Blood Ties Read Online Free

thoroughly pissed off. And I know I’m reacting to what might have happened to Miriam. I know I’m wondering what I’d have felt if it had been you, but Naomi, love, I’m not just reacting to the fear, I’m ready for a change and I think, I hope, that you are too?’
    Beneath the table, Napoleon harrumphed, and conversation paused as the waitress delivered chocolate brownies and cream. Naomi felt for her spoon and poked thoughtfully at the cake. ‘I am,’ she said. ‘I do think I am, but Alec, let’s take it slow. Decisions like this shouldn’t be made in anger or out of frustration. Let’s make a deal. We take this time just as holiday, enjoy it, and in a week or two, when we’ve both had time to think, we talk it all through again.’
    â€˜Deal,’ Alec said. ‘Eat your pudding and we’ll drive to Wells. I want to see the cathedral.’
    â€˜You do know we don’t have to do it all in one day,’ she reminded him.
    â€˜Oh, but I have a list,’ he said. ‘You want to hear it?’
    She heard him rustling about, exploring his coat pockets. Heard the sound of paper being unfolded. Several sheets from the sound of it. ‘How long is this list?’
    â€˜Oh, long enough, a couple of pages. This is an interesting part of the world, you know. Abbeys and battlefields and fossils and—’
    â€˜Alec, when did you write this list?’ Naomi felt caught between amusement and concern.
    â€˜Oh, this morning.’
    â€˜No, you didn’t. We got up, had breakfast and came straight out. When this morning?’
    Alec hesitated. ‘I’m not sure what time it was,’ he admitted. ‘Naomi, love, I couldn’t sleep. There were all these guide books and tourist pamphlets in the drawer and I thought, well, I didn’t want to wake you up, so I made a list.’
    â€˜Alec . . .’
    â€˜Naomi, don’t. Please. I just made a list. Just enjoy it with me and let me work the rest out for myself.’
    â€˜It shouldn’t just be for you. Two of us in this, remember?’
    â€˜I know and I’m not trying to shut you out. I’m just . . . I don’t know what I am.’
    Naomi hesitated, questions jostling for position, so many things she felt she ought to say. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, a leftover habit from her sighted days. She felt Alec tense, knew he recognized the ancient tic and what it meant. ‘OK,’ she said finally, trying to keep her tone light. ‘No questions, no discussion, no mining of the psyche.’
    â€˜Glad to hear it! You probably need a license for psyche mining.’
    â€˜For now.’ Naomi finished firmly. ‘I’ll go along with whatever you feel you need to do. We’ll work our way through your list and we’ll pretend nothing else matters. You never know, by the time we reach page three – Alec, I can hear the difference between unfolding two sheets of paper and three, so don’t try and kid me. By the time we reach the bottom of page three, maybe nothing else will matter any more. But if it does, we have to talk. We really do.’
    â€˜Deal,’ he said. He seemed to be using that word a lot lately, Naomi thought. She fixed her attention on her brownie, wondering where all this was leading to and what on earth Alec, a career police officer, could find to do that would fill such a massive place in his life.

THREE
    T heir days fell into an easy pattern. Leaving the B&B after a very substantial breakfast, working through the items on Alec’s list, eating lunch in a rural pub and then returning to the B&B in time to shower and change before going next door to The Lamb for their evening meal and a drink or two.
    The Lamb was a friendly place, mostly locals at this time of the year but also a few diners from round and about. They found that its reputation was well founded and the food