Page 63 of The House on Waterfall Hill

‘No.’

Flick was trembling and tearful over the shock of what he’d done. She couldn’t even feel any relief or joy right now, she felt kind of numb. And angry and frustrated that her fairy godfather had swooped in to save her one more time. She didn’t want him to waste his money like this.

He smiled. ‘Why are you being so difficult? Most people would say thank you and then celebrate.’

‘I don’t feel that you wasting a million pounds is anything to celebrate. I just can’t get my head around you doing something like this. Most boyfriends might buy their girlfriends a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates.’

‘I wanted to make you happy.’

She stared at him, a huge lump forming in her throat. Then she moved over to him and took his face in her hands. ‘Thank you, so much. You have no idea what this means.’

‘I do and that’s why I did it.’

She smiled and hugged him and he wrapped his arms around her. Her mind was a whirl of emotions. Relief and happiness were obviously at the forefront, she was delighted that her home, the studios and the workshops would be saved. She was in shock over Luke’s generosity. But she couldn’t ignore the niggle at the back of her head that he’d paid a million pounds to stop her from moving to Scotland with him.

‘Oh I’ve got the keys to the house, the house in Scotland is now officially mine.’

Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. She forced a smile onto her face and looked up. ‘Congratulations, I’m really happy for you.’

He studied her. ‘You are?’

‘Of course, it’s a new start for both of us.’

She swallowed a lump in her throat. A new start that was hundreds of miles apart. She couldn’t find anything to be happy about that.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Flick let herself into her flat later that day feeling emotionally drained. From the disappointment of losing the house, the frustration and shock of Luke swooping into save them, the relief of saving the house and what that meant for their relationship, she’d been on an emotional rollercoaster.

Luke had told Polly and the other artists he intended to buy the place but would only keep it if it was self-sufficient. He’d made it clear that the twenty-five percent profits they gave him had to be enough to cover all the bills and overheads because he didn’t want any of them resting on their laurels and slipping back into old ways. They’d all committed to keep doing what they were doing now as it was clearly working so well.

So that was it, the house was saved, so why did she feel so flat about that? It was everything she wanted. Except it wasn’t. There was something she wanted far more than that, something money could never buy.

Her phone rang in her pocket and she fished it out to see it was Tabitha. Luke wasn’t back yet but she wanted to talk to her friend in private so she shut herself in her bedroom.

‘Hey lovely,’ Flick said as she sat cross-legged on the bed.

‘Hey gorgeous, how goes the world’s greatest love story?’

Flick sighed and tears pricked her eyes. ‘Unfortunately I don’t think it’s that.’

‘Oh no, what happened? The last time we spoke you were telling me how you’d fallen head over heels in love with the man.’

She’d spoken to Tabitha a couple of times and Tabitha always wanted to know every detail of their relationship. Although she hadn’t gone into detail about their sex life, much to Tabitha’s disappointment, she had told her everything else, including how fast and hard she had fallen for him.

‘I’ve been dreading having that conversation with him, about what happens when he leaves for Scotland in a few weeks in case he’s decided that we’ve had a great time but that’s it.’

‘I don’t think that’s the case. From everything you’ve told me, the man is as smitten as you are.’

‘Well today, my nan phones to tell me she’s selling the house as she’s fallen in love with someone in Australia.’

‘Whoa, good for Audrey.’

‘I know, I’m happy for her.’

‘But that means you’ll lose your home and the studios you so desperately wanted to save.’

‘Yes exactly. I tell Luke and jokingly suggest that I could move with him to Scotland. The next thing he’s bought the house from Audrey so I can stay here and we can continue doing the workshops.’

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