Page 62 of The House on Waterfall Hill

He frowned. ‘Why?’

‘Because you’re not a cash cow. Why should you bail us out, it isn’t fair. As I told you before, throwing money at it isn’t the answer.’

‘But it is, it will solve all your problems.’

‘No, Luke, I don’t want your money. We’ll be fine without it. As long as we can save the workshops in some capacity, I’ll be happy.’

‘But what will you do?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, I’ll be OK, I always am. I’ll stay in Lovegrove Bay long enough to establish the weekly workshops for those with brain injuries in the church hall or some other venue. If I can find a job then I’ll stay here, if not I’ll move on somewhere else, go where the work is.’

‘But this is your home.’

She resisted saying that without him, it wouldn’t be, but she decided to be a little brave. ‘I suppose I could always move to Scotland with you.’

She was only half joking, but she wondered what his reaction to it would be.

‘No. This isn’t right. We’ll fix this. We’ll find a way. You belong here, you have to stay here.’

He got up and walked out and she was left staring after him.

That felt like a very emphatic no to her going to Scotland with him and that left her feeling very confused about what kind of future they might have.

Flick was busily working in the gift shop later. There was a couple in there looking around at all the craft kits and whereas ordinarily that would make her so happyshe couldn’t find any joy in it today. It just seemed so pointless, building a business up to be a big success to lose it all in a few months.

She looked up as Luke ran upstairs to the mezzanine to talk to her.

‘All sorted,’ Luke said.

‘What?’

‘You don’t have to worry about losing the studios.’

Her heart sank. ‘Luke, you haven’t, please tell me you haven’t bought it.’

‘It seemed the obvious solution.’

Her hands went to her face, making her look likeThe Screamby Edvard Munch. ‘Luke, you can’t buy me a million-pound house, that’s insane.’

‘I didn’t buy it for you, it’s not yours, it’s in my name. Consider it an investment. I’ll still get twenty-five percent of all profits for the rest of my life.’

‘That’s not how investments work. Investments like this are only worth it if you pay off the money you’ve spent after a few years. It doesn’t matter how successful we are, we are never ever going to be able to pay back a million pounds. Why would you do that?’

‘The workshops are too important. The difference we made to one person is more than worth it, but the help you can give to hundreds or thousands of people over the years is the best thing I could ever spend my money on. And I wanted to do it for you. You belong here. This house, this town, it’s your home. The gift shop is your dream. And you’re making a difference, I want you to continue doing that.’

‘Luke, no, I can’t let you do this.’

‘It’s my money to do with what I want. And I want to do this.’

‘I can’t accept it.’

‘It’s not yours to accept, I’ve bought a house, you’re just going to be in charge of it.’

‘What if I don’t want it?’

‘It’s a done deal.’

‘Well undo it, take it back, tell Audrey you’ve changed your mind.’

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