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She longed to return to Coral Island and pick up her new life where she’d left it. It was as though she’d come alive when she moved there and was reunited with the people she knew were her true friends.
Aidan had called her several times since she left the island. Each time, she’d sat with her feet up on the balcony railing at the guesthouse looking out over the tennis courts, and they’d spoken for hours. A couple of times, they’d video called, and he looked happy. Although he did ask when she’d return to the island more than once during most conversations.
Getting to know him again, rekindling their friendship, was the one thing she looked forward to most each day when she rose from her bed. And that was what worried her. How could she work on her marriage when she was busy falling in love with another man? Could she really say she’d done her best and given Preston a chance when she spent the minutes checking her phone to see if Aidan had called?
The entire thing gave her a knot in her stomach.
A memory washed over her like a black and white movie. Aidan standing just inside her bedroom door, her laying on the bed on her stomach, arms folded beneath her chin.
“Say something,” he begged.
She inhaled a breath, squeezed her eyes closed.
“You can’t just shut me out like this. We love each other.”
Inside, her emotions warred with her mind. People who loved her couldn’t be trusted. Mum had opted out of their family. She didn’t ask for permission, didn’t think about how it would hurt them, didn’t listen to their begging words for her to get help, to feel their embrace, to take in their affirmations. It made no difference. In the end she left and Bea’s heart was torn into pieces. Aidan would leave too. He’d been signed to the Brumbies and he wouldn’t come back. No one ever came back….
She rolled over and sat up. Glared at him. “Leave, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Nothing does.”
He’d stared at her, with pain in his eyes, then shut the door behind him. She wanted to cry but the tears clogged in her throat as she listened to his footsteps thud down the stairs. Then he was gone.
The memory jolted a deep sadness loose within her. If only she’d said something different. If only things hadn’t worked out the way they had. And yet she couldn’t regret the series of events that brought her Dani and Harry. Life was a funny series of coincidences, impulses and mistakes that when added together formed a beautiful tapestry she could only appreciate by taking a step back. Perspective changed everything.
She walked out the door of the guesthouse and trotted down the stairs with a tennis racket beneath her arm. The cap on her head was a little tight, so she loosened it as she walked. When she reached the courts, she switched on the machine that flung balls at her—she had no idea what it was called—and hurried to the other side of the net, poised and ready to return the ball.
One ball came sailing over the net, and she hit it. It bounced directly into the net and then rolled off the court. With a grunt, she spun the racket around and bent at the knees, ready for the next ball. It came more quickly than she’d expected and bounced off the end of her racket into the fence.
She groaned. “This is more frustrating than aerobics class.” When was the last time she’d done one of those? They were all the rage in the eighties and nineties. But she’d never managed to be coordinated enough and found herself stepping on the toes of other people who were at the end of their grapevine while she was only at the beginning.
Her phone rang, and she hurried off the court, catching a tennis ball in her hip. With a grimace, she answered the call.
“Ouch! Yes?”
“Ouch? Are you okay?” Aidan’s voice sent a thrill up her spine.
“I’m fine. A tennis ball to the buttocks never killed anyone.”
He laughed. “That sounds dangerous. Where are you?”
“At home. I’m trying to improve my return, but I think I’m getting worse. Can you actually regress by practicing? Because I’m fairly certain that’s what’s happening to my tennis game.”
“You’re a scientific anomaly.”
“I’ve always suspected as much.” She grinned and settled onto the grass, her back against the fence. “How are things on the island?”
“Good. I stopped by your cottage earlier—it’s looking fantastic. They’re almost finished with the landscaping, and they’ve started on the paint. It’s beautiful. I think you’ll love it.”
“Oh, good.” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to picture it. “I would ask you to show me on the phone, but I want to wait until I’m there to take it all in.”
He hesitated. “Listen, I know we have an unspoken agreement not to discuss it, but I was wondering if we could talk about what you’re doing in Sydney. Just for a moment.”
“Of course. That’s fine.” Her heart skittered in her chest. She’d avoided this topic with him, and he’d been gentlemanly enough not to pry until now. She didn’t want to hurt him and wasn’t sure exactly where things stood between them.
“Are you reconciling with your husband?”
She bit down on her lip until it hurt. “We’re going to counselling.”
“And?”
