AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I would have thought that was obvious, Luke. I found the job of my dreams, inherited the house of my dreams and was able to realise my own personal dream and adopt a child.’ She took a sip from her glass of water. ‘I think you could say I’ve been pretty busy.’
He watched as she brushed her blonde hair back from her face. She’d changed into a light summer dress and cardigan before they’d walked down to the restaurant. And he could smell the strawberry lip gloss again. But his eyes had caught sight of something else. A thin gold chain around her neck, holding a gold locket that dipped into her cleavage. Before he could stop himself, he reached over, lifted the delicate chain and caught the locket between his lean fingers. ‘You still wear this?’
Her cheeks flushed gently with colour.
‘I thought you would have thrown it away years ago.’
Her fingers touched his, lifting the locket from him. He’d bought it for her years earlier and it used to hold a picture of them together inside.
‘Why would I get rid of it? I always loved this locket.’ Her fingernails caught the edge and split it open. ‘I’ve just got a different picture inside it now.’
She turned the locket towards him. A picture of a mischievous little boy with blond hair and a red T-shirt grinned back at him.
The words caught in Luke’s throat. Again, it was as if he was gazing at a picture from his past. He cleared his throat. ‘Reuben. That’s a lovely picture.’
Her eyes fell downwards. ‘Yes, it is, isn’t it?’ She gave him a sad smile. ‘It seemed most appropriate. After all, lockets are supposed to hold the picture of the ones most dear to your heart. Aren’t they?’
Their picture had been replaced by a child’s. Did that mean she didn’t have room in her heart for anyone else?
The silence was broken as Diego reappeared and placed some steaming bowls on the table along with a basket of rolls. ‘Here we go, folks, pumpkin and chorizo soup.’
Luke leaned over the bowl and breathed deeply. ‘That smells fantastic, Diego, and not at all what I expected.’
Abby gave Diego a little nod. ‘Many thanks, Diego.’ She reached for one of the bolillo rolls served with the soup. ‘I’ve learned to expect the unexpected coming here. There’s always something just a little quirky.’ She blew on the spoonful of soup she’d just lifted from the bowl, before taking a sip. ‘Wow, you can taste the garlic, cumin and oregano. This is gorgeous.’
Luke reached over and broke open one of the crusty bolillo rolls, dipping it into his soup. ‘So are you going to tell me any more about how you got here?’
Abby shook her head. She didn’t feel like getting into all that. Especially not in the middle of a restaurant. Her hand went automatically to the locket around her neck. Luke had no idea that his picture was still in there, underneath the picture of Reuben. Still close to her heart.
‘I think it’s time we talk about you, Luke.’
He put his spoon down. ‘What do you want to talk about?’
‘I want to know how you’ve been these last five years. Why you felt you couldn’t keep in touch. Why you ignored every email and message I left you.’
Luke could feel the hairs on his arms stand on end at her questions. She hadn’t raised her voice or caused a scene. She’d just asked the questions in her normal, matter-of-fact manner. But how could he tell her that she’d broken his heart when she’d walked away? He’d pretended that it was all about the fact she’d wanted children and he hadn’t. And he’d kept his defences high, because it had been the only way to get through it.
‘I told you earlier I thought it was best if we had a clean break, Abby. There was no point in sending constant emails or talking on the phone. We both agreed that we wanted different things.’
‘Wanting different things didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends.’
‘It was too hard. I needed to focus on my career.’ Then he hesitated. ‘It’s like I tried to say earlier, if we’d kept in touch it would have been difficult for either of us to move on. I know you were just trying to be friendly, but to go from what we had … to being friends—it was just a step too far for me. I needed a clean break. I thought it would be best for you too. I thought you would meet someone else and have the family you always wanted.’ He met her eyes in the flickering candlelight. ‘It broke my heart when you walked away.’
Silence. So quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Abby put down her spoon and reached out and touched his hand. ‘I didn’t leave because you couldn’t have children, Luke. I left because you wouldn’t even have that discussion with me. You wouldn’t even consider the possibilities.’ Her fingers traced a line up from his wrist to his palm. It felt like, right now, she had to be touching him. She really wanted to plant herself in his lap and wrap her arms around his shoulders—but there was a table in the way. ‘You broke my heart too, you know?’
‘I know,’ he whispered. ‘I just didn’t expect this.’
‘Expect what?’
He pulled his hand back and sat back in his chair. ‘You, to have a family—like this. I thought you would have met someone, got married and been pregnant.’
Abby felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. She could say a hundred things here. Tears glistened in her eyes. But there was only one thing she wanted to say. It didn’t matter how inappropriate it was. It didn’t matter that Luke was only here for a few days. He was here, right now, for the first time in five years.
She sucked in a deep breath. ‘How could I do that, Luke? How could I meet someone else and fall in love? My heart was always going to belong to you.’
‘Wow.’ She saw his shoulders tense.
‘Wow? That’s all you can say—wow?’
A sexy smile spread across his face. He stood up, leaned across the table and planted a kiss straight on her surprised lips.
‘Sometimes actions speak louder than words, Abby.’ He sat back down in his chair.
The way he staring at her was unnerving her. She didn’t feel as if she was sitting in a restaurant. She felt as if they were the only two people in the room.
Abby went to speak but Diego appeared from out of nowhere to remove the plates from their table. ‘You enjoy, yes?’
Abby nodded in response, trying to break the heavy silence. ‘What’s next?’ she asked.
‘Our specialty, fajitas.’
‘My favourite. Fab, thanks, Diego.’ She watched as he sauntered back to the kitchen. She gulped. Time to change the subject. ‘How’s your relationship with your parents these days?’
The warmth between them vanished in an instant. His icy blue eyes met hers. ‘How do you think it is?’
She shrugged. Absolutely the wrong thing to say. It was obvious there was no improvement, but she’d never found out why and after all this time it felt as if it was time to dig a little deeper.
‘I think I don’t know, Luke, because you’ve never talked about it. But we’re five years older and five years wiser.’ She reached across the table and caught his hand in hers. ‘So do you want to tell me what’s so bad about them?’
‘You’ve met them, you should understand.’
&nb
sp; Her brow furrowed. ‘Yes, I’ve met them and thought they were a little cold. But I never really got to know them.’
‘Lucky you,’ he mumbled.
She squeezed his hand a little harder. ‘That seems a strange thing to say about your parents.’
Luke threw his hands up. ‘Well, they’re not exactly regular parents, are they? Ryan and I hardly saw them when we were kids. The life of a senator is very busy. I knew my nanny better than I knew my parents.’
‘That’s horrible.’
She could feel the tension in the air. There was an inevitable question that followed that statement. ‘How were they when Ryan was sick?’
‘Busy. They were always busy.’ The words were almost spat out.
Abby swallowed hard. ‘Too busy to look after their child when he was sick?’ The words were alien to her, almost filled with disbelief. She’d been in the situation herself and couldn’t imagine a parent not wanting to be at their child’s sickbed.
The look of disgust on Luke’s face was evident. ‘They were hardly ever there. Do you know the first time Ryan needed a bone-marrow aspiration my mother ran from the room and left me there with Ryan? I’ve never forgiven her for that. They went to a few hospital appointments, spoke to a few doctors and then carried on with business as usual. I was more of a parent to Ryan than they were. I went with Ryan for all his treatments—well, most of them.’ The words were left hanging in the air.
Luke hadn’t moved. He was still lost in his thoughts. Her fingertips brushed over the top of his clenched fist that lay on the table. He blinked at the feather-like touch, automatically releasing his hand.
‘You said most of them?’
‘What?’ Her touch had jerked him back out of that black place. The one where he was a teenager, laden with responsibility and guilt. Trying to fill the space left by two absent adults. Her dark brown eyes were pulling him in, pulling him into a place he didn’t want to go to.
She was doing it again. Looking at him as though she could see right into the heart of the matter, right into his soul. Her fingers were now concentrating on his outstretched index finger, running gently up and down it in a soothing manner.
