Page 70 of Best Mistake Ever
‘Good. Because I guess life is messy. Love is messy. Nothing and no-one is perfect. I get that and I’m prepared to figure it out with you because I love you. You were right, we are meant to be together; I genuinely feel that.’
‘So you forgive me?’
‘Yes. Because I know the lies came from a good place. I’m in awe and, honestly, jealous of your love and devotion to your sister. I don’t feel like anyone’s ever given me those things the way you have to Dee. And I want that for myself. From you. I want in, Bea.’
‘Well then, you’re in, because that’s exactly what I want too. I think we can give each other what we need.’
‘But if we’re going to make this work, we both have to promise not to lie to each other again.’
‘I promise.’
‘I promise too.’
‘Good. Well, that’s sorted then. Let’s do everything we can to make this work.’
‘Agreed.’
‘I’m excited.’
‘Me too.’
‘I can’t wait to put all our plans into action.’
‘Speaking of action…’ I waggle my eyebrows at her. ‘I wouldn’t mind getting some more of that right now.’
‘What? Here under the tree?’ she asks, her eyebrows raised in mock outrage.
‘Sure, why not? I intend to have sex with you all over this estate and we may as well start right here.’
Her laugh rings out into the cool, fresh air around us. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve heard since I last heard her singing.
‘All over the estate? That’s a lot of ground to cover.’
‘Then we’d better get started,’ I say, pulling her towards me again and kissing her hard, feeling her body respond.
And I know for certain that this time, I’m with exactly the right person at the right time – that we both want the same things – and it’s only going to get better from here.
EPILOGUE
THREE YEARS LATER
Beatrice
I wake up to the low hum of electric vans trundling down the driveway to the hotel and pulling into the empty car park, ready to disgorge their loads.
Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I yawn and stretch, then reach out to the space next to me in the bed. It’s empty. Jonah must already be up and out, ready to greet the festival crew as they begin their set-up of the next Terra Firmer festival to be hosted here at Gladbrooke House.
He’s obviously let me sleep in a bit this morning but has left me a still-hot cup of coffee on the bedside table.
I love him so much.
He’s such a thoughtful, generous man.
I can barely believe how I got so lucky some days.
Our relationship has gone from strength to strength since that day in the apple orchard – not that there hasn’t been the odd occasion when we’ve wanted to throttle each other, like all couples. Running the hotel has been stressful at times, especially in the early days when we were struggling to turn a profit.
But we found a way to work through it and I’m so glad we stuck with it.
