Page 89 of The Damaged Hearts Bargain

“Oh no,” Cal said. “Absolutely not.”

Lucy pulled back a little, looking confused.

“I can’t wait that long,” Cal said, finally pulling Lucy in and kissing her.

The kiss lasted for minutes, slow and deep as the hot sun shone down, until Lucy was seeing stars behind her eyes, and Cal was sated enough that she could pull back and take Lucy’s hand and walk her all the way back to her house.

Epilogue

“What’s wrong with living in London?” Cal said pleadingly.

“Nothing has been wrong with living in London for the last two years. But I’m not a city painter, Cal. I paint seascapes and landscapes and I can’t keep getting on a train any time I need inspiration. Besides, the costs are extortionate, the crowds drive us both crazy, and it’d be nice to have a place of our own that wasn’t just a one room flat.”

Cal leaned on the armrest of her seat as the train shuttled down the line. “Alright, I get all that. But why Tetherington? Other than the obvious, of course. You know that the house has been sold, it’s not like we have a place to move into there.”

Lucy wriggled in her seat, glancing at the countryside whizzing by the window. It wasn’t that she’d lied, she’d never do that. But she might not have been a hundred percent open. Rosalee had told her weeks ago about the pub, she’d just never found the right time to bring the subject up.

“Lucy Evans, you’d better tell me what you’ve been up to or I’ll force you to drink tea from the dining car.”

Lucy pulled a face. “Alright, alright. Rosalee phoned me to say that Jim from the pub was retiring.” She cleared her throat. “Um, she’d heard that, well, she’d heard that you’d got your licenses, and, um, well, she wondered if you’d be interested in taking over.”

Cal stared at Lucy for a long second, eyes deep blue and suspicious. “She heard, did she?”

Lucy shuffled uncomfortably again. “I, um, might have mentioned something about it to her.”

“Aha. And did you tell her that we’d be delighted to take over and ask her when we could move in?” asked Cal.

“No!” Lucy said. “Of course not. I just, um… I said that we’d come and look and that you could be interested, that’s all.”

Cal sighed. “I suppose I should be grateful that you didn’t sign a contract for me.” She shook her head a little. “Luce, I don’t know. I really don’t. I get needing to move out of the city, I really do. Maybe it’s time we got a bit more settled. But I’m really not sure that I can live in Tetherington. Going for visits is one thing, but to live?”

Lucy looked down at her hands. There was nothing that she wanted more than to settle down. The last two years hadn’t always been easy, but her love for Cal had done nothing but grow. She was more sure now than ever that Cal was the person she wanted. What she wasn’t sure about was whether Cal wanted her.

And she was too afraid to ask.

There were moments when every fiber of her being longed to ask Cal to marry her. But she was afraid. Afraid that she’d be coming on too strong, afraid that it would just scare Cal away.

“So is all this a ruse to get me into the pub?” Cal asked, cocking an eyebrow at Lucy.

“Absolutely not,” said Lucy. “Well, maybe a bit. But Billy and George have a big announcement, that’s why we’re going, I swear.”

“Do you think they’re moving?” Cal asked. “I can’t imagine the two of them anywhere else.”

“Maybe Billy got a new job,” said Lucy, who’d been thinking much the same thing. “I mean, he’s been a postman for as long as I’ve known him. And everyone has to move on at some point, don’t they?”

“Yes,” sighed Cal. “I suppose they do.”

???

It was a good pub, Cal wasn’t stupid. There was a captive audience, no real competition, and the place was in good shape. Even she could see that for a first place it would be a good choice. She eyed the end wall as the taxi drove past it, the old mural long gone.

“I can paint it again if you think it’d help,” Lucy said.

“Mmmm,” was all Cal replied.

Lucy, her beautiful, talented Lucy. That was part of the problem. Of course, there were the obvious issues with going back to live in a town she’d left. But things had improved, slowly over time people had apologized, had accepted her, and now she didn’t hesitate to walk down the street or pop into shops when they visited.

But dooming her beautiful, talented Lucy to live in a little town, to be a publican’s wife, when she should be glittering at art shows and in galleries, Cal couldn’t be responsible for that. She suspected that Lucy was pushing to leave London to get Cal herself to commit to a decent job. A job that would mean Lucy would have to follow her and therefore give up the art community that she’d learned so much from over the last two years.

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