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‘Uh-huh.’
Seeing the slight nod of Max’s head, she pulled him closer, the kiss gentle this time as he moved his lips against hers.
‘I can give you a discount if you’d like a nutritional consultation...’
Was he not getting the message? Why wouldn’t he just leave? Suddenly she felt Max’s arms around her waist, his hand running up her back and into her hair. She breathed in his aftershave and sunk into his embrace.
Ollie cleared his throat. ‘He’s gone.’
Pulling away, Brooke met Max’s eyes before looking away. ‘Sorry about that.’
Running his fingers through his hair, Max grinned. ‘Glad I could help.’
‘Thanks.’ She looked at the floor before narrowing her eyes at him. ‘Next time you offer to rescue someone from a horrendous date, please don’t just ignore them. I was waving my napkin as high as I could and you still ignored me.’
‘I didn’t think you needed rescuing? I thought the date was going well?’ His lips turned up at the corners.
Shaking her head, Brooke turned, grabbed her bag from the table, and strode outside. He’d been the one to offer to give her an excuse to get end the date. She hadn’t asked him to. He’d offered and then ignored her.
Letting the door to the restaurant swing shut behind her, she paused, immediately noticing Jeremy standing next to a silver convertible chatting with two women. Urgh, what was it with men? They literally only cared about themselves. She glanced towards the road. If she left that way, Jeremy would notice her, and she wasn’t in the mood to attempt another escape. Glancing quickly around her, she noticed a flight of steps leading down to the beach.
Without checking to see if Jeremy had noticed her, she ran across the front of the building and down the steps. She could walk along the beach back to the bakery.
Chapter Eleven
As soon as her sandalssunk into the sand, she took a deep breath. That was it then. Like she’d said to Diane, this was the last date. Now she’d focus on enjoying her time here in the bay without worrying about trying to find Mr Right.
Slipping her sandals off, she walked across to the sea until the cool water had reached her ankles. It was easy for Diane to say. It was easy for her to give Brooke advice on not worrying about meeting her soulmate. It was easy for anyone in a happy relationship to tell a single person not to worry, to tell them that Mr Right would appear when they least expected it.
Kicking at the water, she watched as the droplets of water rained down from her foot back into the ocean, swallowed immediately by the enormous expanse of water. By coming off the dating apps, she was basically giving up on ever finding love. Max had been right when he’d said times had changed. People no longer just randomly met their partners. Especially someone like her who didn’t really go out to pubs or anywhere really. How was she supposed to meet someone if she gave up the apps?
She threw her sandals further up the sand and leaned down, searching through the sand until she found a flat, smooth pebble. Straightening her back, she rubbed the pebble clean on her top before running the pad of her thumb across its surface. Her granddad would have called this pebble a jumper—the perfect specimen of a pebble for throwing.
Bringing her arm across her chest, she spun the pebble towards the ocean, watching as it bounced across the water, leaping one, two, three times before disappearing beneath the surface. Perfect.
She picked up another, again rubbing it clean on her top before launching it across the surface of the ocean. Four bounces this time. Next time, she’d aim for five. One, two, three, four, five, six.
