Charlie waited anyway, while she laboriously made her way up the steep path. The last three steps looked pretty much impossible, but she could reach the bell from the bottom if she stretched up. Turning around, she flapped her hand at Charlie in a signal that he was going now, and the car moved off.
This was it. Charlie had mentioned more than once that there were easier ways of getting to see Rafe, but she’d been determined. It was going to be just her and Rafe. Away from the echoes of their past which haunted her own cottage, and certainly not anywhere else. What she wanted to say needed to be said in private.
She reached for the bell and rang it. No answer. Rafe’s car was there and, anyway, Charlie had called to make sure he was in, on the pretext that he might drop round at some point in the morning.
Perhaps he’d gone out for a few minutes, knowing that Charlie would let himself in at the back. Maybe he’d forgotten. Or maybe there was some kind of emergency at the hospital and he’d been called in. But then he would have taken his car.
Mimi tried again, this time keeping her thumb on the bell for long enough to make sure that Rafe was out. Then she carefully made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and sat down on the front steps.
There was just one cloud in the sky, but it was a big one and it was coming this way. The breeze was fresh and she drew her coat around her, wishing she’d brought her umbrella. It didn’t matter now. However long she had to wait, she wasn’t going to call Charlie and get him to come back for her.
She waited and then saw him, turning the corner at the end of the road, the Sunday paper tucked under his arm in a thick wad. There were a few moments to appreciate his long stride, the way his dark woollen sweater mimicked the shape of his shoulders. She could just see that he hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. She’d always thought that a couple of days’ worth of stubble suited Rafe.
She wondered if she should stand up or remain sitting, and decided to stay where she was. The long stretch of front path seemed horribly steep from this angle and she was afraid of falling.
So very afraid of falling. But she was here now, setting herself up for whatever Rafe could dish out. Cold distance, uncertainty, outright rejection. Or the terror of hearing him say yes. She’d deal with it when it came. She clasped her hands together tightly, wondering if she’d know when he saw her. Maybe he’d pretend not to for a few strides, to give him time to work out how he was going to let her down easily.
He saw her. The precise moment was clear and unequivocal because he dropped his paper and started to run. When he reached the front path he slowed and suddenly stopped, his gaze on her.
‘Mimi. What...?’
‘You...you said that if there was anything...’ She gulped the words out.
He took the path in long strides, stopping in front of her. ‘Come in.’
She swallowed hard, trying to remember the words that she’d rehearsed so many times. Suddenly her courage deserted her. ‘I...I can’t.’
He sat down next to her on the step, one arm planted on the paving stone behind her, his face a mask of concern. He was being careful not to touch her.
‘Okay. We’ll stay here, then.’
She wanted this moment to last. Even the tearing uncertainty was something she wanted to hang on to because she was here with him.
‘Mimi...?’ He craned around to look into her face. ‘What is it? Why won’t you come inside?’
‘Because...’ Suddenly it all came tumbling out. ‘Because there’s something I want you to do for me. I believe in you and I want you to believe in me...’
He opened his mouth to speak and she waved him into silence.
‘I believe that we can make it work between us, if we just trust enough to help each other change. I’m daring you to try.’
‘You...’ He gasped out the word, turmoil showing in his face. ‘You’re daring me?’
‘Yes.’ She was twisting her fingers so tightly together that they hurt.
‘Then I dare you back, Mimi.’ He was closer now, his mouth an inch from hers, his gaze all-encompassing. ‘I dare you to come inside.’
‘You might be sorry...’
‘I won’t be. I’ll make sure you aren’t either.’
‘Then I accept.’ She held out her hand to shake on the deal, and he pulled her trembling fingers to his lips.
Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he put them into her hand. Then he lifted her in his arms and turned towards the door. In a dream—no, this was far too good to be a dream—Mimi opened the door.
‘Last chance, Mimi.’ He was smiling down at her. ‘If you come inside then you stay until we’ve seen this one through.’
‘I know.’