‘Well, you’re that as well.’
Dylan raised an eyebrow. ‘Thank you. If that was meant to be a compliment.’
‘A backhanded one,’ she confirmed.
He smiled at her. ‘That’s what I like about you. You never sugar-coat stuff.’
‘There’s no point. I’ve had it with charm.’
‘Ouch.’ He looked serious. ‘Want to talk about it?’
‘We already have. I told you I had rubbish taste in men. That’s just another example. I fall for the charm every time—hook, line and sinker.’
He reached over and stroked her cheek, and every nerve-end in her skin zinged. ‘Something I should tell you. You’re usually right, too, when we argue. You make me think things through in a different way. And that’s a good thing.’
‘Think outside the regular tetrahedron?’ she asked
‘There’s absolutely nothing regular tetrahedron about you, Emmy.’
‘Thank you. If that was meant to be a compliment,’ she threw back at him.
His eyes crinkled at the corners again. And how ridiculous that it made her heart skip a beat.
‘It was. And thank you for your help. You might just have made the difference.’ He looked at her mouth. ‘Emmy. You were brilliant, tonight.’ His voice deepened, grew huskier. And then he leaned forward and pressed the lightest, sweetest kiss against her lips.
It was anatomically impossible, but he made her feel as if her heart had just turned over. How could she help herself resting her palm against his cheek, feeling the faint prickle of stubble against her fingertips? Especially when his hands slid down her sides, resting lightly against her hips as he drew her closer.
Then she panicked. She couldn’t feel like this about Dylan. She just couldn’t. She took a step back. ‘We...’
‘Yeah. I know. Sorry.’ He raked a hand through his hair. ‘That didn’t happen.’
‘No. It was just adrenaline, because we were both panicking about dinner.’
‘Absolutely,’ he said as she took another step back. ‘I’ll finish up in here. You go and...’ He blew out a breath. ‘Whatever. I’ll see you later.’
She took the hint and made herself scarce. Before she did something really stupid, like kissing him again.
DYLAN WAS TWITCHY for the next couple of days, though Emmy understood why. She’d been in the same situation herself, not so long ago.
On Saturday morning at breakfast, she said, ‘Right, you need to get out of the house.’
‘What?’ Dylan looked at her as if she were speaking Martian.
‘Waiting. It’s the pits. And if you stay in and try and concentrate on work, you’ll end up brooding. So you’re coming out with Ty and me to get some fresh air. Isn’t he, Ty?’
The baby gurgled and banged his spoon against the tray of his high chair. ‘Dih-dih!’
‘It sounds as if you have something in mind,’ Dylan said.
Emmy nodded. ‘I’ve been making a list of places to go with him. We can always go to the park with the slide and the swings on sunny days, but it’s no good on rainy or cold days. And this is one I’ve been looking forward to.’
* * *
She was mysterious about where they were going, and Dylan didn’t have a clue until they were standing outside what looked like an Edwardian greenhouse with a large banner that proclaimed it to be the House of Butterflies.
When they were inside, he discovered that the greenhouse was full of lush vegetation and had a slightly humid, warm atmosphere. He could hear the sound of water falling, so he realised there must be a fountain somewhere. There were butterflies of all sizes and colours, some huge and vivid. He’d never seen so many in one place before.
Ty seemed to love it, watching the butterflies opening and closing their wings as they perched on a flower or fluttered overhead. He reached out to them, waggling his fingers as if copying the movement of their wings.
‘Look—those people over there are standing very still, and the butterflies are landing on them,’ Emmy exclaimed, looking enchanted.
She tried it herself, and her face was suffused with wonder when a butterfly landed on her. Dylan wished for a second that he had a camera to capture that expression.
They wandered through the different sections of the enormous greenhouse, looking at the butterflies and the flowers; Dylan was surprised by how much it made him relax.
‘Thank you for bringing me here. I was getting a bit scratchy. Sorry, I haven’t been very nice to live with.’
She patted his arm, and the feel of her skin against his made him tingle. ‘That’s OK. I was the same when I was waiting. And you did the same for me, when you took me to the sea,’ she said. ‘I just thought this might be something different.’
‘I would never have thought to go to a butterfly house.’
‘To be fair, it hasn’t been open for that long, so you probably wouldn’t have known about it.’ She smiled at him. ‘Do you mind if I take a few photos?’
‘Sure, go ahead. I’ll take Ty.’
He took over the pushchair, and she took various photographs with her phone. Including, to his surprise, the roof of the greenhouse. He’d expected her to concentrate on the butterflies. Then again, Emmy seemed to see things in a different way from most people.
In the next section, there was a terrarium full of chrysalises, and they could actually see some of the pupae emerging from their cocoons.
‘That’s amazing. I never saw anything like that when I was a kid,’ Dylan said.
‘Did you have a garden?’
He nodded. ‘My grandparents had a huge garden, and my gran loved butterflies and bees—she had shrubs to attract them. My grandfather preferred the more practical stuff, growing fruit and vegetables. And I used to have to help weed the garden whenever I was there.’
‘Sounds as if you weren’t keen.’
‘I was a child,’ he said. ‘But I’ve never had a garden since.’
And they’d neglected Pete and Ally’s garden, just mowing the lawn.
In the section after, there was a waterfall and a pond with huge red and white goldfish. Emmy unbuckled Tyler from his pushchair and held him up so he had a good view of the pond. ‘See the red fish, Ty?’
‘Fiiih,’ said the little boy.
He saw the shock on Emmy’s face and the way she suddenly held Tyler that little bit tighter, as if she’d been near to dropping him. ‘Did you hear that, Dylan? He said “fish”!’
‘I heard.’ And it was crazy to feel so proud of him. Then again, Tyler was the nearest he’d ever get to having a son. Something he’d always thought he didn’t want, but now he knew he did.
Tyler clapped his hands with delight, and Emmy beamed at him. ‘Clever boy.’
* * *
This, Emmy thought, was the perfect day. Tyler learning a new word. Sharing this amazing spectacle with him and with Dylan. And the butterfly house definitely seemed to have taken Dylan’s mind off the wait to hear from Ted Burroughs.
In the next section, Dylan found a giant stripy caterpillar