A long walk to the headland hadn’t lessened his sense of loss. By the time Xander returned to the penthouse, it was dark and Flick had packed up her things and disappeared. Not that she’d had a lot of gear, but her warmth and vibrant curiosity, the aroma of her cooking wafting through the apartment, all the evidence of her presence in his life had gone. It was too late to wish he’d thought through his surprise from her perspective. He knew how insecure she felt—when she’d finally opened up about how her break-up and her parents’ divorce had impacted on her relationship with him, he’d understood.
But not well enough. He hadn’t considered her dream. Just thought being with him would compensate. If it had only been about her parents, we might have made it.
He had built his business empire by continually being on the move, conquering new territory—changing location was part and parcel of his world. It wasn’t part of Flick’s. The truth was Flick knew it took time and personal interactions to build a business. To become part of a community. She needed stability and security as much as she needed to know he would be there for her.
He sat at the desk, one finger tapping as he tried to work out a way around their conflicting needs.
Because the one thing he was certain of was that he didn’t want to lose Flick.
***
Flick walked and scrambled over rocks until she reached the quiet inlet south of the resort. Nobody would come this way tonight of all nights. Away from the festivities and Christmas cheer, she sat on the warm sand and tucked her arms around her knees. Her insides felt as hollow as a conch on a coffee table. The lingering heat of the day was blown away by a fresh north-easterly off the water. Would she ever feel warm again?
How could Xander have thought she’d be okay with setting up her business and selling it each time his work necessitated another move, another change of address? A mere week ago—seven days and seven nights of living openly with him—she’d thought they were finally on the same page. He had won her heart, and she’d given him her trust. Now, everything was broken, in pieces like driftwood on the beach.
The only good thing she could see coming out of Xander’s move north was that she could continue to work with Christophe and keep learning the business side of managing her own place. Eventually she would have saved enough for a deposit.
Where she bought was the question. Somewhere small and coastal, so she could get back to sailing on her days off. Sailing with Xander on his catamaran had reignited her desire to be near the ocean, and a smaller tourist location might be within her price range within the next couple of years.
The ease of that decision felt odd, but she refused to consider the missing link. Xander would never be a part of her future. What each of them wanted was too far apart to ever reconcile.
She turned her face to the breeze. Feeling twin lines of cool she raised her hands to her cheeks. They were damp with tears. She drew in a couple of ragged breaths before scrubbing away her tears. There was no point adding her tiny bit of sadness to the ocean of salty water that lay before her.
No more. She had a plan and a goal and the will to achieve it. Now all she had to do was survive the next week by avoiding Xander and she could get on with her life.