Page 58 of Daydreams & Doughnut Cake

‘I had to see you, before you left. So... well, here I am.’

He grinned. ‘I can see that.’ But still he hesitated.

I didn’t blame him for wondering if I was for real. I’d spent a night of passion with him then left Brighton straight afterwards without even talking to him about it. Then when he’d come to see me here, I’d sent him away with the ‘just friends’ cliché ringing in his ears. It was no wonder this lovely, funny, amazing guy was still confused about my feelings towards him!

‘You almost missed me. I was on my way home.’ He shrugged. ‘I had a long chat with Jackie last night about everything...’

‘I know. She texted me and she said she forgave me for what happened.’

‘She did?’

I nodded. ‘It was such a relief.’

‘I can imagine.’ He let out a long sigh. ‘When she told me last night about the things she’d done to you in her anger and how you’d confronted her, I was convinced that any hope I might have had that we could be together was completely gone. I thought Jackie’s condemnation of you – the horrible things she did and said – would just confirm to you that nothing could ever happen between us.’

I smiled sadly. ‘That’s exactly what I thought. I couldn’t believe how angry she still was over what happened a year ago, but I understood. She and Mark had such a strong bond and seeing you and I together so soon after the funeral must have crucified her.’

‘I know.’ He ran a hand distractedly through his hair.

‘But when she said she kind of understood now, her forgiveness cast a whole different light on everything. And I realised...’

‘You realised what?’ he asked softly.

‘I... well, I realised that if I was ever to move on with my life after Mark, I needed to forgive myself and allow myself to be happy. It was Ellie who said that to me but it still took a while to filter through properly.’

He nodded slowly and I glimpsed hope in his eyes. ‘And how’s the filtering process going?’

‘It’s . . . well, going quite speedily now, actually.’

‘Yes?’

‘Yes. I think all the yukky, messy stuff that’s been holding me back from telling you how great I think you are has just about gone now.’

He smiled. ‘That’s good to hear. Filtration just about finished, then?’

My heart beating fast, I moved closer so that we were almost touching. ‘I’d go further than that, actually,’ I murmured, turning my face up to his.

‘Really?’

I nodded, slipping my hands around his waist. ‘I’d say that as of right now, the filtration process is one hundred per cent complete.’

‘One hundred per cent? That’s a big number.’ I felt him take in a long breath as he pulled me gently against him, and I clung to him, revelling in the feel of his strong arms around me.

We stood there for a long time, just holding one another.

At last, I pulled away gently and smiled up at him. ‘It’s a long time since we kissed.’

‘Far too long,’ he agreed. ‘Maybe we should pick up where we left off?’

‘Hang on. Why did you come back? You said you were on your way home but you came back.’

He smiled. ‘Stupid hope, I suppose. While there was still even the smallest chance for us, I couldn’t just drive away from you. So I did a U-turn – a slightly dangerous one, I might add – and I raced back.’

‘Wow. I feel honoured.’

He chuckled. ‘So you should. If there’d been a police car about, I’d have been nicked on the spot.’

Smiling, we locked eyes.

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