They’d agreed early on that they’d work as a team and support each other when they needed it. But had their kiss cancelled out that agreement?
Maybe if she made something really special for dinner, it would knock Dylan off balance and he’d talk to her. And then she could ask him.
She browsed through Ally’s cookery books and found a fabulous recipe for monkfish wrapped in parma ham. It seemed pretty simple to cook but it looked really swish. That would have to do the trick, surely? She made a list of what she needed and took Tyler out in his pram to the parade of shops round the corner. After the fishmonger’s, she went to the deli, the baker’s and the greengrocer’s.
She chatted to the baby on the way. ‘This could be my big career break. Clap your hands and wish Aunty Emmy good luck, Ty.’
Tyler clapped his hands and giggled. She laughed back at him. ‘You’re just gorgeous—you know that?’
So was Dylan.
And she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that.
She played with the baby when they got home; both of them thoroughly enjoyed the bubble-blowing. Tyler was grabbing toys now and rattling them. It was amazing how a little one could take over your life like this. Emmy could see entirely why Ally hadn’t wanted to go back to the job she’d once loved, not once Tyler was around.
Then her phone beeped. She checked it to find a text message from Dylan. Sorry, emergency project meeting. Will be late home. Let me know if problem.
Normally, Emmy would’ve been a bit cross at the late notice of a rota change; but today she was relieved, as it would mean that Dylan would come home feeling slightly in her debt and he might be more amenable to what she wanted to ask.
And then she felt horrible and manipulative. That really wasn’t fair of her. It was an emergency meeting, after all, so he must be up to his eyes.
She fed Tyler some puréed apple—his food repertoire was expanding beautifully now—then gave him a bath, not minding that he kept banging his toy duck into the foamy water and splashing her. She put him to bed, sang to him and put his light show on, then changed into dry clothes and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
There was another text from Dylan on her phone. On way now. Sorry.
Oh, help. He’d be here before dinner was ready, at this rate.
She prepared the monkfish hastily and put it in the oven, then finished laying the table in the dining room.
Dylan walked in holding a bouquet of bright pink gerberas and deep blue irises, the kind of flowers she loved and bought herself as an occasional treat. ‘For you,’ he said, and handed it to her.
She stared at him, surprised. Why on earth would Dylan buy her flowers? It wasn’t her birthday, and they weren’t in the kind of relationship where he’d buy her flowers. ‘Thank you. They’re, um, lovely.’
‘But?’
Obviously it was written all over her face. She gave him a rueful smile. ‘I was just wondering why you’d bought me flowers.’
‘Because I’m feeling guilty about being late,’ he said.
Even if he said no to helping her, at least this late meeting had thawed the ice between them. And she was grateful for that.
‘I bought them from the supermarket on the way home from the office. Sorry I’m late,’ he said again.
‘It’s not a problem. You gave me as much notice as you could. Come and sit down in the dining room; dinner’s almost ready. You’ve obviously had a tough day.’
‘You could say that.’ He didn’t elaborate, and Emmy wasn’t sure enough of herself to push him.
She poured him a glass of wine, then served dinner.
He frowned. ‘This is a bit posh. And we normally eat in the kitchen. Is it some sort of special occasion? Your birthday?’
‘No-o,’ she hedged. ‘I just wanted to make a bit of an effort, that was all.’
Except the second she took her first mouthful she realised that something had gone wrong. Really, really wrong. Instead of the nice, tender fish she’d expected, it was rubbery and tough, and the potato cakes she’d made were a bit too crisp at the edges.
‘Oh, no—I’m sure I followed the recipe to the letter. I must’ve had the oven up too high or something.’
But Dylan didn’t look annoyed, just rueful. ‘Well, it looked nice.’
‘And it tastes vile.’ She grimaced. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t worry. Tell you what—get rid of this, and I’ll order us pizza.’ He took his mobile phone out of his pocket and tapped in a number.
She took their plates to the kitchen and scraped the food into the bin. Right then, she wanted to burst into tears. She’d ruined dinner. How could she ask him a favour now?
‘Hey, it could easily have happened when I was cooking. Don’t worry about it,’ he said, coming into the kitchen to join her.
She wasn’t worried about the food.
When she didn’t reply, he rested a hand on her shoulder. ‘Emmy, what’s wrong?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I was going to ask you a favour. I can’t now.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because, instead of giving you a decent dinner, I served you something disgusting.’
He waved a dismissive hand. ‘It’s not a problem, Emmy—though maybe in future it might be an idea to stick to stuff you actually know how to cook?’
‘I guess so,’ she said ruefully.
‘So what did you want to ask me?’
She squirmed. ‘There isn’t an easy way to ask.’
‘Straight out will do.’
‘I got a call from one of the big glossy magazines. They want to do a feature on up-and-coming British jewellery designers and they want to interview me.’
‘That’s good, isn’t it?’ he asked.
‘Ye-es.’
‘But?’
She sighed. ‘But they want me to make some jewellery and their deadline’s massively tight. My guess is that someone dropped out at the last minute and I was a second choice, and I think there are another two designers they’ve asked as well, so there’s no guarantee I’ll be included anyway.’
‘But they still asked you, and that’s the main thing. How tight is the deadline?’
This was the deal-breaker, she knew. ‘They’ve asked me to create something totally new for them. So I need to spend the next four days working solidly to get the pieces made on time for their shoot.’
‘So you need me to take over Tyler’s care for the next four days?’
She nodded. ‘But you had an emergency project meeting tonight, so you’re clearly up to your eyes and it’s not doable.’
‘I can delegate.’
‘I’ll just have to pass and ask if they’d consider me in the future. If I tell them about Ty, maybe then they’ll be understanding and won’t think I’m too lazy and just making