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‘Will you be back?’ Did that sound too desperate?
When she shook her head, hair came loose from her ponytail. ‘Probably not, now there’s no Mum and no Driftwood House to come back to.’
‘Maybe you’ll come back to see Nessa?’ Now he was sounding desperate.
‘I doubt it. She’s angling to visit me for a few days in the sun instead.’
‘Ah. Then I wish you luck in the rest of your life, Rosie Merchant.’
‘You too. And thanks again for your help.’
‘Think nothing of it.’
‘Say goodbye from me to Katrina.’
‘Yeah,’ said Liam, no longer properly listening as he leaned in to kiss Rosie’s cheek. When she turned her face, his lips brushed against hers. The lightest of touches that sent shivers through him. ‘I was going for the continental goodbye, the double-cheek kiss, even though we don’t have such exotic things in these parts. Belinda wouldn’t allow it.’
He sounded uber jolly and ridiculous. She must notice. Rosie wrapped her arms around her waist and gave him the serious look he remembered from school. ‘See you around, Liam.’
‘See you around, Rosie. And you were never a nerd. Not really.’
‘See? Youarekind.’
Rosie spun on her heel and walked to the gate. She only looked back once, before she was hidden behind the high hedge that separated the farm from the lane.
That was that, then.
‘It’s just you and me, boy. Maybe it’s better that way.’ Billy lay on his back and stared at his master, his eyes huge and sad. ‘Don’t look at me like that. We’ll be fine. Who needs women anyway?’
With one last glance at the darkening sky, Liam went into the farmhouse and closed the door.
Rosie could hardly see one foot in front of the other. Her sandal slipped on the cliff path and she stumbled and almost fell. This was ridiculous.
She stopped and roughly wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, like she used to when she was a child. She’d never been a crier but right now she couldn’t stop.
She could have cried about the mum she’d never see again, the boyfriend she’d lost, the childhood home that was doomed, or the cold man who didn’t care that he might be her father.
But this time she cried with disappointment that Liam was still the kind of man who spent the night with women when their boyfriends’ backs were turned. She was far from perfect herself, but she’d never cheat, not knowing the heartache and pain it caused, which could ripple through families for years.
And yet, in spite of all that, in spite of knowing that Liam was the kind of man who didn’t mind causing that pain, she’d still desperately wanted him to kiss her properly. Not an accidental brush of the lips and a stilted ‘continental kiss’ on both cheeks; a full mouth-on-mouth kiss with her arms around his neck, his hands in her hair, and her body pressed up against his.
If she’d kissed him instead, he might have gone along with it, and she’d have enjoyed it. He was probably a fabulous kisser – he’d had a lot of practice. But afterwards, the disappointment she already felt in herself – for being an inattentive daughter, the failed saviour of Driftwood House, and a snob about Heaven’s Cove – would only have got worse.
How could she kiss Liam, anyway, when he’d run for the hills if he knew her father could be the man making his life a misery? That would amount to kissing under false pretences. Plus, she’d literally just lied to him about seeing the Eppings that afternoon.
With hindsight, she should have said she’d visited them to discover Driftwood House’s fate, but instead she’d panicked and lied. Like a complete idiot.
Rosie fished a tissue from her pocket, blew her nose, and continued walking up the cliff path. A full moon was rising in the navy sky, casting silver beams across the waves and lighting her way forward.
So much had happened during the short time she’d been back in Heaven’s Cove, much of it either traumatic or downright confusing. But there were some positives. At least she understood, now, why her mother sometimes found it hard to trust people, and kept herself to herself so much. And the resentment she’d harboured towards her dad had lessened and been replaced with gratitude to him for taking on another man’s child. If only she’d known while he was still alive, she could have thanked him.
She’d also grown to, if notloveHeaven’s Cove, at least like it a whole lot more, and the people in it. She could feel the tug of the place.You could stay.Liam’s words sounded in her head, like a siren call dragging her home. But what was there to stay for with her mum and Driftwood House gone? Her home was now far from here.
Rosie had reached Driftwood House. She ran her fingers across the old front door before going inside and turning on the hall light. The wind had dropped and everywhere there was silence. No creaking timbers, no rattling window panes, no mum calling out a welcome, no Matt waiting to greet her. Nothing at all and no one.
