Page 84 of From Now On

Has he?

It’s almost time to make an impossible decision, which will end in heartbreak.

Charlie’s heartbreak.

Pippa is going to leave unless he makes her a promise that will be impossible to keep.

He thinks of the threads that tie him to this house through his tangled past and his complicated present and, for a single blissful moment, he imagines cutting himself free. Floating between his family and her. Which way would the wind blow him?

There are many different kinds of love and if he has to choose one…

Hehasto choose one.

Today.

Now.

Can love be enough?

Will his brother and sister forgive him if he tells them he’s fallen for Pippa? They both know her well. Love her. He thinks, perhaps, that Duke will accept it, be happy even, but Nina? He can picture her dark eyes flashing with anger. It doesn’t matter how fond she is of Pippa, she will feel betrayed, and he knows this because he has felt that too in the past. The resentment that his mum put Bo before him, at the time after his father left when he needed her the most, is enduring. If he sours his relationship with his sister now, when they’re just starting to bond, it will forever taste bitter.

Pippa begins to stir, begins to wake.

He cannot let her go.

Cannot let this go.

If there is a chance that Nina will understand he has to try. He’ll talk to her, explain the way he feels, has always felt, and hope that she understands.

‘Charlie?’ Pippa touches his face.

‘I’m ready,’ he whispers. A delighted smile spreads across her face.

‘But,’ he explains to her that he isn’t sure if the children are ready. ‘I’m going to talk to them properly, tonight. I’ll come over tomorrow and—’

‘No.’ She sits up, clutching the sheet to her. ‘Meet me in Joe’s instead.’ The greasy spoon where they’d had their first date. ‘It was the beginning of us and if we have to end—’

‘We won’t.’

‘But if we do. It feels, fitting somehow.’

‘I’ll be there.’ He’ll take her flowers. A bouquet this time that includes roses to show her that he remembers the past but also that he’s not looking to recreate it. They can build something new and fresh.

‘See you tomorrow.’ She doesn’t offer a time and he doesn’t ask. It will be noon. Just like before.

He kisses her deeply as she leaves. Paces the hallway until the children get home, running through conversations in his mind. Structuring reassurances, thinking that he’s an answer for every single concern.

Never, ever, guessing for a moment the fireworks that lie ahead.

Chapter Forty-One

Nina

‘Good day at school?’ Charlie literally pounces on her when she gets home.

Nina shrugs. ‘It was all right.’

‘Can we talk?’ He’s rubbing his fingertips together, an anxious expression on his face.

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