Wedding Woes

Chapter 19

Her immediate thought was Annie. Then the flat, Ellie, the baby, her parents. Her grandparents had passed away some years ago and she had no other family, but this was the home she knew. She’d gone to School and University here. Her work was here.

He read the worry on her face, his eyes scanning hers. ‘I’ll stay’ he stated, running his fingers through her hair. ‘I’ll work something out. I’ll go back for a week or two and I’ll sort things out.’

She pulled away from him a little. ‘I can’t ask you to put me first.’

‘You don’t need to ask Em. You come first. You always will.’

She had a meeting in the morning, but stayed up a little too late holding onto him. He was distracted and she realised he the surprise he had promised, hadn’t materialised. Whatever it was, was now hidden under the great elephant in the room. The distance between them, and their very different lives. They had to say goodbye before her meeting. She’d never have gone if it wasn’t so important to her, but the publisher had asked to see her and her agent at half nine and they’d never done this before. They were explicit about needing her attendance, so just before eight she had to say goodbye to Luke.

Her head told her it wasn’t forever but her heart worried. The last time a man left her flat she never saw him again. At least not until he revealed himself as a player, and someone she could never be with, someone she was no longer attracted to in the slightest. This time was so different.

As he kissed her, she felt a desperation there, something he wanted to say but couldn’t find the words, and as she kissed him back she wanted to say screw the meeting, but this was something she’d worked hard for. A lot of people were depending on her. This might be the meeting of her life. Knowing she couldn’t make it to Heathrow and back by the time she had to get into Central London for her meeting, she was defeated.

As she dressed for her meeting, her heart wasn’t in it, and even though he’d barely left half an hour before, she felt as if she were missing her right arm. Annie arrived home moments later, and plonked onto the sofa telling all about last night. She tried to listen but all she could hear was what he’d said last night. About her being the most important thing. Never coming second to his work. She remembered his arms around her when she thought he was going to dump her.

Had she given him the impression that she was giving up on him? She hadn’t fought his return to America. She knew he had a really important part to play in the running of Delaware Designs, she imagined he’d worked seriously hard to have such a prestigious company.