Reunited at The Altar

Her worries must’ve shown on her face because he kissed her gently. ‘Stop overthinking things, Abby.’

‘Habit,’ she said.

‘Tonight, let tomorrow take care of itself,’ he said. ‘Go to sleep.’

She didn’t think she’d sleep, but eventually the warmth of his arms around her did the trick and she drifted off.

The next morning, he woke her with a tray of coffee and toast.

‘Breakfast in bed?’

‘Time to wake up. It’s an hour and a half after sunrise,’ he said with a grin.

‘At this time of year, that means it’s still really early,’ she reminded him.

‘Early enough for you to have time for your run before work.’ He kissed her and climbed back into bed beside her. ‘So. I’ll leave by seven, which means I’ll be back in London at around ten. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve sorted out some time off. I’ll book a room in a hotel.’

‘So you’re not staying with your mum?’

‘No. Though, this time, it isn’t because I can’t face the memories. Now I’ve been back to the house—and, thanks to you making me talk—I know I can. This time, it’s about you and me,’ he said, ‘and we’re keeping it simple. Staying at my mum’s would mean that she’d ask too many questions.’

Abigail sipped her coffee. ‘I guess the simplest thing would be to ask you to stay at my place.’

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t fishing. And, actually, staying with you would complicate things.’

‘How?’

‘I think we both need our own space while we work out what’s happening between us and what we want to do about it,’ he said. ‘I’m going to stay at Little Crowmell rather than here, if I can.’

Where the staff would be less likely to know him and less likely to be curious. ‘OK. Well, let me know.’

‘I will.’

When they’d finished breakfast, he kissed her goodbye. ‘Thank you for giving me a second chance,’ he said. ‘I don’t intend to let you down again.’

But there was a wide, wide gap between good intentions and what actually happened, she thought. They could start again. But what if they hit a rocky patch? Could she be sure that he wouldn’t close himself off again?

‘Uh-huh,’ she said, not wanting to start a fight.

‘I’ll call you,’ he said. ‘Enjoy your run and have a nice day.’

‘Safe travels,’ she said. ‘And I hope you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam.’

‘Thanks.’

When Abigail came back from her morning run, she saw that his car had gone.

And how ridiculous was it that she felt so flat?

She needed to prepare herself for the fact that Brad might get back to real life in London and change his mind. That in a few days she’d have a cool, apologetic text from him saying sorry, he’d realised that it wasn’t going to work and it was best to keep things formal and polite between them.

But in the meantime she had work to do. A business to run. So she’d concentrate on that.

CHAPTER SEVEN

ABIGAIL THREW HERSELF into work to keep herself occupied and stop herself checking her phone constantly during the day. Brad didn’t text to let her know he’d got back to London safely; then again, she thought, he was probably doing pretty much the same thing as she was. Plus he’d been away from the lab for longer than she’d been away from the café, even if he had been in touch with his team by phone. He’d be too busy to think about anything else but his job.

She finally picked up a text from him that evening, just as she finished locking the café behind her.

Hope you’ve had a good day. Can I video-call you later?

So was this it? Had he had time to think about it and change his mind? If so, at least he was going to tell her sort of face to face.

Sure. What time?

She didn’t get an answer until she was back at her cottage.

Let me know when’s a good time.

So the ball was in her court. I’m home now.

To her surprise, a few seconds later, her phone buzzed with a video call.

‘Hey.’

She narrowed her eyes as she noticed the background. Unless Brad had turned his home into a lab... ‘Are you still at work?’