Page 106 of Escape for Christmas
‘Apart from the fact that I did see you – or thought I saw you – halfway up here, when I got home just now. It’s that red coat.’ He gave a sheepish look. ‘I’m afraid I got out the binoculars to check …’
‘You’ve been spying on me through binoculars?’
‘Well, I didn’t want the wasted effort of coming up here to find that you were some pensioner on a New Year’s Day hike.’
‘Do I look like a pensioner?’
‘Not close up, no.’
She gasped in mock horror. ‘Thank you for that!’
Brody broke out in a smile – the old kind of smile that she used to see a lot, before Tegan had come back. She dared to imagine that he was standing taller, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It did feel like they’d slipped back into the way things had been between them, with a lightness and ease to their conversation.
‘I came to ask you if I could have my jacket back,’ Brody said.
‘Your jacket?’ Sophie was confused.
‘Do you still have it?’
‘Yes, I brought it home with me last night. You can have it back,’ she said, wondering for a moment if her hopes had been misguided and Brody really had hiked up here because of his coat.
‘No. You keep it, if you like. It looks so much better on you anyway.’
The smile on his face lit the flame of hope in Sophie’s heart all over again. When it melted into a look of such tender concern, she needed to sit down.
‘I came to find you as soon as I could. I came to tell you that Tegan and I spoke to her parents this morning. We agreed to tell them the whole truth, that it’s over – officially over – between us.’
‘Oh!’ Her hand flew to her mouth. This was what she longed for, yet dreaded to hear. ‘But what about Alan? Is he OK? I was so worried that you might not tell him, that you might stay with Tegan. I was even more worried that if you did break it off, Alan might take a turn for the worse. That I might be the reason for it.’
‘No, Sophie. None of this is your responsibility. It was always mine and Tegan’s. Alan is doing much better. Obviously he and Fiona are very sad about the situation but, to be honest, they were also not that surprised. In fact they seemed quite relieved.’
‘Really? It can’t have been easy.’
‘It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but now that I have, I feel as if a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. Alan told us he felt far more stressed worrying about what the heck was really going on between us than hearing the truth. He told us he knew that we were trying to protect him, and it was kind, but that it was kinder to be honest.’
‘Alan and Fiona seem like lovely people.’
‘They are. They’ve always been like a second mum and dad to me.’
‘Love isn’t a game with a winner or a loser, is it?’ she said, wanting to reach up and touch his face.
‘No, but without being brave and following your heart, everyone loses. There will be someone for Tegan. A far better partner than I would ever have been.’
‘Would you have been? Would you have married her?’ she asked.
‘Being brutally honest, I hope not. I’m glad Tegan left me initially, for so many reasons.’
‘You only ended it with her this morning.’
‘Yes, but we’ve had a lot of time to come to terms with it. And she’d already moved on. And that’s what I want to do now.’
Sophie’s heart raced and she hoped Brody meant it – that he wanted her like she wanted him.
‘If you need time, or if you want me to take some time, then I will,’ he told her, ‘but I know what I want, and that’s to be with you. You always listened to me, even after I’d had the worst day. However ironic it seems, I always felt I could be myself with you.’
‘Now you can,’ Sophie replied.
‘Yeah.’ He heaved a huge sigh. ‘Don’t laugh, but I feel as if I’ve finally come home.’
