I wondered if he could see how sorry I was.
How much I’d miss him.
I was so done with everything.
“My laptop is on the table over there. It’s got all you need to know for the party. I’m going to pack and go back to London.” I turned to Nancy one last time. “I warned you that if I went down, I was going to take you with me.”
Then, I walked out.
“I knew I liked that one,” Evelyn said brightly.
“Sophie!” Hugo shouted after me, but I didn’t stop.
“Hugo, don’t you dare go after her!” Anna shouted, and there was more than one set of footsteps following me through the house.
“Give it a rest!” Hugo snapped at her. “I’m not letting her leave like that.”
“Yes, you are!” I shouted back, still walking.
“I’m fucking well not. Sophie!”
“Hugo, leave it,” Henry said, and there was a squabble as I picked up the speed and reached the main hallway.
I ran out of Cavendish House and across the driveway. The gravel crunched under my feet, and tears burnt my eyes and blurred my vision as I got in my car. I knew driving was stupid, but I needed to get out of here and I couldn’t go on foot. There’d be no other way to get home.
To London.
Where I belonged.
“Sophie!” Hugo bellowed.
I looked over to see him burst through the front door with Henry hot on his heels, and his dad, too.
Turning away, I put my foot down, thankful I’d parked facing towards the driveway this time.
Perhaps there was a part of me that had known I’d need a quick getaway today.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN – HUGO
Hurts Like Hell
I shoved Henry off me and ran down the steps after Sophie. “Sophie!”
It didn’t matter.
She couldn’t hear me.
She was gone.
I hit my pockets, but I didn’t have any keys in there. “I need my keys. I have to go after her. I—”
Dad stepped in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. His gaze was a hectic cacophony of confusion and frustration, but also understanding and realisation. “There are times to chase, and times to breathe. Now is a time for breathing. For both of you.”
How?
How the fuck was I supposed to breathe?
Sophie had consumed my entire universe since the moment I’d seen her in the pub, and there was a finality in the way she’d looked at me before she’d walked out.