WHEN AUDRA REACHED in the fridge for the milk for her morning coffee and found yet another set of printouts—in a plastic sleeve, no less, that would presumably protect them from moisture and condensation—it was all she could do not to scream.
She and Finn had spent the last three days avoiding each other. She’d tried telling herself that suited her just fine, but...
It should suit her just fine. She had the beach to herself in the mornings, while Finn took the car and presumably headed into the village. And then he had the beach in the afternoons while she commandeered the car. In terms of avoiding each other, it worked perfectly. It was just...
She blew out a breath. She wished avoidance tactics weren’t necessary. She wished they could go back to laughing and having fun and teasing each other as they had before that stupid kiss.
And before she’d got all indignant about Rupert’s overprotectiveness, and galled that Finn had unquestioningly fallen into line with it...and angry with herself for not having challenged it earlier. Where once her brother’s protectiveness had made her feel cared for, now it left her feeling as if she was a family liability who needed safeguarding against her own foolishness.
Because of Thomas?
Or because if she could no longer hold tight to the label of being responsible and stable then...then what could she hold onto?
Stop it! Of course she was still responsible and stable. Thomas had been a mistake, and everyone was entitled to one mistake, right? Just as long as she didn’t compound that by doing something stupid with Finn; just as long as she maintained a sense of responsibility and calm and balance, and remembered who he was and remembered who she was.
Sloshing milk into her coffee, she went to throw the printouts in the bin when her gaze snagged on some subtle changes to the pictures. Curiosity warred with self-denial. Curiosity won. Grabbing a croissant—Finn always made sure there was a fresh supply—she slipped outside to the picnic table to pore over the designs of this achingly and heart-wrenchingly beautiful shop.
Letting her hair down and doing things she wanted to do just for the sake of it—for fun—hadn’t helped the burning in her soul whenever she was confronted with these pictures. They were snapshots of a life she could never have. And with each fresh reminder—and for some reason Finn seemed hell-bent on reminding her—that burn scorched itself into her deeper and deeper.
She bit into the croissant, she sipped coffee, but she tasted nothing.
Ever since Finn had kissed her she’d...wanted.
She’d wanted to kiss him again. She wanted more. She’d not known that a kiss could fill you with such a physical need. That it could make you crave so hard. She was twenty-seven years old. She’d thought she knew about attraction. She’d had good sex before. But that kiss had blown her preconceptions out of the stratosphere. And it had left her floundering. Because there was no way on God’s green earth that she and Finn could go there. She didn’t doubt that in the short term it’d be incredible, but ultimately it’d be destructive. She wasn’t going to be responsible for that kind of pain—for wounding friendships and devastating family ties and connections.
She couldn’t do that to Rupert.
She wouldn’t do that to Finn.
But the kiss had left her wanting more from life too. And she didn’t know how to make that restlessness and sense of dissatisfaction go away.
So she’d tried a different strategy in the hope it would help. Instead of reining in all her emotions and desires, she’d let a few of them loose. Finn was right: if there was ever a time to rebel it was now when she was on holiday. She’d hoped a mini-rebellion would help her deal with her attraction for Finn. She’d hoped it would help her deal with the dreary thought of returning home to her job.
She’d gone dancing. It’d been fun.
She’d taken an art class and had learned about form and perspective. Her drawing had been terrible, but moving a pencil across paper had soothed her. The focus of next week’s class was going to be composition. Her shoulders sagged. Except she wouldn’t be here next week.
She’d even gone jetskiing again. It’d felt great to be zipping across the water. But no sooner had she returned the jetski than her restlessness had returned.
She pressed her hands to her face and then pulled them back through her hair. She’d hoped those things would help ease the ache in her soul, but they hadn’t. They’d only fed it. It had been a mistake to come here.
And she wished to God Finn had never kissed her!
‘Morning, Audra.’
As if her thoughts had conjured him, Finn appeared. His wide grin and the loose easy way he settled on the seat opposite with a bowl of cereal balanced in one hand inflamed her, though she couldn’t have said why. She flicked the offending printouts towards him. ‘Why are you leaving these all over the house?’
He ate a spoonful of cereal before gesturing to them. ‘Do you like the changes I’ve made?’
‘I—’
‘Market research suggests that locating the point of sale over here provides for “a more comfortable retail experience”—’ he made quotation marks in the air with one hand ‘—for the customer.’
She had to physically refrain from reaching across and shaking him. Drawing in a breath, she tried to channel responsible, calm balance. ‘Why does any of this matter?’
‘Because it needs to be perfect.’
Her chest clenched. Her eyes burned. Balance fled. ‘Why?’
He shrugged and ate more cereal. ‘Because that’s what I do. I create designs as near perfect as possible.’
Didn’t he know what these pictures and the constant reminders were doing to her?
He pulled the sheets from their plastic sleeve. ‘What do you think about this shelving arrangement? It’s neither better nor more functional than the ones you’ve already chosen, but apparently this design is all the range in Scandinavia at the moment, so I thought I’d throw it into the mix just to see what you thought?’
She couldn’t help it; she had to look. The sleek lines were lovely, but these didn’t fit in with the overall feel she was trying to achieve at all.
You’re not trying to achieve an overall feel, remember? Pipe dream!
With a growl she slapped the picture facedown.
‘No?’ He raised one eyebrow—perfectly—which set her teeth even further on edge. ‘Fair enough.’
‘Enough already,’ she countered through gritted teeth. ‘Stop plastering these designs all over the house. I’ve had enough. I can see you do good work—excellent work. I’m sorry I misjudged you, but I believe I’ve already apologised. I’ll apologise again if you need me to. But stop with the pictures. Please.’
He abandoned his breakfast to lean back and stare at her. She couldn’t help wondering what he saw—a repressed woman he’d like to muss up?
It was what she wanted to believe. If it were true it’d provide her with a form of protection. But it wasn’t true. She knew that kiss had shaken him as much as it’d shaken her. It was why he’d avoided her for these last few days as assiduously as she had him.
‘I’ll stop with the pictures of the shop if you answer one question for me.’
‘Oh, here we go again.’ She glared. She didn’t raise an eyebrow. She needed more practice before she tried that again. She folded her arms instead. ‘Ask your question.’
He leaned towards her. The perfect shape of his mouth had a sigh rising up through her. ‘Why are you working as an operations manager instead of opening up your dream shop here on this island and living a life that makes you happy?’
She flinched. His words were like an axe to her soul. How did he know? When Rupert, Cora and Justin had no idea? When she’d been so careful that none of them should know?
He held up the printouts and shook them at her. ‘Your face when you described this shop, Audra... You came alive. It was...’
Her heart thumped so hard she could barely breathe.
‘Magnificent,’ he finally decided. ‘And catching.’
She blinked. ‘Catching...how?’
‘Contagious! Your enthusiasm was contagious. I’ve not felt that enthusiastic about anything—’
He broke off with a frown. ‘—for a long time,’ he finished. He stared at each of the three pictures. ‘I want you to have this shop. I want you to have this life. I don’t understand why you’re punishing yourself.’
Her head reared back. ‘I’m not punishing myself.’
‘I’m sorry, Princess, but that’s not what it looks like from where I’m sitting.’
‘I do worthy work!’ She shot to her feet, unable to sit for the agitation roiling through her. ‘The work the Russel Corporation does is important.’ She strode across to the bluff to stare out at the turquoise water spread below.
‘I’m not disputing that.’ His voice came from just behind her. ‘But...so what?’
She spun to face him. ‘How can you say that? Look at the amazing things Rupert, Cora and Justin are doing.’
His jaw dropped. ‘This is about sibling rivalry? Come on, Audra, you’re twenty-seven years old. I know you always wanted to keep up with the others when you were younger, but—’ He scanned her face, rocked back on his heels. ‘It’s not about sibling rivalry.’
‘No,’ she said. It was about sibling loyalty. Family loyalty.
He remained silent, just...waiting.
She pressed her fingers to her temples for a moment before letting her arms drop back to her sides. ‘When our mother died it felt like the end of the world.’
He reached out and closed his hand around hers and she suddenly felt less alone, less...diminished. She gripped his hand and stared doggedly out to sea. She couldn’t look at him. If she looked at him she might cry. ‘She was the lynchpin that kept all our worlds turning. The crazy thing was I never realised that until she was gone.’ She hauled in a breath. ‘And the work she did at the Russel Corporation was crucial.’
Karen Russel had been the administrator of the Russel Corporation’s charity arm, and Audra’s father had valued her in that role without reservation. Humanitarian endeavours formed a key component of the corporation’s mission statement and it wasn’t one he was comfortable trusting to anyone outside the family.
‘But her influence was so much wider than that.’ She blinked against the sting in her eyes. ‘She worked out a strategy for Rupert to evolve into the role of CEO; she researched laboratories that would attract the most funding and would therefore provide Cora with the most promising opportunities. If she’d lived long enough she’d have found excellent funding for Justin’s efforts in South-East Asia.’ Justin was implementing a dental-health programme to the impoverished populations in Cambodia. He had ambitions to take his programme to all communities in need throughout South-East Asia.
She felt him turn towards her. ‘Instead you found those funding opportunities for him. You should be proud of yourself.’
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he stilled. She couldn’t look at him. He swore softly. ‘Audra—’
‘When our mother died, I’d never seen the rest of my family so devastated.’ She shook her hand free. ‘I wanted to make things better for them. You should’ve seen my father’s relief when I said I’d take over my mother’s role in the corporation after I’d finished university. Justin floundered towards the end of his last year of study. He had exams coming up but started panicking about the licences and paperwork he needed to file to work in Cambodia, and finding contacts there. The laboratory Cora worked for wanted sponsorship from business and expected her to approach the family corporation. And Rupert...well, he missed the others so having me around to boss helped.’
She’d stepped into the breach because Karen was no longer there to do it. And someone had to. It’d broken her heart to see her siblings hurting so badly.
Finn had turned grey. He braced his hands on his knees, and she couldn’t explain why, but she had to swallow the lump that did everything it could to lodge in her throat. ‘You’ve been what they’ve all needed you to be.’
‘I’m not a martyr, Finn. I love my family. I’m proud I’ve been able to help.’ Helping them had helped her to heal. It’d given her a focus, when her world had felt as if it were spinning out of control.
He straightened, his eyes dark. ‘She wouldn’t want this for you.’
‘You don’t know that.’ She lifted her chin. ‘I think she’d be proud of me.’
He chewed on his bottom lip, his brows lowering over his eyes. ‘Have you noticed how each of you have coped with your mother’s death in different ways?’
She blinked.
‘Rupert became super-protective of you all.’
Rupert had always been protective, but... She nodded. He’d become excessively so since their mother’s death.
‘Cora threw herself into study. She wanted to top every class she took.’
Cora had found solace in her science textbooks.
‘Justin started living more in the moment.’
She hadn’t thought about it in those terms, but she supposed he had.
One corner of Finn’s mouth lifted. ‘Which means he leaves things to the last minute and relies on his little sister to help make them right.’
Her lips lifted too.
‘While you, Princess...’ He sobered. ‘You’ve tried to fill the hole your mother has left behind.’
She shook her head. ‘Only the practical day-to-day stuff.’ Nobody could fill the emotional hole she’d left behind.
‘Your siblings have a genuine passion for what they do, though. They’re following their dreams.’
And in a small way she’d been able to facilitate that. She didn’t regret that for a moment.
‘You won’t be letting your mother down if you follow your own dreams and open a shop here on Kyanós.’
‘That’s not what it feels like.’ She watched a seabird circle and then dive into the water below. ‘If I leave the Russel Corporation it’ll feel as if I’m betraying them all.’
‘You’ll be the only who feels that way.’
The certainty in his tone had her swinging to him.
He lifted his hands to his head, before dropping them back to his sides. ‘Audra, they’re all doing work they love!’
‘Good!’ She stared at his fists and then into his face. He was getting really het-up about this. ‘I want them to love what they do.’
‘Then why don’t you extend yourself that same courtesy?’
He bellowed the words, and her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. He made it sound so easy. But it wasn’t! She loved being there for her brothers and sister. She loved that she could help them.
‘How would you feel if you discovered Rupert or Cora or Justin were doing their jobs just to keep you feeling comfortable and emotionally secure?’
Oh, that’d be awful! It’d—
She took a step away from him, swallowed. Her every muscle scrunched up tight. That scenario, it wasn’t synonymous with hers.
Why not?
She pressed her hands to her cheeks, trying to cool them. Her siblings were each brilliant in their own way—fiercely intelligent, politically savvy and driven. She wasn’t. Her dreams were so ordinary in comparison, so lacking in ambition. A part of her had always been afraid that her family would think she wasn’t measuring up to her potential.
Her heart started to pound. Had she been using her role in the family corporation as an excuse to hide behind? Stretching her own wings required taking risks, and those risks frightened her.
‘I hate to say this, Princess, but when you get right down to brass tacks you’re just a glorified administrator, a pen-pusher, and anyone can do the job that you do.’
* * *
‘Why don’t you tell me what you really think, Finn?’
The stricken expression in Audra’s eyes pierced straight through the centre of him. He didn’t want to hurt her. But telling her what he really thought was wiser than doing what he really wanted to do, which was kiss her.
He had to remind himself again of all the reasons kissing her was a bad idea.
He pulled in a breath. He didn’t want to hurt her. He wanted to see her happy. He wanted to see her happy the way she’d been happy when describing her shop...when she’d been learning to ride a jetski...and when she’d been dancing. Did she truly think those things were frivolous and self-indulgent?
He tapped a fist against his lips as he stared out at the glorious view spread in front of them. The morning sun tinged everything gold, not so much as a breeze ruffled the air and it made the water look otherworldly still, and soft, like silk and mercury.
He pulled his hand back to his side. Right. ‘It’s my day.’
From the corner of his eye he saw her turn towards him. ‘Pardon?’
‘To choose our activities. It’s my day.’
She folded her arms and stuck out a hip. She was going to tell him to go to blazes—that she was spending the day on her own. She opened her mouth, but he rushed on before she could speak. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’
She snapped her mouth shut, but her gaze slid over him as if it couldn’t help it, and the way she swallowed and spun seawards again, her lips parted as if to draw much-needed air into her lungs, had his skin drawing tight. She was right. It’d be much wiser to continue to avoid each other.
But...
But he might never get this opportunity again. He wanted to prove to her that she had a right to be happy, to urge her to take that chance.
‘The yacht with the pink and blue sail is back.’
She pointed but he didn’t bother looking. ‘Please,’ he said quietly.
She met his gaze, her eyes searching his, before she blew out a breath and shrugged. ‘Okay. Fine.’
‘Dress code is casual and comfortable. We’re not hiking for miles or doing anything gruelling. I just... I’ve been exploring and I think I’ve found some things that will interest you.’
‘Sunhat and sandals...?’
‘Perfect. How soon can you be ready?’
One slim shoulder lifted. ‘Half an hour.’
‘Excellent.’ He gathered up his breakfast things and headed back towards the house before he did something stupid like kiss her.
* * *
Their first port of call was Angelo’s workshop. Angelo was a carpenter who lived on the far side of the village. He made and sold furniture from his renovated garage. Most of the pieces he made were too large for Audra’s hypothetical shop—chest of drawers, tables and chairs, bedheads and bookcases—but there were some smaller items Finn knew she’d like, like the pretty trinket boxes and old-fashioned writing desks that were designed to sit on one’s lap.
As he’d guessed, Audra was enchanted. She ran a finger along a pair of bookends. ‘The workmanship is exquisite.’
Finn nodded. ‘He says that each individual piece of wood that he works with tells him what it wants to be.’
‘You’ve spoken to him?’
‘Finn!’ Angelo rushed into the garage. ‘I thought that was your car out front. Come, you and Audra must have coffee with the family. Maria has just made baklava.’
‘Angelo!’ Audra gestured around the room. ‘I didn’t know you made such beautiful things.’
Finn stared at her. ‘You know Angelo?’
‘Of course! His brother Petros is Rupert’s gardener. And Maria used to work in the bakery.’
They stayed an hour.
Next Finn took Audra to Anastasia’s studio, which sat solitary on a windswept hill. He rolled his eyes. ‘Now you’re going to tell me you know Anastasia.’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve not had that pleasure.’
Anastasia took Audra for a tour of her photography studio while Finn trailed along behind. If the expression on Audra’s face was anything to go by, Anastasia’s photographs transfixed her. They’d transfixed him too. It was all he could do to drag her back to the car when the tour was finished.
Then it was back into the village to visit Eleni’s workshop, where she demonstrated how she made not only scented soap from products sourced locally, but a range of skincare and cosmetic products as well. Audra lifted a set of soaps in a tulle drawstring bag, the satin ribbon entwined with lavender and some other herbs Finn couldn’t identify. ‘These are packaged so prettily I can’t resist.’ She bought some candles too.
They visited a further two tradespeople—a leather worker who made wallets and purses, belts and ornately worked book jackets, and a jeweller. Audra came away with gifts for her entire family.
‘Hungry?’ he asked as he started the car. He’d walked this hill over the last three days, searching for distraction, but today, for the sake of efficiency, he’d driven.
‘Starved.’
They headed back down the hill to the harbour, and ate a late lunch of marida and spanakorizo at a taverna that had become a favourite. They dined beneath a bougainvillea-covered pergola and watched as the water lapped onto the pebbled beach just a few metres away.
Audra broke the silence first. ‘Anastasia’s work should hang in galleries. It’s amazing. Her photographs reveal a Greece so different from the tourist brochures.’
‘She’s seventy. She does everything the old way. She doesn’t even have the internet.’
She nodded and sipped her wine, before setting her wine glass down with a click. ‘I’d love for Isolde, one of my friends from school—she’s an interior decorator and stager, furnishes houses and apartments so they look their absolute best for selling—to see some of Angelo’s bigger pieces. She’d go into raptures over them.’ She started to rise. ‘We need to go back and take some photos so I can send her—’
‘My loukoumades haven’t come yet.’ He waved her back to her seat. ‘There’s time. We can go back tomorrow.’ He topped up her wine. ‘What about Eleni’s pretty smelly things? They’d look great in a shop.’
Audra shook her head and then nodded, as if holding a conversation with herself. ‘I should put her in touch with Cora’s old lab partner, Elise. Remember her? She moved into the cosmetic industry. Last I heard she was making a big push for eco-friendly products. I bet she’d love Eleni’s recipes.’
She was still putting everyone else’s needs before her own. The loukoumades came and a preoccupied Audra helped him eat them. While her attention was elsewhere, he couldn’t help but feast his eyes on her. She’d put on a little weight over the last eleven days. She had colour in her cheeks and her eyes sparked with interest and vitality. An ache grew inside him until he could barely breathe.
He tried to shake it off. Under his breath he called himself every bad name he could think of. Did he really find the allure of the forbidden so hard to resist?
He clenched his jaw. He would resist. He’d cut off his right hand rather than let Rupert down. He’d cut off his entire arm rather than ever hurt Audra.
But when she came alive like this, he couldn’t look away.
She slapped her hands lightly to the table. ‘I wonder how the villagers would feel about an annual festival.’
‘What kind of festival?’
‘One that showcases the local arts and crafts scene, plus all the fresh produce available here—the cured meats, the cheeses, the olive oils and...and...’
‘The loukoumades?’
‘Definitely the loukoumades!’
She laughed. She hadn’t laughed, not with him, since he’d kissed her...and the loss of that earlier intimacy had been an ache in his soul.
The thought that he might be able to recapture their earlier ease made his heart beat faster.
‘What?’ she said, touching her face, and he realised he was staring.
He forced himself backwards in his seat. ‘You’re amazing, you know that?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Me?’
‘Absolutely. Can’t you see how well you’d fit in here, and what a difference you could make? You’ve connections, energy and vision...passion.’
She visibly swallowed at that last word, and he had to force his gaze from the line of her throat. He couldn’t let it linger there or he’d be lost.
Her face clouded over. ‘I can’t just walk away from the Russel Corporation.’
‘Why not?’ He paused and then nodded. ‘Okay, you can’t leave just like that.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘You’d have to hang around long enough to train up your replacement...or recruit a replacement.’
He could see her overdeveloped sense of duty begin to overshadow her excitement at the possibilities life held for her. He refused to let it win. ‘Can you imagine how much your mother would’ve enjoyed the festival you just described?’
Her eyes filled.
‘I remember how much she used to enjoy the local market days on Corfu, back when the family used to holiday there...when we were all children,’ he said. Karen Russel had been driven and focussed, but she’d relished her downtime too.
‘I know. I just...’ Audra glanced skywards and blinked hard. ‘I’d just want her to be proud of me.’
Something twisted in Finn’s chest. Karen had died at a crucial stage in Audra’s life—when Audra had been on the brink of adulthood. She’d been tentatively working her way towards a path that would give her life purpose and meaning, and searching for approval and support from the woman she’d looked up to. Her siblings had all had that encouragement and validation, but it’d been cruelly taken from Audra. No wonder she’d lost her way. ‘Princess, I can’t see how she could be anything else.’
Blue eyes, swimming with uncertainty and remembered grief, met his.
‘Audra, you’re kind and you work hard. You love your family and are there for them whenever they need you. She valued those things. And I think she’d thank you from the bottom of her heart for stepping into the breach when she was gone and doing all the things that needed doing.’
A single tear spilled onto her cheek, and he had to blink hard himself.
‘The thing is,’ he forced himself to continue, ‘nobody needs you to do those things any more. And I’d lay everything on the bet that your mother would have loved the shop you described to me. Look at the way she lived her life—with passion and with zeal. She’d want you to do the same.’
Audra swiped her fingers beneath her eyes and pulled in a giant breath. ‘Can...can we walk for a bit?’
They walked along the harbour and Audra hooked her arm through his. The accidental brushing of their bodies as they walked was a sweet torture that made him prickle and itch and want, but she’d done it without thinking or forethought—as if she needed to be somehow grounded while her mind galloped at a million miles an hour. So he left it there and didn’t pull away, and fought against the growing need that pounded through him.
She eventually released him to sit on the low harbour wall, and he immediately wanted to drag her hand back into the crook of his arm and press his hand over it to keep it there.
‘So,’ she started. ‘You’re saying it wouldn’t be selfish of me to move here and open my shop?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. I know you can’t see it, but you don’t have a selfish bone in your body.’
Sceptical eyes lifted to meet his. ‘You really don’t think I’d be letting my family down if I did that?’
‘Absolutely not. I think they’d be delighted for you.’ He fell down beside her. ‘But don’t take my word for it. Ask them.’
She pondered his words and then frowned. ‘Do you honestly think I could fit in and become a permanent part of the community here on Kyanós?’
He did, but... ‘Don’t you?’ Because at the end of the day it wasn’t about what he thought. It was what she thought and believed that mattered.
‘I want to believe it,’ she whispered, ‘because I want so badly for it to be true. I’m afraid that’s colouring my judgement.’
He remained silent.
‘I don’t have half the talents of the artisans we visited today.’ She drummed her fingers against her thigh. ‘But I do have pretty good admin and organisational skills. I know how to run a business. I have my savings.’
She pressed her hands to her stomach. ‘And it’d be so exciting to showcase local arts and crafts in my shop—nobody else is doing that so I’d not be going into competition with another business on the island. I’d be careful not to stock anything that was in direct competition with the bookshop or the clothing boutiques. And I could bring in some gorgeous bits and bobs that aren’t available here.’
Her face started to glow. ‘And if everyone else here thought it was a good idea, it’d be really fun to help organise a festival. All my friends would come. And maybe my family could take time off from their busy schedules.’
She leapt to her feet, paced up and down in front of him. ‘I could do this.’
‘You could. But the question is...’
She halted and leaned towards him. ‘What’s the question?’
He rested back on his hands. ‘The question is, are you going to?’
Fire streaked through her eyes, making them sparkle more brilliantly than the water in the harbour. ‘Uh-huh.’ She thrust out her chin, and then a grin as wide as the sky itself spread across her face. And Finn felt as if he were scudding along on an air current, sailing through the sky on some euphoric cloud of warmth and possibility.
‘I’m going to do it.’
She did a little dance on the spot. She grinned at him as if she didn’t know what else to do. And then she leaned forward and, resting her hands on his shoulders, kissed him. Her lips touched his, just for a moment. It was a kiss of elation and excitement—a kiss of thanks, a kiss between friends. And it was pure and magical, and it shifted the axis of Finn’s world.
She eased away, her lips parted, her breath coming fast and her eyes dazed, the shock in her face no doubt reflecting the shock in his. She snatched her hands away, smoothed them down the sides of her skirt and it was as if the moment had never been.
Except he had a feeling it was branded on his brain for all time. Such a small contact shouldn’t leave such an indelible impression.
‘Thank you, Finn.’
He shook himself. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
She raised an eyebrow and then shook her head and collapsed back down beside him on the sea wall. ‘Don’t say anything. I know it needs more practice. And you did do something—something big. You helped me see things differently. You gave me the nudge I needed and...’ She turned and met his gaze, her smile full of excitement. ‘I’m going to change my life. I’m going to turn it upside down. And I can’t wait.’
Something strange and at odds like satisfaction and loss settled in the pit of his stomach, warring with each other for pre-eminence. He stoutly ignored it to grin back and clap his hands. ‘Right! This calls for champagne.’