The week had been torture for her, too, but she’d never tell him that. She’d thought of him constantly, but the ghost of Adrienne confronting her, confronting the two of them, wasn’t something she could easily forget. At that moment, the vulnerability of her position had terrified her. She didn’t want to get hurt again.
“But we talked about this. I’m so grateful for your help today, but nothing’s changed. I still need time.”
His warm breath tickled against her, and after a beat, he spoke. “Okay. I agree. Nothing’s changed. I still feel the same way, and I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
The statement was so sure, so Felix. “I can’t give you any guarantees.”
He nodded, and the desolate look on his face caused a solid tug at her heart. But she needed to be strong. Any decision she made affected at least four people. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said before finding her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I will, and thank you again.”
With a final, lingering look, Felix dropped her hand and unlocked his car. A chill in the breeze blew Thea’s T-shirt against her, and she rubbed the top of her arms, watching as he slowly reversed out of the yard and headed back to Lucas.
A rapid beating of wings sounded above her, and the lone Tottenbridge duck she’d rescued wheeled into the yard. Afterlanding, it gave Thea a warning peck to her boots before chasing off behind Felix’s car, quacking loudly. She only hoped Felixwasa duck person. If not, he’d have the police back again. Manslaughter-by-mallard wasn’t something she wanted to be associated with the sanctuary.
When his car was completely out of view, Thea sucked in a full breath and headed inside to find Ammy.
Her daughter was sitting at the kitchen table, doodling on a picture of a rabbit on the back of one of Thea’s wildlife magazines.
“Hi, Mum,” she said. “Did you and Felix finish kissing?”
Heat flared in Thea’s cheeks. Had Ammy watched them through the window? “We weren’t kissing. He gave me a hug.”
“You don’t give me hugs like that. Or Joshie. Do you and Felix love each other? Are you going to get married?”
Ammy’s little face glowed with hope, with excitement, and she dropped her pen and pressed her hands together under her chin.
Thea winced. She really should be more aware when hugging in public. Keep her hands to herself. She picked up her cold mug of tea from the side.
“Darling, nobody is getting married.”
“But you could. Felix is nice. And I think you’d look really pretty in a big white dress.”
Thea sucked in her lips, “Is that why you ran away? So I’d get married?”
Ammy twirled the pen that now lay on the table with her finger, pushing it round and round in circles. She brought her blue eyes up to Thea. “Not really. Are you cross with me?”
“No, sweetheart, but I need to know why you left. And I need to know you’ll never do something like that again.”
Ammy met her eyes. “I wanted to see Lucas. And Felix has Netflix. We don’t.”
Thea almost spat out the tea she’d just sipped. “You ranaway because we don’t have Netflix? I'd happily get a subscription if I thought it meant that much to you.”
Ammy’s bottom lip quivered. “I thought if I went to live with Felix, you might come with me. He has a huge house, and Lucas would be there for me to play with.”
Thea’s gut tugged. “But you see Lucas at school.”
“It’s not the same anymore. We can’t plan any fun because you and his dad are sad.”
“We’re not sad, darling,” Thea said, hoping that if she put the idea out into the universe, it might come true.
Ammy placed her hand on Thea’s forearm like a parent. “Mummy, I heard you talking to Daddy in the bunny pen the other day. You cried. You said you were lonely.”
Thea’s eyes widened. She didn’t know anyone had overheard her. She’d been chatting to Phil about Felix, apologising for sleeping with him and enjoying it so much. Crap! What if Ammy had heard that part of the conversation?
“I know you miss Daddy, and I’m sorry I don’t remember him, but I think he’d want you to smile.”
