage that Sumo used to sit on as he circled the garden. He even put on a large starter switch that he taught Sumo to press so he could go for a ride without us.'
'Seriously?' Miller laughed.
'Seriously,' I nodded. 'Whenever we visited, he'd waddle out of the dog flap, climb onto the train, and press the switch. He'd stop it himself wherever he fancied getting off for a sniff, or a poo, then he'd climb back on it again to come home. Or he'd just circle the garden again and again, panting like he was doing doggy circuit training. I swear that train was the reason he started refusing to go for a walk. He got lazy.'
'Now I get why he loves his pull-along contraption so much. Does the train still work?' Miller asked, taking the beer I offered.
'No,' I sighed, sitting down next to him and taking a swig of my own. 'Dad was the mechanical genius, I'm the mathematical one. It worked for a few years after I moved in, but when it stopped one winter, I put the train away in his studio. I meant to get it repaired, but … I just never got around to it. To be honest, it's a bit of a specialised thing, I wouldn't know where to start.'
'I'd love to see it, if you don't mind me looking in your dad's studio?'
'I'll get you the key after lunch. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back in there though,' I confessed. Even just talking about Dad, being hit with visuals of him on the train and Sumo grunting with delight as they'd trundled around the garden together on it while I'd sat with a glass of wine and watched, was painful.
Wednesday
I kissed Miller goodbye over the half-stable door, and he waved me off as he stood with Sumo in his arms. He was only here for a couple of weeks and I really wanted to spend every day with him, but I'd already promised the Joneses a trip up to the coast. They were too doddery now to drive themselves. In fact, the last time David had gone out in their car, he'd managed to hit three others as he tried to park. I'd suggested Miller come, but he'd told me he could do with using my office to deal with some business-related matters. Instead, Georgie had asked if she could come, so I'd packed up a large picnic hamper and a few blankets so that we could have lunch on the beach. The old couple loved to play the slot machines, so that was the plan for the afternoon, out of the glare of the sun, followed by a fish and chip supper as we listened to the tide coming in, before we headed home.
'Ok, everyone buckled up?' I asked as I put the car in reverse.
'Aye-aye, Captain,' Georgie nodded next to me.
'This is so good of you, Abbie,' Daphne smiled as I looked over my shoulder to check on them.
'No trouble at all. I've been looking forward to it.'
'Should have asked Heath to come. I think he'd get on really well with Georgie, isn't it,' David stated.
'First you were trying to fix him up with Abbie, now Georgie, just let it rest. He's a grown man, he can find his own dates,' Daphne scolded, as Georgie and I grinned at each other with a roll of our eyes.
We settled the couple down in their deck chairs, sitting on the blankets on the sand. I'd managed to nab a spot right next to the steps up to the car park that bordered the beach, so they didn't have to walk too far. They had parasols to protect them from the sun, and a few bottles of beer in the cooler box for David and a small bottle of Daphne's favourite wine. Georgie and I kicked off our shoes and raced each other down the beach to the water, screeching at how cold it was as we waded out, knee deep, having come prepared in our shorts.
'How amazing is it that we have this an hour from our house?' she exclaimed in awe as we looked up and down the Welsh coastline, the rugged coastal view stretching on for miles.
'Sumo used to love coming here as a puppy. Dad would throw a stick and Sumo's little legs would work overtime to go fetch it and repeat, over and over. He'd paddle in the water and come and shake it all over me while I lay reading a book and sunbathing.' I sighed at the memories.
'The vet has no idea how long he has?' Georgie asked gently.
'No,' I replied, blinking back some tears. 'He doesn't seem to be in any pain. I've just got to watch for signs of him deteriorating and make a decision then.'
'As long as he's happy, you're doing all that you can,' she said reassuringly, and I nodded.
'Do you think Miller's happy?' I asked hesitantly.
'What? Where did that come from?' she responded, shooting me a concerned look. I shrugged and averted my gaze, looking out to sea.
'He's some huge … mogul, Georgie. I was stupid the other night, I looked him up on the internet and there were hundreds of pictures of him with glamorous women dripping from his arm. I'm so not his type. Then there's … ' I shook my head. I was making more of a throwaway question than there was to make.
'He chose you, sweetie. He even admitted to me that he'd never had a relationship before. They were arm candy, one-night stands for a guy that didn't want any more at the time. Who wouldn't have their head spun earning the sort of money he has at his young age? He's grown up now though, he wants more. He wants you.'
'I guess,' I nodded, my old insecurity of being "undateable Abbie Carter" rearing its head again.
'What were you going to say?'
'Huh?' I gave her a puzzled look.
'You made your very incorrect observations, then said, "Then there's" and never finished,' she reminded me.
'He asked me if I could ever see myself living in a city like New York.'