‘Ah, there you are,’ she said, putting on her best cheery tone. She hooked her bag over the back of a chair, pulled it out and then sat down.
‘Right then…’ Wyatt said. ‘Let’s get this celebration underway, shall we?’
Edith turned to watch him as he smiled at the others, and her jaw ached with tension. It seemed Wyatt wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She was going to have to swallow her dismay, her frustration, and the heat of something far more dangerous, and pretend he meant nothing to her. Nothing at all.
But as he walked away from the table, she dug her nails into her palms and thought,If only that were true…
4
WYATT
Wyatt tried to pretend his heart wasn’t hammering like a pneumatic drill as he walked away from the table.
Edith…
Her name lingered on his lips, burned into him, looping like a needle caught on a record groove.
Edith…
Seeing her was tumultuous in ways he’d suspected it would be if it ever happened again. And now it had… cracked something open inside him.
‘Wow!’ he said to himself.
Wyatt headed for the toilets in the foyer and locked himself in a cubicle. He hadn’t known Edith would be here today. He’d arranged to meet his friend, Titus, who was in town for some wedding shopping. Wyatt had been thrilled when Titus told him he was getting married — and even more so when he realised his business trip would keep him in the UK long enough to attend the wedding. It meant they could meet up and enjoy somequality time together. Titus had also suggested that Wyatt come and stay in Cornwall with him and his fiancé before or after the wedding.
Wyatt had invited Titus to bring his party here for lunch today and told him it would be his treat. Titus had accepted as long as Wyatt agreed to join them. It had seemed like a great idea, but then, when they’d arrived, Wyatt had shown them to their table and asked where the last member of their group was. Titus had said that Edith was just freshening up, and Wyatt had felt the ground beneath him tremble like there had been an earthquake.
Of course, there were other women out there named Edith, but it wasn’t a name he’d come across often in his thirty-one years. In fact, he’d only come across it once, and that had been his Edith. Well, nothisEdith; not anymore. He’d known she came from Cornwall but hadn’t known she was friendly with Titus or that she was planning his wedding, and now here they were.
Edith and Wyatt.
Reunited as if by fate, even though it was highly unlikely that it would happen.
‘Wow…’ he said again and then rubbed his hands over his face.
What was he going to do? He couldn’t exactly hide in the toilets all day, could he? He was a grown man; a successful entrepreneur, and he had friends to entertain, to treat to a good meal. Wyatt was a very sociable person when it came to entertaining friends and clients, and today, he had the chance to catch up with Titus and his fiancé. Therefore, he was going to man up and get out of the toilets and face his past.
If only Edith didn’t look so damned hot and smell so good, it would be a lot easier. Not that he hadn’t looked her up onFacebook now and then over the years, but he’d tried not to do so too often because it didn’t help his feelings for her. Leaving his love for her behind had been incredibly hard, and he had struggled, but he had done it because he’d felt he had no choice.
Sometimes in life there are crossroads. In his past, he had reached one and felt he had no choice but to head home to the States to embrace the life he wasn’t even sure he’d wanted. But he had responsibilities, and he couldn’t live a life based on solely pleasing himself.
So, he’d gone back, and that had been that. Had thrown himself into work and become a success. At business, that was. At love, however, he’d always felt he failed. But how could he ever find someone to compare to her and what they’d once had? It was mission impossible.
He left the cubicle and washed his hands, patted some cold water over his cheeks and then dried them with a paper napkin.
He’d keep his mouth shut and not say a word about knowing Edith unless she did. Perhaps she wouldn’t want her friends and clients knowing that she used to be with Wyatt. And he wouldn’t embarrass her by letting on that he knew her. He’d act as if she was a complete stranger and as if this was their first meeting. It would be easier than admitting that part of him had never stopped knowing her.
In fact, he thought, as he walked back through the lobby to the dining room, that might actually be fun. He could put the past out of his mind and get to know Edith as if for the first time.
But just before he entered the room again, he sucked in a few slow, deep breaths because his stomach was churning and his palms were clammy. It was like being a teenager all over again,and he wondered how she could have this effect upon him after all these years.
Some things simply couldn’t be explained, and he was going to have to accept that this was one of those things.
5
EDITH
Wyatt filled their glasses with champagne then sat next to Titus. Edith was trying not to stare at him, but it was hard to accept that he was really here. At their table. That he was friends with Titus. Shouldn’t he be in America somewhere building his business empire? New York, probably? Socialising with the rich and famous as he did his thing; cold and heartless as she remembered him being when she’d last seen him?
