Page 87 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

“Where’s your mum?” she asked as Ash came in and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Ah, I sent her off to the new debate club at the town hall,” Ash said, pulling a face. “I told her that all the eligible bachelors would be there. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m exhausted and I just couldn’t deal with her tonight.”

“It’s fine with me,” said Pen. “But is it okay with her?”

Ash shrugged. “She’ll deal. It’ll be fine. She’ll be fine.” She collapsed onto the couch. “I need to go over these plans for the renovation.”

“Not a problem, I can help with that,” Pen said, getting ready to snuggle in next to Ash.

But Ash brushed her off. “No, no, I can handle it. Why don’t you put the telly on, or read a book. You could use some down time.”

Stung, Pen stood up again. “Anyone would think that you don’t want my help.”

“But I don’t,” Ash said, flicking through her papers. “I can handle this, I told you.”

“Apparently, everyone can handle everything nowadays,” Pen said, the sentence coming out more bitter than she’d intended.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Ash.

“Oh, just that George can handle his wedding flowers and Lucy can handle her opening night catering and Moira can handle all the kids and you can handle all the plans. It’s like no one needs me anymore.” She could feel the tears rising up in her throat, could feel them almost starting to choke her.

“Oh, Pen, don’t be like that,” Ash said, finally putting her papers down.

But Pen didn’t even want to look at her. She knew that Ash was keeping something from her. Probably the fact that she didn’t want to give up her independence after all, that she didn’t want to live together.

“I’m going for a walk,” Pen said, grabbing her jacket. It was the best thing she could think of to do. The beach wouldn’t mind if she cried and the last thing she wanted to do right now was listen to Ash try to come up with excuses for why the renovations shouldn’t go ahead.

THE SUN WAS balancing on the horizon, turning the sea orange, a sight that never failed to make Ash glad that she’d finally decided to move.

Not that everything was going great. Apparently, she was an idiot. In her defense, this was her first real relationship and she’d had good intentions. Clearly, those intentions had been misguided. She put her hands in her pockets and jogged down to the water’s edge before turning and walking in the direction she knew Pen would have gone.

She should have followed immediately, she thought, as she hurried along the beach. But it had seemed important to try and fix her mistakes first, so she’d had a few phone calls to make. And now, well, she just had to hope that she’d guessed right and this was where Pen had come.

She walked for another five minutes before she saw Pen’s round figure materializing out of the dimming light. Her heart skipped a beat as it did every time she saw her, her perfect, kind, loving, giving little ray of sunshine.

Skipping into a run, Ash closed the gap between them as quickly as she could.

“Don’t say anything,” Pen said, looping her arm through Ash’s when they met up. “I was being overly sensitive and I’m sorry.”

“No,” Ash said. “You weren’t at all. And this is all my fault. I’m really sorry, Pen.”

Pen stopped. “What’s all your fault?”

Ash groaned. “I thought… Well, with all these things coming up, George and Billy’s wedding, Lucy’s exhibition, the renovations, I thought that… I thought you might try to do too much again. So I told everyone that they had to rein things in and take care of their own problems so that they don’t over-load you.”

Pen frowned. “So… you told everyone not to accept help from me?”

Ash nodded. “I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you and I ended up making you feel like you’re useless and I never intended that.”

For a moment, Pen stood still, then she came in closer and closer still until Ash could feel her warmth, smell her scent. “That’s about the most lovely thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“Made you feel useless?” Ash said.

“No, tried to look after me,” said Pen.

“I should have talked to you about it instead of just doing it,” Ash said, looking down in concern at Pen’s wide blue eyes. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. And just so you know, I’ve fixed everything.”

“You have?” asked Pen.

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