AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Like, she commits to EVERYTHING and never lets anyone down. Why wouldn’t you make the effort for someone like that? She’s an entirely fucking kickass human being.’
Rob nodded, feeling his heart start to pound in his chest. ‘I know you’re right,’ he said, picking anxiously at the label on his beer bottle. ‘But what if SHE’S not ready for someone like me?’
Luke shook his head and rolled his eyes. ‘Seriously, Rob. Are you really that stupid? Like, she worried about you so much she got you fired. She invited you on her road trip, despite you clearly being an untrustworthy fuckboy. She completely changed her plans for your fucking DOG.’
Rob laughed nervously. ‘How did you know about all that?’
‘Dad told us the whole story. About how you messed up dinner and roped in Clara and everything. And we met Joyce, she was cool.’
‘Yeah, we liked Joyce too,’ said Rob.
‘Although she said something about Hannah screwing her son over for three thousand euros which Dad didn’t know anything about.’
‘Hmm,’ said Rob, shrugging like he didn’t have a clue. ‘Not sure what that’s about. How’s Scrumpy?’
‘He’s amazing,’ said Luke. ‘Follows Dad everywhere.’ He paused for a second then turned to Dan, his eyes wide. ‘That feels weird. Saying “Dad” like this whole situation is completely normal.’ Dan replied with a smile of such love and warmth, and the connection between them made Rob want to cry. Why could other people do this, even two guys who were practically kids, but not him?
‘He emailed me all Scrumpy’s notes from the vet visit,’ he said. ‘I should be able to send him home in a month or so. My mum and dad will take him as soon as your dad’s had enough.’
‘I think Dad will be fine,’ said Luke with a smile. ‘Anyway, you’ve changed the subject. What are you going to do about Hannah?’
Rob shrugged and sighed heavily, trying to organise his thoughts. ‘Talk to her, I guess. Tell her how I feel and hope she hasn’t given up on me. Although . . .’
‘Although what?’ asked Luke.
Rob pulled out his phone and opened his WhatsApp. ‘I’ve never messaged your sister, I’m not very good with texts,’ he said awkwardly. ‘But I could see on WhatsApp when she’d last been online, and her photo. But now both the time thing and the photo have gone.’ He turned the phone to show Luke and Dan, who both leaned over to inspect the screen.
‘She’s deleted you,’ mumbled Dan.
‘What?’ asked Rob, his eyes wide.
Dan shrugged. ‘She’s deleted you. That’s what it looks like on WhatsApp when someone deletes your number.’
‘Oh wow,’ said Rob, the disappointment twanging around in his stomach like a ball of elastic bands. ‘She said she’d say goodbye before she went back to the UK, so I’m hoping she might come back here.’ He could hear the pathetic, last-ditch hope in his voice, but now wasn’t the time to pretend everything was fine.
Luke shook his head. ‘Mate, I’m sorry. She flew back to the UK last night, she called me from the airport.’
Rob half-laughed, then rubbed his hands across his face and raked them through his hair, pushing the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. He thought back to the day in the canyon, when Hannah had leaned back on the rock in her underwear and screamed swear words at the sky. How she’d taken the whole Scrumpy thing in her stride, how she’d placed that warm, soft hand on his back. He’d been scared to fall in love, but now he realised that ship had long sailed and taken Hannah with it.
‘I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?’ he mumbled to no one in particular.
‘Yup,’ said Dan, draining his beer.
‘Nah,’ said Luke. ‘It’s not your fault. If Hannah’s deleted your number and gone back to the UK without saying goodbye, it’s because she’d made a decision. She doesn’t do impulsive stuff. Not when it’s important, anyway.’
‘Yeah, I noticed,’ said Rob, thinking about how she’d invited him on her road trip. That was impulsive, wasn’t it? But maybe not important, after all. ‘So what do I do now?’
‘Only one thing you can do,’ said Luke. ‘Same as what we told Graham. Respect her decision and leave her be.’
‘But—’ Rob frantically searched for loopholes in that plan, but came up with nothing. ‘Ah, fuck,’ he sighed, wondering how he could have had something so amazing and screwed it up quite so badly.
CHAPTER FORTY
‘I think we’ve done it,’ said Sam triumphantly, then looked a little deflated when Hannah didn’t respond with whoops and cheers. She’d been back at the country club for two weeks, and so far had said very little about what had happened on her trip, beyond the usual small talk about weather and flight delays and the odd story of fun nights out. The weight she’d been dragging around since she’d left Spain was getting lighter and more manageable, but it had been replaced by the stress of juggling the shift rota for the looming summer holidays.
‘Good work,’ she said. ‘How did you manage it?’
‘Overtime for both of us, a few of the casuals from last year, a couple of newbies.’
