Accidental Reunion Read Online Free PDF

Jez, but it might get a bit expensive. I mean, there’s Declan and Diana to thank as well. The flowers will do nicely.’
    As he left, Lila returned to her seat amid the howls of her colleagues. ‘How do you do it, Lila? Gorgeous men dropping at your feet and you just kick them away.’
    The only one not joining in with the laughter was Declan. Suddenly his empty plate was being examined thoroughly.
    ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Lila said softly. ‘Years of practice, I guess. I mean, it starts off with meals and flowers, but we all know how it ends up.’
    Declan looked up, catching her eye as he did so. This time she held his gaze, her words directed at him alone. ‘And I’m never going to be let down again.’

CHAPTER TWO
    ‘H I , L ILA , how was your night?’
    ‘Pretty busy.’ Lila kissed her aunt, Shirley, on the cheek. ‘How has Mum been?’
    ‘The same. We’ll have a cuppa and then we’ll give her a bath.’ Shirley filled the kettle, as she did every morning when Lila arrived home, but there was something wooden about her movements, an awkwardness that didn’t go undetected. ‘Lila, I need to talk to you about something.’
    Lila felt her heart plummet. She had known this day was coming, and in the last few weeks had sensed it was even more imminent. Sitting at the kitchen table, she tried for a futile moment to imagine she’d somehow misread the signs. But as Shirley joined her, unable to meet her eyes, Lila knew the news she had been dreading was about to be delivered.
    ‘Your uncle Ted has been offered early retirement,’ Shirley said finally.
    Ted was a security officer and worked the same shifts as Lila. It worked well, or at least it had until now…While Ted worked Shirley looked after Elizabeth, and when Ted was off Lila took over, allowing Ted and Shirley to live their lives.
    ‘He wants to take it, Lila. I didn’t want to worry you with our problems but Ted has been having a few health issues of his own. Nothing to worry about,’ she quickly reassured her as she saw the look of concernflash over Lila’s face. ‘Just a couple of men’s issues. He’d be so embarrassed if he knew I was discussing it with you. The thing is, Ted deserves his retirement. He’s worked so hard. We want to be able to go away, have holidays. We always dreamed of taking the combo van and travelling around Australia…’ Shirley dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. ‘I feel so torn. Elizabeth’s my sister. I’d do anything to help her. But Ted’s my husband, and he’s been a good one. How many men would take in their sister-in-law and niece? I’m sorry,’ she said quickly, ‘I didn’t mean it to come out like that.’
    ‘I know,’ Lila said softly, taking her aunt’s hand from across the table to show that no offence had been taken. ‘You and Ted have been marvellous.’
    They had been. Almost as soon as Elizabeth had been diagnosed, Shirley, realising the impossibility of the situation, had suggested that both Lila and Elizabeth move in with her and Ted to share the burden. Shirley was an eccentric, to say the least, and with no children of their own, opening their house the way they had, it had been a huge upheaval. Yet they had borne it all cheerfully, never once grumbling about how their lives had been turned around by Elizabeth’s illness.
    But now it was time for change.
    ‘I know you don’t want her to go into a home. But, Lila, your mum…’ She struggled for the words to describe the shell that remained of what had once been an elegant, eloquent woman. ‘Your mum wouldn’t know any different.’
    ‘But I’d know. Mum would hate the—’
    ‘She’d hate the fact you’ve given up your life tolook after her,’ Shirley interrupted. ‘She’d hate the fact you work so hard and then come home at the end of a long night just to start all over again. Hate the fact you hardly ever go out.’
    Lila searched for an answer. The last thing she wanted to do was make this horrible situation worse