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Her flight had already taken off. She’d done what he’d told her to do, and now that she was gone she wouldn’t be back. All he could do was wait, and check that her flight had landed on time in Mumbai, and that she had boarded the flight to London.
The airport was a vast and lonely place. A sea of bobbing heads, and none of them was Thea’s. But she was on her way home. She’d be all right. He knew that he had done the right thing.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MONDAY MORNING. AND, of course, it was raining. India seemed a very long way away. Thea picked up her bag, let herself out of the house, and walked to the Underground. She’d spoken at a conference, confronted her fears, and with Lucas’s help she’d won. She’d made love and then she’d cried. Now it was time to go back to work.
Day One: Lucas’s writing on a patient’s case notes.
Day Three: Do the patients have to keep asking where that nice Dr West is?
Day Five: Note for the weekend: write up conference notes for Michael.
One week: Surely the first week has to be the worst?
Two weeks: Still trying to stop thinking about Lucas. No success.
Three weeks:
The calendar on the kitchen wall showed a blank for the third week. That was just how Thea felt. Blank.
This weekend she’d do something. Maybe ring around to see if anyone wanted to go with her to the cinema on Saturday evening or drive up to see her parents on Sunday. Or both. As she didn’t have much enthusiasm for either, perhaps that was pushing things a bit. On the other hand, she really did have to stop thinking about Lucas.
She left her umbrella in the porch, kicking off her shoes in the hallway and throwing her raincoat across the banisters. She padded into the kitchen, wondering whether she had any soup in the cupboard. She was exhausted from sleepless nights, and the summer was over now.
Glancing out of the window, she noted that the rain had stopped. And that there was a tent in the back garden.
‘Lucas!’ Her door keys slipped through her fingers and jangled onto the floor. What the hell did he think he was doing?
Light was glimmering from inside the tent. It actually looked rather inviting. Thea bit back the thought and marched back into the hall. High heels probably weren’t the best choice of footwear for wet grass in the dark, but if she was going to be assertive—and she was—they’d give her a couple of extra inches to be assertive with.
When she got out of the back door she found a gangway, laid from the edge of the grass to the opening of the tent. First problem solved. She approached the tent, drawing herself up to her full height.
‘Lucas!’
The tent flap opened and a blast of warm air from a portable heater hit her full in the face. He was wearing a dinner suit, which only made him look even more handsome than usual, and when he beckoned her inside she followed him, almost despite herself. ‘How did you know it was me?’
‘Who else is going to erect a tent in my back garden? With drapes and a chandelier and…’ This really was too much. ‘A chaise longue.’
He dipped his head in acknowledgement, as if she’d just paid him a compliment. ‘Well, I’d rather you’d happened on the tent after a ride on a camel across the desert. But you weren’t going to come to the desert with me, were you?’
‘Damn right, Lucas.’ She could feel tears in her eyes. Why did he have to make this so hard? ‘And this is my garden. You’re not to go putting up tents in it without my express permission. Which you don’t have.’
In a minute the anger that had got her this far was going to give way to tears. She wanted him gone before that happened. Thea made a wild gesture in the direction of the back gate. ‘You have to go. And you have to take all of this with you, even if it takes you all night.’
‘Wait, Thea. There’s something I want to show you.’
‘No, I’m not going to wait. There’s nothing I want to see. You made it perfectly plain to me where we stood in India. You said we had our lives to live, and that we should both spread our wings.’
‘I am spreading my wings. I love you, Thea.’
She waited. ‘And there’s a but coming…’
‘No. I love you. I’d camp in your back garden for the rest of my life if that’s what it took.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. What about Ava?’
‘I might have to get a bigger tent. She’s got a lot of stuff.’
