Aaron blinked once, then nodded. ‘About bloody time too. Welcome back, mate. I missed you.’ He tugged Daniel into another hug, thumping his shoulder a couple of times in the way men do rather than express too much emotion.
Daniel tried to process his friend’s response as he bent down to pick up his bag. He felt sick at the mess that he had abandoned in his wake and guilty that he had essentially dumped his most loyal friend to live the high life. Yet here he was, with almost no complaints, ready to pick up where they’d left off. Daniel had used and abused their friendship and there would need to be a lot of restitution soon.
He dropped the bag and it was his turn to gather Aaron in for a tight hug. ‘I’m sorry, mate. Truly I am. I’ve been such a selfish bastard.’ Daniel swallowed hard around the lump in his throat as Aaron stepped back but kept his hand on the back of Daniel’s neck and looked him straight in the eye.
‘It wasn’t a problem, Fit…Daniel. Sorry, that’s going to take a bit of getting used to. I’ve been worried about you for a while now and I was just glad that you had got out of town for a bit. That lifestyle was killing you and I couldn’t find a way to make you see it.’
Daniel shook his head and wondered again about fate bringing the right people into your life when you needed them. It had certainly done the trick when he and Aaron had ended up in neighbouring rooms during their first year at university.
Both new to London, they had little in common other than proximity and not knowing a single person in the city. Daniel, the gruff Northern lad from a loving, working-class background. Aaron the outgoing West Country boy with a bumpkin’s twang hiding a sharp brain and plenty of heartache. They had bonded over stock North-South divide jokes and taking the piss out of each other’s accents. A few ill-spent evenings followed by some extremely rough mornings and they had become fast friends. Best friends.
They reached the car and Daniel helped them stow their bags in the boot. ‘I really appreciate you guys coming down here. I know I’ve been a shitty friend, but I’m getting myself back together I hope.’
Aaron patted Daniel on the arm as Luke crawled into the back seat. ‘As I said, you weren’t right for a long time and I knew it but I didn’t know what to do about it. I had my own stuff going on and it was easier to drift away when you got in with that crowd. It wasn’t my scene but I should’ve tried harder to get you out of it rather than just backing away. Let’s say we both could’ve been better friends there for a while and leave it at that, okay?’
Daniel felt a bit choked up and he grabbed Aaron for another quick, hard hug.
‘Pack it in, you two love birds,’ Luke yelled out the window. ‘I want to meet this woman who’s turned you on your head, Daniel and get on the right side of some of that great cooking you’ve been boasting about. The sandwich I had on the train was rank.’ As if to punctuate his point, Luke let loose a large belch and grinned unrepentantly.
He was still playing the annoying little brother, even at twenty-five. He’d been the bane and the pride of Aaron’s life since the day his step-mother had brought him home from the hospital. Daniel knew all about the problems Aaron had been through with his stepmother and it was to his eternal credit that he’d never allowed it to sour his relationship with his half-brother. Aaron adored Luke and he hero-worshipped him in return. Their closeness had been a source of envy to Daniel at first, being an only child, but the two men had just drawn him into their lives and he was beyond grateful for that.
The three of them laughed together and chatted about Daniel’s ideas for the barn as he drove them back to the house. They rounded the corner of the drive and he pulled up as the back door opened and Mia stood on the doorstep in her usual huge jumper and jeans. She smiled shyly as first Aaron and then Luke swooped on her with hugs and kisses before Daniel shoved them both away and stepped in front of her, arms folded like a bodyguard. ‘Oy, keep your hands and your lips to yourselves!’ Things might still be up in the air between him and Mia, but he’d be damned if either of these two charmers would swoop in and steal her from under his nose.
Mia gave him a shove in the back then ducked around him. ‘Why don’t you go and check out the barn and I’ll put the kettle on. Tea will be about fifteen minutes.’ She disappeared into the kitchen and Daniel pointed the brothers in the direction of the barn. Luke rummaged in his pocket for a notebook and his laser measure as he strode purposefully towards the ramshackle building. Aaron followed at a more leisurely pace, taking his time to examine everything around him, including turning back to survey the imposing structure of the main house.
‘It’s incredible here. I can’t believe how clean the air is after London.’ A touch of envy tinged his voice.
Daniel watched Aaron wander away from the barn to stop halfway across the scruffy rear lawn as he saw the break in the hedge and caught sight of the beach and the rolling sea beyond it. He smiled as he watched the joy suffuse his friend’s face. The whole place was working its magic and Aaron was hooked—he could tell.
‘Christ, mate, it’s paradise.’ Aaron’s words were thrown back over his shoulder as he loped across the grass towards the inexorable pull of the sea beyond.
Mia turned her back on the three men at the table as they threw ideas back and forth, discussing the correct level of light for each of the studio areas, colour schemes and textures for the floors and walls. The discussion was dizzyingly fast and the noise was something she was just not used to. She found it quite unsettling to be in such a masculine atmosphere again. Jamie had been one of four brothers and when they got together it was like they spoke their own language, often leaving Mia a little alienated.
It was so different from being one of three girls. Largely ignored by their mother, they had been left to their own devices unless they managed to draw the ire of their father. They had basically raised each other and had dwelled in a fantasy world of lost maidens rescued from fearsome beasts by handsome, but very politely spoken and entirely harmless, heroes. The reality of boys, in all their awful smelly, wonderful, disgusting glory was a shock from which Mia was never sure she had quite recovered.
The boisterous exchanges behind her now were a bit of an intrusion on the quiet solitude of the house, and Mia felt equal parts annoyed at them and guilty with herself for wanting to deny Daniel the time with his friends. He had a beautiful laugh—a deep rich baritone, which rolled through her and curled her toes. It was nice to hear him so positive and excited about the potential for the new venture of fixing up the barn. She just wished they could be positive in a slightly quieter fashion.
Mia rolled her eyes at herself and set about making tea and coffee for everyone. She stared towards the window. The black night was impenetrable and the window reflected the room behind her. Fifteen minutes had turned into three hours and dusk fell quickly this time of year. She watched the men talking and teasing each other until Daniel raised his gaze as though conscious of her eyes on him. She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner but she obviously missed her mark because Daniel frowned and rose from his seat to cross the room and stand behind her.
He placed a warm hand on her shoulder and met her gaze in the reflection of the glass. Mia smiled more warmly, feeling more settled and secure under his touch, and she raised her hand to cover his.
‘All right, pet?’ Daniel was still frowning a little and Mia couldn’t stand that she was putting a dampener on his mood.
‘Really all right, Daniel,’ she whispered and patted the back of his hand. ‘It sounds amazing already. Aaron and Luke seem to be full of good ideas.’
Daniel snorted and squeezed her shoulder. ‘They’re certainly full of something,’ he muttered then laughed out loud as a balled-up tea towel struck him on the back of the head.
‘Cheeky sod, we dropped everything to rush down here and help you, worried half to death about what sort of state we would find you in and look at you!