The noise around them made it difficult to talk. But words weren’t necessary. They both tucked into a full English breakfast, stopping only to exchange smiles.
But gradually the world at large began to intrude. By the time they’d finished their second cup of coffee, people had started to approach Alistair to shake his hand and thank him for a great two days. Maya came to sit at their table, ordering toast and asking Raina about Anya’s progress.
Raina left Alistair in the bustle of the reception area to go to her room and pack. And then there was no opportunity to speak with him privately. Alistair had torn himself away from a minor crisis involving a flat tyre on someone’s car, and met her as she prepared to leave.
‘Safe home.’ He walked her out of the building, to her car.
‘You too. I hope you get everything sorted.’ Raina nodded across to the group of people around the stricken car.
‘It’ll be okay. We’ve called the local garage, and they’re on their way.’ He caught her arm. ‘I have no regrets, Raina. I hope you don’t either.’
‘None. I’ll see you tomorrow? I’m coming into the office for a meeting with Ben.’
He smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’
As she drove away, Raina saw him standing in the car park, watching her go.
* * *
The drive home had allowed her some time to think. But when Raina shut her front door behind her, leaning against it as if to reassure herself that she was truly alone, she still hadn’t come to any conclusions.
‘What have I done?’ She asked the question, but there was no answer from the empty hallway. Undeterred, Raina continued the conversation.
‘It’s just...lust.’
No, it wasn’t. If last night had just been lust then it wouldn’t be so complicated. They’d looked into each other’s eyes. She’d told him things that she’d thought she never would. It was only after they’d cleared the air that she’d truly given herself to him, and he’d given himself back.
Unfinished business.
The inescapable conclusion was beginning to haunt Raina. She’d thought that Alistair inhabited a world of regrets that were well and truly in her past. But she’d come to realise that they’d both been blinkered. Neither of them had been able to see past the pain of losing their baby and their divorce, and it was only now that each was able to see how the other had been feeling.
Maybe they could rewrite their own story. Bring it to a close and allow themselves to move on. Because moving on was really the only thing they could do now.
Raina picked up her case, hauling it up the stairs. She needed to wash Alistair’s scent from her body, and change her clothes. And then she needed to go and pick Anya up from her parents’ house and get on with her life.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALISTAIR WAS BROODING in his office. It was tough to brood after what had happened between him and Raina. Edward was sitting on his desk, ready to show the next child how his tiny prosthetic arm worked, and he wanted to make a high five with the bear.
He’d seen Raina briefly when she’d popped her head around his office door on her way up to see Ben. Alistair had been careful to treat her exactly as he would if that last night at the conference hadn’t happened. Not too forward. Not too restrained either. She’d obviously been doing the same and it had shown. Doing what came naturally didn’t seem quite so natural when you were thinking about it.
Maybe they’d just pretend that it had never happened. But Raina’s admission that it was unlikely that she’d have children of her own had altered their shared history. And anyone who’d ever seen a film that dealt with time travel knew that one small alteration in the timeline could trickle down to the present day, changing everything.
He saw Raina walk through the outer office just as the last of the staff were getting ready to leave. She was wearing a yellow top today, a bright sunflower hue, which suited her. She was also wearing a worried expression.
‘How did it go with Ben?’ Alistair decided to load the responsibility for Raina’s obvious discomfiture onto Ben’s shoulders.
‘Okay... It’s been a long day.’ She plumped herself down in the chair opposite his desk, dumping the untidy mass of papers that she’d been carrying onto her lap.
‘That doesn’t sound as good as it might have been.’ Alistair nodded towards the papers. ‘I see you’ve taken a few notes.’
Raina rolled her eyes. ‘Ben’s great, and he’s trying really hard. He just finds it difficult to distil everything down into a simple overview of the system. Look, he’s printed out a copy of the user manual for the software for me. And he’s made a few useful annotations...’
Alistair chuckled. ‘Do you want me to have a word with him?’
‘No, that’s okay. I challenged him to write a one-page summary of what the software can do, and encouraged him to use bullet points. I don’t see how he can confuse me too much with that.’
‘Did you specify font size?’ Alistair knew that Ben’s ingenuity would probably find a way of getting around the limitations that one page would put on him.