Page 127 of Pull Me Under

‘Right,’ I say. ‘Good for him.’

‘Should be nice.’ Cal’s watching me carefully now. ‘We’ve invited Brynn too, actually. Cassie’s idea – thought she could do with meeting more people. Settling in properly.’

Everything in my body goes very still.

‘Brynn.’

‘Mmhm. She seemed pleased about it. Said she’d be there around seven.’

Brynn. At dinner. With Morgan bloody Morrison, who has an easy smile and an Edinburgh flat and the ability to hold a conversation with a woman without looking like he’s swallowed his own tongue. Morgan, who hasn’t got a family feud no one understands hanging over his head. Morgan, who could just … ask her out. Publicly. Like a normal person.

‘Something wrong?’ Cal asks, all innocence.

‘No.’

Tom’s grinning now, not even trying to hide it. ‘You sure? Only you’ve gone a bit tense there, mate.’

‘I’m not tense.’

‘You look like you’re about to crack a molar.’

I force my jaw to unclench. ‘Just didn’t know he was back, that’s all.’

‘Mmm.’ Tom exchanges a glance with Cal. And it’s a glance that says I’m enjoying this far too much and also I’m a dick. ‘Must be strange, that. Finding out your crewmate’s having dinner with Cal’s eligible younger brother.’

‘She can have dinner with whoever she wants.’

‘Course she can.’

‘It’s nothing to do with me.’

‘Absolutely.’

‘We’re just crewmates.’

Tom nods, solemn. ‘Just crewmates. Who look at each other like the rest of us aren’t even in the room.’

‘Tom.’ Cal’s voice carries a warning, but his eyes are laughing.

‘What’s going on, Jude?’ Tom’s not letting this go. ‘Thought you two were just crewmates?’

I glower at him. Properly glower – the kind of look that makes deckhands find somewhere else to be. Tom just grins wider.

‘We’re going to be late,’ Cal says, clapping me on the shoulder. ‘Cassie will have my head if I leave the food to burn in the oven again.’ He gives me one last look – part amusement, part what might actually be sympathy. ‘You should come by sometime, Jude. Always room for one more.’

They walk off toward the hill, Tom’s laugh carrying back on the evening breeze. I catch him muttering, ‘Just crewmates, my arse,’ and Cal’s low chuckle in response.

I stand there, watching them go.

Brynn at the Morrison dinner table. Brynn being welcomed into a family that isn’t weighed down with grudges and ghosts. Brynn meeting Morgan, who’ll probably be charming and attentive and everything I’m not.

I could go to Trelawney Cottage. Intercept her before she leaves. Tell her – what? Don’t go? That’s not fair. She deserves to have friends, to feel part of things.

But then again…

If she’s going to dinner, there’s nothing stopping me from going to dinner too.

Cal did say there was always room for one more.