‘Well that’s great news…’ The penny clearly dropped. ‘You think he did that to stop you moving to Scotland with him.’
‘No, I think he did it because he’s incredibly kind and generous. But my life is here now for the foreseeable future and he must have known that when he agreed to buy the house. If we are to have any kind of long-distance relationship, surely that’s with the end goal of being together at some point, either here or in Scotland or somewhere in between, but he’s made sure that I can’t really leave. And I wanted this, I wanted a life here, I want to save the workshops more than anything, and I have my gift shop which is a dream come true. But he’s not going to come back here just for me when he wanted to get so far away from Lovegrove Bay that he bought a house in Scotland. So where does that leave us?’
‘Ah yes, I see.’
‘And now I’m thinking that he made this decision to buy the house so easily, there wasn’t a thought for one second about what that means for us. So maybe our relationship isn’t the greatest love story after all, maybe it was only ever a fling, just great sex, just a bit of fun. And I’m trying really hard to get my head round that.’
‘It is a very generous gift, the kind of thing you do for someone you love,’ Tabitha said. ‘Knowing how much the house meant to you, maybe he sacrificed your relationship to make you happy.’
‘Oh god Tabby,hemakes me happy, I love him. There has to be a way to make this work.’
‘Honestly, I think you have to talk to him about all of this. I’m sure you can figure it out if you just talk.’
Flick sighed. She knew Tabby was right but she only hoped it wasn’t too late for that.
Luke let himself into the flat and, noticing that Flick’s bedroom door was closed, he walked over to ask her if she wanted to go out for dinner. He wanted to talk to her about their future, about him staying in Lovegrove Bay a bit longer to see if they had something worth fighting for. He raised his hand to knock and realised she was on the phone. He was just about to turn away when he heard some of what she was saying.
‘… it was only ever a fling, just great sex, just a bit of fun.’
His heart fell into his stomach as he moved quickly away from the door. He’d been wanting to talk to Flick about their future but that was his answer: they didn’t have one. And he’d never felt so utterly heartbroken before.
Flick was sitting next to Luke on the roof later that night. He’d been very quiet all evening and she didn’t know why.
She took his hand and leaned into his shoulder.
‘I’m going to go up to my new house tomorrow,’ Luke said.
She sat up to look at him in shock. ‘I thought you’d be here until the renovations are finished.’
He shook his head. ‘There are complications with it. I need to go up there to oversee everything.’
‘How long will you be gone?’
‘I’ll be there until it’s all finished, then I’ll pop back for a few days to collect my things and that’s it, I’ll be gone.’
‘Oh god Luke, I thought I had more time with you.’ Tears pricked her eyes. ‘I’m going to miss you so much.’
He frowned as he stared at her. ‘I’ll miss you too.’
‘I’ve loved spending time with you since I’ve come here.’
He swallowed. ‘I’ve loved it too.’
Her heart was hammering against her chest as she plucked up courage for what she wanted to say next. ‘I could… come up and see you.’
He frowned. ‘I don’t think that’s a viable option.’
Her heart crashed into her stomach in disappointment.
‘A fourteen-hour drive is no fun and if you fly it’s still going to take the whole day with arriving at the airport two hours before departure, a two-hour flight and then a further five-hour drive once you reach theother end. You do that journey a few times, pretty soon you’d start resenting it.’
‘I wouldn’t resent seeing you.’
His eyes softened and he stroked her face, then he let his hand drop.
‘And you’d be making the journey the opposite way too. If you wanted to see me, that is. Would you resent that?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘No, but I just don’t think it would work. How often would we see each other, once a week, once a month? You travel up there, spend one day with me and travel back, that’s three days you’re not here in the studio. How often could you feasibly do that and successfully run the studios and oversee the workshops?’
