There it was, a flicker of the old triumphant smile. ‘I thought you'd never ask.'
‘Well now I have.'
‘Maybe I won't tell you,' said Dan.
‘And maybe I'll steal that crutch and push you over,' said Lily. ‘Tell me how you got yourself into this mess. Ooh, were you beaten up by some girl's jealous boyfriend?'
‘Close. I saved a little kid from being crushed to death by a falling boulder.'
‘Oh my God, really?'
‘Well, not an actual boulder. It was Big Al.' Dan broke into a grin. ‘But I'm still a hero. Everyone says so.'
Maybe he was, but no way was he getting off that lightly. ‘A hero who can't keep a secret,' said Lily.
‘Unless I'm having an affair with someone I shouldn't.' His dark eyes glittered with intent. ‘Then I'm absolutely discreet.'
‘Oh well, when it's in your own interests, you would be.'
Dan smiled. ‘Am I forgiven? Can we be friends again now?'
He already knew he'd won her over. And he wasn't the only one who'd had difficulty keeping that particular secret. Lily heaved a dramatic sigh. ‘You mean now that you're disabled and can't drive and are going to be needing lifts everywhere.'
‘Is that what you're thinking? I swear that won't happen.' He clutched his heart with his unstrapped hand, the one with the crutch dangling from it. ‘No favours, I promise. If you're ever driving down the road and you see me limping along slower than a snail, my face white with pain, I wouldn't even want you to stop and offer me a lift. In fact, you have to promise you'll never do that.'
‘Don't worry, I won't. And if it's raining hard, I'll speed up and drive past really close, so you get splashed all over with mud.'
‘I wouldn't expect anything less,' said Dan. ‘It's absolutely what I deserve.'
A customer was lugging a marble statue across the gravel towards them. Lily said, ‘I have to get back to work.'
‘I know. So are we OK? Friends again?'
‘Possibly.' She held her finger and thumb a few millimetres apart. ‘About this much.'
‘Fancy a few drinks at the Star this evening?'
‘Go on then. What time?'
‘Seven?'
Lily nodded. ‘Seven it is.'
He gave her a playful look. ‘That means you'll turn up at seven thirty, just to keep me waiting and make the point that I'm lucky to have you there at all.'
They'd known each other for so long, it was impossible to play games and not be called out on it.
‘I'll get there at seven forty-five,' said Lily.
‘Great. Gives me more time to chat up whoever's working behind the bar.'
‘It's Sean tonight.'
‘Hey, no problem, I'm an equal-opportunities chatter-upper.' Dan winked at her. ‘Practice makes perfect.'
Chapter 20
At 7.30, having showered and changed into a stripy red and white jersey dress, Lily was upstairs in her bedroom patting serum on to her still-damp ringlets when she saw Dan making his way down the main street towards the Star.
Honestly, how did he manage it? He was wearing a dark purple polo shirt, narrow faded jeans and a deck shoe on his right foot. The left foot, held off the ground, was in a lime-green cast. He was indeed progressing at a painfully slow pace, pausing every few steps to wipe the palm of his left hand on the side of his jeans. As for his eye – well, what a mess. The skin around it was purple and charcoal grey, yet he still somehow managed to look good, high-cheekboned and piratical rather than like some loser who'd come off worst in a fight.
There was that familiar tightening in the pit of her stomach. As ever, Lily ignored it, because to do otherwise would be madness.
Nevertheless, she'd be lying if she didn't admit, even if just to herself, that having Dan back here for the summer would be fun. He might be exasperating sometimes – OK, often – but he was never dull.
At that moment, he glanced up at her window and saw her looking down at him. Breaking into a grin, he raised his left arm, waved the metal crutch in the air and pretended to wobble crazily like a clown on a high wire.
Lily leaned out of the window and called down, ‘If you fall over and break your other foot, it'll serve you right.'
True to form, when she joined him in the pub ten minutes later, he was perched on a stool doing his fortune-telling act on Tanya, who was working behind the bar with Sean tonight.
‘ … You have an adventurous spirit and a need for love in your life. There's a tall dark man … you've had a secret crush on him for years, but this could be the time you get together for a wild romantic affair.'
‘This tall dark man,' said Tanya. ‘Would he happen to have his arm in a sling and a bit of a limp?'
Dan frowned and peered more closely at her palm, then raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘You're right, he has!'
Down-to-earth Tanya, who was in her forties and had a husband, five children and two grandchildren, snorted with laughter. ‘Ah, but a bit of a limp what?'
‘Oh Tanya, you're a cruel woman.' Dan dropped her hand and sat back, shaking his head in defeat. ‘You break hearts without even realising it. I'm choking up. Just give me a moment … '
‘Yes, that's what I've heard.' Still chuckling, Tanya moved off to serve another customer.
Lily said, ‘Thirty love to Tanya.'
He heaved a mournful sigh. ‘She beats me every time.'
It only happened, though, because Dan allowed it to. Casting himself in the role of hapless underdog was another of his ploys to charm the opposite sex. Luckily both he and Tanya were aware he wasn't serious.
‘I know all your tricks,' Lily reminded him.
‘Then I'm just going to have to come up with some new ones. Anyway, never mind that now. Patsy tells me you met Declan last weekend. I want to hear all about him.'
One of Dan's good qualities was his interest and enthusiasm; when he paid attention to you, it was his full attention. He was genuinely interested in what you had to say and asked all the right questions. For the next hour, Lily told him all about Declan, showed him the photos on her phone and relayed the stories Declan had shared about her mum.
‘That reminds me, I left my phone charger in Bristol.' Dan took out his own phone and grimaced at the battery sign glowing red on the screen. ‘Two per cent. Nightmare. You don't have a spare, do you?'
‘No, and I need mine tonight, but you can borrow it tomorrow morning.'
‘I'll do that. Can I use your phone now to order another charger online?'
‘Help yourself.' Sliding down from her stool, Lily pushed her phone across the bar. ‘Back in two minutes. The skin around your eye's getting blacker, by the way. Does it really hurt?'
‘Of course it hurts. The reason I'm not making a fuss is because I'm so incredibly brave.' He touched the skin around his eye. ‘Go on, have a feel. It's hot.'
Gently Lily pressed the tips of her fingers against the dark-blue outer corner of the eyelid, where the skin was puffy and stretched.
‘Ow,' Dan murmured, his gaze fixed on her face. ‘Ow.'
‘You're the one who asked me to do it.'
‘I wanted you to know how heroic I'm being.'
‘And now I do,' said Lily. ‘I suppose I'd better write to the Queen. You'll probably be awarded the Victoria Cross.'
When she returned from the loo three minutes later, Dan was ordering the new charger. Lily bought a fresh round of drinks while he finished tapping in his details.
‘Thanks.' He handed back her phone. ‘It'll be here by Tuesday.'
‘No problem. Won't Anna be coming over to visit you? She could bring your old one with her.'
‘I think we can safely say she won't be coming over to visit me,' said Dan.
‘Oh. Have you dumped her?' This inspired mixed emotions; Anna was a triumph of looks over personality, but she was the manager of a fantastic clothes shop in Bristol and had let Lily use her 60 per cent discount code when she'd ordered a couple of dresses online.
Although now that she knew the code, would it be very wrong to carry on using it if Anna and Dan were no longer an item?
‘We don't call it dumped,' said Dan. ‘But yes, it's over. Seemed like time to call it a day. Anyhow, what else has been happening while I've been away?'
Poor Anna, dismissed from his life. Another one bites the dust.
‘Not much. We've been busy at the yard. Oh, we sold that giant octopus chandelier to a hotel in Miami. Got three grand for it – they didn't even haggle!'