She turned to Maura. ‘Amy will be here on Wednesday. If Alfie hasn’t found a home by then I’ll bring her to see him.’ She gave the puppy one more pat, to which he responded with enthusiastic wagging of his tiny tail, and reluctantly handed him back to his carer.
Maura put her hand on Lizzie’s arm. ‘You have to do what’s best for you and your daughter. But a dog brings such rewards.’
If Lizzie stayed in Dolphin Bay a dog would be possible. For one thing, she’d be happier if Amy had the comfort of a puppy while she settled into her new home and made new friends. But it was still early days yet.
It wasn’t just the possibility of something serious with Jesse that made her hesitate. She only had a job here if the café was a success. Otherwise she’d be back in Sydney flat-hunting in a difficult rental market with the added hindrance of a dog in tow.
And then there was Jesse’s career. If they had a future together, where might it be?
‘Don’t you have to give your speech soon, Mum?’ Jesse said.
‘Yes, of course I do,’ said Maura. ‘You just keep little Alfie in mind, Lizzie.’
Jesse put his arm casually around Lizzie’s shoulder as he led her down from the platform. ‘Don’t let her talk you into something you’re not ready for. A dog’s a big commitment.’
‘Don’t I know it,’ she said.
She was silent for a long moment. Holding the squirming little bundle in her arms had brought back memories of Amy as a baby. Amy often asked if she could have a little brother or sister, but another baby had never been on the agenda. Why was she thinking about it now?
* * *
As the evening progressed Lizzie couldn’t help being overwhelmed by that déjà vu. They were in the same room as the wedding reception. She was enjoying the opportunity to wear a beautiful dress, do something special with her hair—she loved the effect of having it straight—and wearing more make-up than usual.
With the Parisian dress she felt she had donned some of her old Lizzie party-girl spirit. That Lizzie had been pretty much smothered by maternal responsibilities and anxieties. She loved Amy more than she could ever have imagined loving another person. But there were times she wanted to be Lizzie, not just Mummy or Chef. This was one of them. She was determined to enjoy every second of the evening.
She even enjoyed the speeches. She wasn’t the only one near tears when Maura spoke about the homeless dogs and cats in the area and the maltreatment some of them received before they got to the shelter. Someone else spoke convincingly about spaying and neutering to help bring down the number of unwanted kittens and puppies.
When Maura returned to the table after the speeches, she saw the pride in Jesse’s father’s eyes as he helped his wife of heaven knew how many years back into her chair. She realised Jesse had been brought up in a family where love and kindness ruled.
How very different from her family, where her father, a specialist anaesthetist, believed in excessive discipline, rigorous academic achievement and ruthless competition. No wonder both she and Sandy had rebelled. No wonder her mother had eventually divorced him and moved to another state.
Her father hadn’t been a part of her life for a long time but he had asked to see her when she’d brought Amy back to Australia. She’d hoped he’d regretted the way he’d treated her, maybe wanted to make up for it by developing a relationship with his granddaughter. But no. He wanted to pay to send Amy to an exclusive girls’ boarding school where she could develop her academic potential, away from her mother’s influence. Needless to say, Lizzie had declined the offer.
The food at Maura’s function was good, but not as good as she’d expected from the Hotel Harbourside catering. ‘Should I mention it to Sandy?’ she whispered to Jesse. They were seated together at the Morgan family table, surreptitiously holding hands under cover of the tablecloth.
‘When the moment is right,’ Jesse said, keeping his voice very low, pretending not to be too interested in what she was saying. ‘You’ll need to be diplomatic.’
‘Aren’t I always diplomatic?’ she started to say in a huff.
He smiled. ‘You can’t pride yourself on being both blunt and diplomatic at the same time.’ He squeezed her hand to emphasise he didn’t mean it as an insult.
‘Point taken,’ she said.
Again she marvelled at how quickly Jesse had got to know her. She didn’t feel she knew him as well but was enjoying each revelation of what lay beneath the heartbreakingly handsome exterior. So far she’d discovered he was a thoughtful, highly intelligent man with a good heart, a good head for business and a whole lot of common sense. That was on top of being a master kisser.
‘Do you know what I’m missing?’ she said. ‘The music. I wish I could get up and dance with you. Do you remember how we danced together at the wedding?’
‘How could I forget?’
‘I think dancing with you was when I—’ She swallowed the words that bubbled to the surface. When I thought I might have found someone special.
‘When you...?’ Jesse prompted.
‘When I...when I realised you were so much more than the best man who I, as the chief bridesmaid, was obligated to spend time with.’
And now? Now she was falling in love with him. She’d fought it so hard she hadn’t let herself recognise it. Could you fall in love this quickly?
‘You okay?’ asked Jesse. ‘You seem flustered.’
‘Yes. Yes. Of course I’m okay.’ How did she deal with this?
‘I want to dance with you too,’ said Jesse in a husky undertone. ‘The evening is winding up. In half an hour we leave separately, then—’
‘Yes?’ she asked, her heart thudding.
‘Then we have our own private dance on the beach.’
JESSE WAITED UNTIL a moment when his mother had got back up onstage and was introducing the audience to the dogs. She held up a particularly cute puppy with one ear that flopped all the way over. All attention was on the puppy as the other guests oohed and aahed at its cuteness. He didn’t think anyone would notice him slip away and make his way out of the hotel.
Ten minutes later he saw Lizzie creep out of the Hotel Harbourside exit and cross the road to where he waited. For a moment she didn’t see him and her wary look made his heart leap.
He couldn’t have anticipated how fast things were moving with her. But he was a man used to making quick life-or-death decisions. He had decided he wanted to take a chance on Lizzie Dumont—and no obstacle was going to be allowed to stand in the way of them becoming a couple. That included his own doubts.
She caught sight of him and smiled—a joyous smile tinged with mischief, just like the smile he had fallen for when he had first met her at the pre-wedding outing. She ran over the road to meet him under the palm tree that edged the beach. ‘I feel like a naughty schoolgirl sneaking out like this,’ she said with a delightful giggle.
Funny, he hadn’t been attracted to her when she was a schoolgirl. It was the woman she’d become who’d caught his attention.
‘So where’s the dance floor?’ she asked.
‘Down there.’ He indicated the beach with an expansive wave of his hand. ‘If we dance down there and to the left we’ll be out of sight of the hotel.’
Her gasp of pleasure was the biggest reward he could have asked for. ‘So