Page 50 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

‘Of course,’ she breathed. ‘He’s the most important thing.’

‘Yes, he is.’

They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Quin seemed to break out of a trance.

‘Let’s eat.’

He plated up a delicious fluffy omelette and some bread. He opened a bottle of white wine and they sat and ate and drank in a companionable silence that Sadie didn’t want to risk by opening her mouth again.

Quin was the first to speak when he’d cleared the plates. ‘Sol has a half-term break next week. After we’ve dropped Lena back to Sao Paulo, I was thinking of taking him to Sao Sebastiao for a few days.’

‘Sao Sebastiao...?’

Sadie wasn’t even aware she’d spoken out loud. It was the most cherished place to her, but also a place of heartbreak, because that was where she’d left Quin and Sol behind.

‘You still go there?’ she asked.

Quin nodded, suddenly looking a little guarded. He took a sip of wine and put the glass back down. Sadie felt a little confused. Surely after what had happened the place would have bad connotations for Quin? Or...

Her insides shrank as something else occurred to her.

Perhaps it was no hardship for Quin to return precisely because itdidn’thold any emotional pain for him. Because when she’d left he’d realised that he hadn’t really loved her at all? To Sadie’s mind, that suddenly seemed all too plausible.

‘You’re welcome to join us, of course,’ he said.

Sadie thought of going back to where she’d been so happy and where she’d been so heartbroken. Bittersweet... If it wasn’t a chance to spend more precious time with Sol she’d almost be tempted to decline, but of course she wouldn’t.

She couldn’t help feeling a sense of disquiet, though, that the place where they’d been so happy would ultimately make them again...or break them.

She forced a smile. ‘I’d love to come.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SAOSEBASTIAOWASexactly as Sadie remembered, its buildings with their colonial era architecture spread out between the mountains and the ocean. It was all at once sleepy and beachy, but also busy. This was why she’d got off a bus here one day—because she’d deemed it the perfect place to hide out for a bit.

Little had she known how her life would change here.

They’d arrived at a private airfield shortly before, and now Quin was driving a slightly battered open-top four-wheel drive, with their luggage in the back.

Sol was jumping up and down on the back seat with excitement. ‘Can I go straight over to Joao’s house when we get there?’

Quin glanced at his son through the rearview mirror. ‘After you unpack and show Sadie around.’

‘Okay, Papa.’

Sadie smiled and looked back at Sol from where she sat in the passenger seat. She was enjoying the salty sea breeze in her hair and the sun on her skin. ‘Who is Joao?’

‘My best friend. He lives right along the beach—practically next door.’

Sadie had absorbed the wordbeach, but never thought for a second that Sol was talking about—

But now they were turning down a road towards a beach that looked all too familiar.

Except Sadie could see changes. There was a high fence now, where there hadn’t been a fence before.

Quin was turning the vehicle towards a set of discreet gates that almost disappeared into the lush foliage.

He pressed a button on a key chain and the gates opened. Sadie held her breath as he drove onto a short driveway that opened out into an open space where a simple beach house stood. The faint sound of crashing waves could be heard in the distance.

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