Page 55 of A Summer of New Beginnings
‘So will you think about it, Zara?’ he asked again. His eyes were clouded with worry, sadness and regret.
She closed her eyes and thought back to some of the fun times they had shared. The laughs, the silly littlefights followed by incredible make-up sex. But then the image of him kissing Katie appeared to assault her frontal lobe and she snapped her eyes open.
‘I know I’ll have to earn your trust again. And we can take things slow. I just… I can’t lose you.’ His voice cracked and his lip trembled. She’d never seen him like this and it knotted her insides.
She nodded as she wiped away the stray tearsthat had sneakily escaped her eyes. ‘Look, Josh, I’ll think about it. But know that I’m making no promises. You hurt me so much and it will take me a long time to recover from that. But I did love you. So, yes, I’ll think about things and I’ll see you back in London.’
A huge handsome grin spread across his face and he bent to place a chaste kiss on her lips. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much. Nowenjoy your last night in the country that you hate and then come home where you belong.’
He turned and left her sitting there wondering if she’d completely lost her mind.
*
Twenty minutes later she had drunk half the bottle of champagne and was sitting alone on the luxurious bed explaining to a panicked Noah why she had thanked him for a hotel room he hadn’t booked. After that she had the sameconversation with Shelley and Marco on speakerphone, seeing as Noah had contacted them amid worries Zara had been kidnapped by some pervy millionaire to be used as a sex slave. And she thoughtshehad a vivid imagination.
Once she had finished her calls and everyone was calm again, she began to look through the photos she’d taken during her trip. She’d caught some sneaky, candid ones of Lachyand Bess and seeing them made her heart twinge with sadness all over again. She closed the album on her phone and flicked to the contacts list. Had she by some miracle saved Lachlan’s number there without remembering? Or had he maybe input it for her? She scrolled but there was nothing. She frantically searched her possessions again but there was definitely no sign of his card.
She wondered ifhearing his voice again might help in the huge decision she had to make about her future with Josh. But it was a moot point. She could scramble around the Internet, searching for him there. But what was the point? That one night had been amazing. Why not just keep it as a fond memory? File it away under the heading ‘lovely things to think about when I’m low’ and just move on.
She clicked backon the photos and looked at the one of Lachy crouching down on the beach with Bess that she had taken when he hadn’t realised. His smile lit up his already handsome face. His hair was all tousled with the breeze coming in off the water. Behind him the distant hills arched towards a vivid blue sky. It was a picture of something close to perfection. She felt a pang she could only assimilate with homesickness,yet it wasn’t for London. Realising she was being utterly ridiculous, she threw the phone down on the bed and flicked on the TV.
Hours later she awoke to see some bizarre film on the screen that she had no interest in, so she switched it off, stripped out of her clothes and climbed under the heavy, sumptuous duvet. But as soon as she drifted off she returned, in her dreams, to the little stonecroft with the beautiful black and white dog and her handsome, kind human…
