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“How about this weekend? I’m tied up with theNicheevery night until then.”
“Sounds great.” He paused, as if searching for the right words and she knew what was coming next before he spoke. “Are you planning on seeing your parents?”
“Uh-huh.”
Among other things, namely taking him back to the place it all began for them, hoping he’d understand when she told him why she had to let him go.
“I’m so proud of you.”
He wouldn’t be, not when she revealed her real motivation for heading back.
“Thanks. Look, I’ve got an incoming call from a supplier and it’s important. I have to go.”
Clutching the phone, she willed him to say something, anything, for the simple pleasure of hearing his voice, for there wouldn’t be many more times she would.
“No worries. I’ll chat to you later.”
“Bye.”
She rung off before she blurted the truth or changed her mind. She glared at the phone, the dial tone humming its lifeless tune. Flinging it onto the side table next to her, she hugged her knees tight to her chest and rested her chin on them in the vain attempt to squeeze some of the pain out of her.
It didn’t work, and staring around the new open-plan room, with its sleek modern glass tables, funky zebra print suite, and slashes of bright coloured artwork, she wondered if she’d ever be able to get past this.
This is the life she’d chosen: this ultra modern apartment in the heart of the city, above a hip, trendy café she owned, with the freedom to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.
She was living the dream.
But she’d give it all away in a heartbeat if she could have kids with Blane.
Deep, painful sobs bubbled up from within and she squeezed her eyes shut. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she let them fall, the first time she’d cried so hard in years.
She’d been a city girl for so long now: fiercely independent, headstrong and able to handle anything with a flick of her designer handbag and a side step in sky-high stilettos.
She’d been that self-sufficient city girl for six years, so why the horrible helpless feeling she wouldn’t be able to handle losing Blane? Or the insane instinct to run home into her mother’s comforting arms?
She had to get through this.
She had to let go so Blane could follow his dream as he’d done for her all those years ago.
She had to strengthen her resolve, get over this vulnerability, get away from reminders of him around every corner, get away from everything for a while…
Her eyes snapped open and she dashed a hand across her tears. She had an idea. The answer to her problems.
But before she could escape, she needed to take a trip of another sort.
A trip back in time.
Ochre dust rose in a billowing plume as Blane’s Ute pulled away, leaving Camryn no option but to sling her bag over her shoulder and head for the coffee house.
She hadn’t told her folks she was coming home, had counted on the element of surprise to get them past the awful awkwardness of a reunion.
She hadn’t spoken to them or set foot in Rainbow Creek in six long years and trudging up the main street it looked like nothing had changed. One general store, one country pub, a grocery store, and a tiny church, withMa and Pa’s Coffee Housetacked on the end.
Inwardly cringing at the name as she always did, she forced her feet to move down the deserted street. She’d deliberately chosen this time to arrive, knowing the town virtually shut down after dark on a Sunday, affectively shielding her from prying eyes and wagging tongues.
With a little luck she could say what she had to say, confront her demons, and be back in Blane’s arms at the motel in under an hour.
He understood her need to do this on her own. No surprise considering he seemed to understand everything about her.Until she took him down to the river tomorrow and told him why she was really here; she had a feeling he wouldn’t understand that at all.
