Page 79 of Artful Deceit
Tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. “I know, but I thought I’d ask anyway … because I really don’t think long-distance relationships work.”
“Ours will.” He stared into his coffee. “And it’s only temporary, anyway.”
“Do you really think a job will magically become available here?”
“Notmagically,no! But Sergeant Proctor did a lot of groundwork. I really think eventually it will be deemed necessary to have another officer here. And when that decision is made, I’ll be first in line for the job.”
“I think you’re being naïve,” she said fiercely. “I know what will happen. You’re all fired up now, but once you get back to London, you’ll forget about yourlife here.”
He inhaled a deep breath. Opening his mouth, he started to speak, then clamped his mouth shut again as his eyes sparked with irritation.
When he walked out of the kitchen, she expected to hear the front door close behind him, but as far as she could tell he didn’t leave the flat. After five minutes of silence, she wandered to the living room and found him on the couch with his head in his hands.
“There is another option,” he said, turning his head in her direction. “You could come to London with me.”
Her tear ducts sprang into action again. “I can’t…”
“Not forever,” he said calmly. “Just until I get a job here again, then we’ll come back together.”
“If I come to London with you, it will end up being permanent.”
He shook his head. “I really think I can get my job back here. We just need to be patient.”
For a moment, she actually considered going to London. But then she glanced out of the window at the stretch of golden sand and the stunning expanse of sea, which had looked dark and brooding yesterday, but was enticingly turquoise today. Seagulls squawked as they sailed on the wind. She thought of the ice cream machines, and all she’d learned about making ice cream. Her mind conjured the chatter and laughter in the shop while people indulged in the treats she’d made.
For the first time in her life, she had a job that she loved, and she had friends…
“This is my home,” she said, as she sat beside Flynn.
“We’d come back.” He wiped tears from her cheeks. “I promise you.”
“There’s nothing for me in London. You’d be working long hours, and I’d be twiddling my thumbs.”
“You could find a job.”
“I have a job here.” She nudged his hand from her face and drew away. “I don’t want to leave. You won’t stay. Maybe thatshould tell us everything we need to know about where this relationship is headed. Neither of us will put the relationship above our jobs.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “If I go with you, I’ll end up resenting you, the same as you’d resent me if you stayed here without a job.”
“But I’m not choosing my job over you,” he said. “I’m only trying to find a temporary solution while we figure things out.”
“I think we need to be realistic,” she said. “A long-distance relationship will only drag things out. We’ll just end up arguing on the phone until we can’t even be bothered to call each other any more.”
“That’s not true.”
“A clean break will be easier in the long run,” she said, wondering if they were her own words or her uncle’s. She was fairly sure he’d drummed them into her whenever they moved to a new city and she’d been desperate to stay in touch with her friends. “It might be for the best,” she whispered.
He stayed quiet for so long she thought she might have convinced him.
“I have to go to work,” he said eventually. “But I can tell you now that if you want a clean break from me… you’re going to be sorely disappointed. You might give up on us because things get hard, but I won’t.”
More tears spilled down her cheeks, and she tasted the salt of them as they ran over her lips. “I just don’t want you to leave,” she said.
Shifting in front of her, he kissed her softly. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
The sureness of his voice might have convinced her. Except she genuinely couldn’t see how their relationship would survive them living hundreds of miles apart.
Chapter Forty
After a few hectic days,things settled down at the Isles of Scilly police station. Flynn spent most of Monday morning catching up on comments on their social media pages. In contrast with his previous feelings about that task, it felt pretty therapeutic now – especially given that most of the people posting were familiar to him after six months on the islands.
