Free The Lie of Love by Belinda Martin Page B

later,’ he said, leaning in and lowering his voice with a smouldering
look. Darcy glanced across at Amanda but she was busy chatting to the vicar’s
wife who had come over during a brief lull in the hot drinks trade. 
    ‘I hope you like them,’ Darcy
replied, not knowing what else to say. Was he really flirting with her? Or did
he talk like that to everyone?  She had always liked to think she could
read people and that she knew flirting when she saw it, but to have it directed
at her by someone who could so obviously have almost any girl he wanted – girl being the operative word, not a woman who was almost old enough to be his
mother? She couldn’t be reading the situation right, surely? Her judgement was
clouded by the strange effect he had on her; that could be the only
explanation. Besides, she was married and he was the son of a woman who was
fast becoming a good friend.  Whether he was flirting or
not, she couldn’t let it become anything else.
    ‘I’m sure I will,’ he grinned,
his voice at a more natural level again, the supercharged moment seemingly gone
as quickly as it had come.  ‘I might even stuff these right now and come
back for more.’
    ‘You’ll be sick if you’re not
careful, Harry…’ Julia’s voice seemed to come from nowhere – Darcy hadn’t even
notice her cross the room from her own stall to theirs. She was suddenly
gripped by a cold fear that Julia had seen the exchange between her and Harry,
but she seemed so relaxed and unconcerned that Darcy realised, with a rush of relief, that she couldn’t have done.  ‘I need some
change if you have a little over here,’ Julia added.
    ‘You’ve seen me eat way more cake
than this in one go and come back for more,’ Harry laughed.
    ‘Just don’t think I’m going to be
nursing your stomach ache later on,’ his mother replied in a brisk tone. Darcy
gave her a handful of change she had pulled from her apron pocket and Julia was
across the room again without another word. Harry looked at Darcy with an
impish grin.
    ‘If I get stomach ache later, I
think it’s only right it’s nursed by the woman who gave it to me.’
    Darcy’s mouth dropped open this
time, but before she had the appropriate reply in her head, he was waving a
casual hand and making his way to the doors. ‘Later, Mum,’ he shouted.
    Julia waved
in return, and then he was gone.
    After a restless night, Darcy woke to Ged tossing the free newspaper onto the pillow beside
her.
    ‘Your story is in,’ he said as he
wandered from the room again, fiddling with the top button of his work shirt.
    Darcy rubbed her eyes and
snatched up the paper, flicking the pages to find the photo of her, Sophie and
Jake the photographer had taken in their front garden a few days before.
    She found
it, accompanied by the headline:
    SOPHIE’S WISH TO TAKE FIRST
STEPS: Local mum in 45K charity bid to make her daughter’s dreams of
walking come true.
    Darcy smiled. It was a lovely photo of the three of them.
She and Jake had been asked to group around Sophie in her wheelchair and kiss
her on either cheek.  Darcy had thought it seemed a bit cheesy at the
time, but now, as she looked at it, she realised that the photographer might
just be a master of manipulation. Sophie looked adorable and just on the right
side of needy and appealing without looking pathetic, while Jake and Darcy
looked loving and dedicated. It was bound to pull at heartstrings, and in her cynical
mind, that was exactly what Darcy wanted the article to achieve.  She only
wished that Ged would have
put his prejudices aside and taken part in the photo shoot too.
    Reaching
over to the bedside table for her phone, she tapped out a quick text to Amanda. 
Her friend’s reply didn’t take long to come back:
    I’ve just seen it. Looks fabulous. X
    It did look fabulous, Darcy
agreed silently as she looked again. But local newspaper star or not, she had a
family to get ready for the day. Yawning, she clambered out of bed