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‘Honestly, Rob. It was years ago now. Let’s just forget about it.’ She began walking back up the beach towards the promenade.
‘Can you give me ten minutes? Just to explain? Or even just five minutes?’
‘There’s nothing to explain. We weren’t right for each other. You realised that and left.’ Dropping her trainers to the sand, she slipped them back on. ‘We don’t need to relive it all.’
‘It wasn’t like that...’
Raising her hand, she waved him goodbye, keeping her eyes ahead of her. It was daft. Why did it hurt so much seeing him again? Yes, she’d sworn off dating after him. But she’d been happy to. No more fake dates, trying to differentiate between the sincere and the insincere. No, she’d been happy to duck out of the crazy world of dating. She’d believed if she was really meant to meet someone, then she would, dating apps or no dating apps. So why had running into him brought back so many buried feelings of abandonment, resentment?
As she reached the steps up to the promenade, she slowed down. She was here on a break. This was her holiday. Likely her only holiday of the year, and she didn’t want to have to worry about working at the bakery or going for a walk along the beach in case she ran into him. No, she wanted to relax and enjoy her time down here. Quickly turning on her heels before she changed her mind, she made her way back towards him. ‘Rob, wait.’
Turning back towards her, Rob paused.
Walking up to him, she bent to fuss over the Dachshund before standing and looking at him. ‘Look, Rob. I’m only down here for a few weeks and I don’t want to be worrying about running into you with the way things are. Shall we just clear the air?’
‘Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to do.’ Rob nodded.
‘No, I don’t mean for us to go over what happened between us. I don’t need an empty explanation as to why you left the way you did. That was in the past.’ She waved her hand behind her, indicating the passing of time. ‘What I mean is, can we just agree to forget about everything from back then and just act like normal strangers?’
‘Like strangers?’ Rob glanced out across the ocean before looking at her again. ‘I don’t think we’re strangers.’
Carmen scrunched up her nose. What did he want from her? ‘Okay, like people who don’t have history. Like two random people who hadn’t once been in a relationship together where one of them upped and left without so much of a reason?’
‘It wasn’t quite like that. I told you that my circumstances had changed. I didn’t just walk away.’
‘Right, no.’ Looking down, she pinched the bridge of her nose. Why couldn’t he just leave things? Why couldn’t he just agree to be civil, and that was it? ‘Although, when one person thinks the relationship is actually going somewhere and the other literally leaves a voice message the morning after what you’d thought was a lovely date to tell them it was all over because...’ She bent her index fingers and held them up in the air. ‘...because life just got complicated. It’s not really a reason. It’s more of a case of having their expectations pulled right out from under their feet.’
‘I’m so sorry you felt that way.’
‘Umm.’ Right. Of course he was.
‘I am. Really.’ He reached out and touched her forearm. ‘Please, just give me a few moments to explain. I know it won’t make up for the fact that I didn’t give you a proper explanation at the time, but let me try.’
Looking down at his hand on her arm, she sighed. What was a few minutes? She didn’t have to get back to the bakery yet and if it meant he’d stop trying to talk to her, then maybe a few minutes would be worth it. ‘Go on then.’
Chapter Seven
