Juliette sat with her hands over her mouth. ‘Oh no, the poor boy,’ she whispered.
He nodded. ‘I know, it was horrific. He was rushed to hospital and his leg was operated on. I slept in my car with Chewie while Kate stayed at the hospital with him. It should’ve beenmethere. Anyway, a couple of days later, he was allowed home. But she insisted on taking him to Manchester. In the meantime, I received a call from the clinic about the paternity test.’ His eyes shone with happiness and tears. ‘He’s mine, Jules. Evin’s been mine all along.’
Juliette let a sob escape. ‘Oh, thank God. That’s wonderful.’
‘It is… it really is.’ He lowered his attention to the floor, trying to hide his emotions. ‘So… to cut a long, painful story short, we arrived back in Manchester.Shewasn’t too happy that I’d tagged along, but there was no way I was leaving him again. I told her about the paternity test, and I think she realised she couldn’t stop me from being close to him. So, I stayed in a dog-friendly B and B and visited Evin the next day. He wouldn’t talk at first, just clung to Chewie, but then… he kept apologising and begging me to take him home. Kate overheard all this and pulled me aside.’ Reid lifted his chin and the smile on his face was in total contrast to the saltwater over spilling from his eyes. ‘She said that after he’d run away like that she was worried he’d just keep doing it. But I think, in all honesty, she was finally seeing that he didn’t want to be with her. Not permanently. He loves her, I know he does, butsheleft him, and he knows this. It’s bound to affect him. I think it finally sunk in. She told me to take him home, Jules.’
Juliette rose from the sofa and rushed across the room to where Reid was already up on his feet. She threw her arms around him, relief flooding her veins. ‘That’s wonderful! I’m so happy to hear that. You must both be so relieved. You can get back to normal.’
Reid pulled away and gazed into her eyes. ‘Not exactly.’
She frowned at his response. ‘But…why?’
He shrugged. ‘The café is no longer mine. No income, apart from my paintings, and they tend to sell more in the summer.’
‘Ah. Of course. But youwillgo back to Glentorrin?’
‘I think you should sit.’ His tone worried her, and she did as he requested, sitting beside him on the same sofa this time.
‘That sounds ominous.’ She forced a laugh and tried to smile.
He took her hand. ‘Jules, I have so many things to be grateful to you for. You were only in Glentorrin for a short time but… as I’ve said before, the impact you had, not just on me, was massive. So positive. Okay, there were some painful moments too, but, on the whole, you helped me so much. You taught me that it’s okay to ask for help, a lesson I really needed to learn. You taught me what it is to stand up for what you believe in. To not give up, no matter how dire a situation feels. I owe you so much. Your friendship alone meant the world to me.’
The wordfriendshipcemented in her mind that this was his way of saying a proper goodbye. A goodbye he hadn’t presented her with before. A goodbye she needed for closure. But it hurt all the same. Reading between the lines, it sounded as though he was moving on completely, taking Evin and starting over somewhere totally new to them both. Somewhere far away. She couldn’t blame him. She bit her lip to try and stop it from trembling.
He continued, ‘So, thank you. I hope you know how special you are. And I hope that one day you’ll allow a man into your heart to prove that to you over and over again.’
She took a deep breath. This was it.Thank you and goodbye. I’m moving on. Glentorrin isn’t for me any more now the business is gone. Et cetera, et cetera.At least he had saved her the embarrassment of travelling all the way to Skye to find this out.She realised she didn’t want to hear him say the words, after all. So, she stood. ‘Honestly, I’m so glad things have worked out for you and Evin. And I know the two of you, and Chewie, will be stronger than ever now. I know that, wherever you go and whatever life you choose, it will be wonderful.’ Her voice wavered and her words fell from her body in place of the tears she was holding back. She’d said too many goodbyes already. She could live without this one.
He stood to face her. ‘You didn’t let me finish.’
She gave another forced laugh and held up her hand. ‘No, but I know what you’re going to say. I’m just not great with goodbyes, that’s all. It’s probably best if you just get going, eh?’
He lowered his gaze to the floor. ‘You want me to leave?’
She nodded but couldn’t speak.
He didn’t move and instead walked towards her. He was too close for comfort now. ‘Jules, I have to say something else. I know how you feel now, and I respect that, but I need to just say one last thing.’ He took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on her. ‘When I left that morning, I didn’t get to say how I was feeling… aboutyou, I mean. I think it may have appeared that it wasjustsex because of how I left things. And I know that in doing so I ruined everything. But you should know… It meanteverythingto me. I know how much guilt you carry and how hard it was for you to let me get close to you. And I’ll forever be in awe of you. I thought I saw something in your eyes that night. Something that spoke to me more than words could. I thought we connected, and I don’t mean just physically. I hate that my leaving spoiled any chance we might have had at seeing where we would go. And that man I spoke of earlier, the one who you eventually let into your heart, I wanted that to be me.’ His voice wavered again. ‘I wanted that so,somuch. But I want you to know I totally understand.’
His words confused her, and she shook her head. ‘But… you came to saygoodbye.’
He smiled with no little tinge of sadness. ‘No. I came in the hope I could convince you to come back with me.’
She gasped.
He held out his hands and let them fall to his sides. ‘I’ve lost my heart to you. It’s as simple as that. It happened so fast that I didn’t even realise it until I thought you were gone for good. I came here to be the knight on a white horse. To sweep you off your feet.’ He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. ‘I really am one giant cliché, aren’t I? You don’t need rescuing. It was me that needed that. And you did it. You rescued me.’
Juliette couldn’t speak. Reid’s eyes were filled with hope and anticipation, but she said nothing.
‘Look, I know how ridiculous this all sounds. We’ve known each other a matter of months. And for the first part of that I was a total dick. So, I really do understand. I guess I just hoped that maybe you’d be willing to take a chance on me again but I understand you just want to be friends.’ He leaned towards her and kissed her cheek tenderly. ‘Be happy, Jules. Always be happy.’ He turned to walk away for what she knew would be the very last time.
The recent appearance of the robin on her window ledge sprang to mind, so too did Laurie’s words. ‘Go out and live. Fall in love again. You have so much love to give. Don’t waste it. Learn to throw caution to the wind. Learn to fall like you did on that day in the library.Promise me…’
‘Wait!’ she blurted as Reid’s fingertips wrapped around the door handle. He turned to face her, a pained expression in his eyes. ‘Don’t go. Not yet,’ she said.
He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to go. But this hurts too much. I’m not strong enough to be friends. I hope you can forgive me for that. I’m just not—’
She rushed into his arms and kissed him with all the passion she could muster in the hope he would realise what she was trying to communicate.
