“No drama?”
“Only during Springwatch. Those little birds are preyed upon by dangerous animals.”
“Just like women who wander in the woods?”
Anjuli opened her mouth and shut it. For hours she’d avoided thinking of Rob, and that amazing, incredible kiss. She could still feel his arms around her, still taste his smoky flavour. Briefly, Anjuli told Ash about their encounter behind the Town Hall, minus the intimate details. If she told her sister about their embrace she would tell her to forget her “messed up” vow, and that she could never do. There would be a reckoning with Rob when he returned from America, one she didn’t yet know how to handle.
“Turns out the perfectly simple life I wanted in Heaverlock...isn’t.”
Eyes shut, Ash relaxed against her pillows. “Well, you could be the one stuck in hospital until your blood pressure drops. With you strung higher than a trapeze they’d probably never let you out.” Her eyes popped open. “Shit, my tax inspection is on Monday and I was going to do the paperwork today.”
“I’ll do it for you, and the inspection.”
A horrified look. “You’re really scaring me now.”
“I mean it, I can cope, just tell me what to do.”
Ash looked dubious. “Study my order sheets, the kitchen and bar receipts and the till record. Hand the inspector what he asks for, show him the invoices if he queries them and print out anything he wants.” She peered at Anjuli. “You’re not tired after staying here all night?”
Coffee. She’d need an injection straight into her brain as soon as she arrived at the pub. “I’m chipper.”
“Promise me you’ll cancel if you can’t handle it.”
“Sure, and I’ll keep my other promises also.”
“You won’t let Mum name the baby if...?” Ash shuddered.
Anjuli kissed her cheek. “You’ll name it yourself, and I’ll be godmother.”
Ash’s expression softened into one full of gratitude but tinged with sadness. “You’ll be a great aunt, I know you will.”
Throat closing over, Anjuli beckoned Viking over. “The pub will run today as usual. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll be in charge and—what’s that look for? If I can do accounts then I’m perfectly capable of managing the pub for one day, and Viking will be there.” She glanced at him. “Won’t you?”
He handed her his car keys. “You go. I come later.”
Drive a manual? Clutch, gears, shifts? Memories of Rob’s strained face and her cursing frustration popped into her mind. “Uh, sure. Phone when you want me to pick you up.”
Ash pointed at the door. “Both of you are leaving.”
Viking shook his head. “I stay.”
“Like a splinter under my toenail,” she muttered, but she was smiling.
Forty-five minutes and more than a few dodgy gear shifts later, Anjuli sat at Ash’s desk and gazed at the array of folders in front of her. How did her sister make sense of all this paperwork on a daily basis? She printed out the Heaverlock Arms’s spreadsheets, numbers jumbled together in mind-numbing columns of debits and credits. It was 8:00 a.m. and she’d already had two large mugs of black coffee, but it wasn’t doing the trick.
Anjuli leaned back and closed her bloodshot eyes, thinking of Ash. That her sister would trust her of all people with her baby was incredible, daunting and coiled her strings in ways she wasn’t sure she could straighten. But one thing she was sure of: she wouldn’t let Ash or her child down. She wouldn’t make the same mistakes. She would watch her niece or nephew every second of the day, never let the baby out of her sight when she was in charge. Never—
Her mobile pinged with a text. Rob again, telling her he’d arrived in London, giving her his whereabouts as if she had a claim to his movements. More strings to straighten, more knots to untie. Anjuli dropped the phone in her lap. What to say, how to undo what had happened at the ceilidh?
How to stop Rob from pursuing her as she feared he would? He’d said he would wait until she was ready. So sure of himself, so bloody confident, and it was her fault. Then again, he always had been confident.
She shut her eyes, remembering the night they’d first met. She and Mac had been friends for only a few months and were at the Douglas’s house, getting ready for a double date with Craig and another boy. Dressed and ready, Anjuli had followed her nose to the kitchen. Ben was at the range cooker with his back to her, swearing and scraping at something in a frying pan.
Anjuli grinned at his frustrated groan. Since when did Ben burn anything he cooked, or eat bacon and eggs for dinner? Twenty, and a junior police officer, he lived at home, and most days she visited he was experimenting with food. Delicious, perfectly executed meals he asked her and Mac to criticise. After the first time, she’d made sure to do her homework at Mac’s every day.