Page 38 of Best Laid Plans
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ he asked with real concern in his voice.
‘Yes. I was just thinking about what you said about Gavin.’
‘Oui?’ He looked uncomfortable at the mention of her ex.
‘I think you’re right; it would never have worked out with him long term. I’ve been so distracted by the humiliation I felt after the way he dumped me, I got the feeling muddled with missing him. I need to be with someone who’s proud of me for what I’ve achieved, not jealous of my success. I’ve been beating myself up about the wrong things. It’s time I stopped.’
‘Oui.’
‘Thank you, for helping me realise that.’
‘You’re welcome. You deserve to be happy, Indigo.’
‘As do you, Julien.’
They stared at each other, with the crackle of unsaid words in the air around them.
Say something more, Julien. Please.
But he didn’t; he just nodded in a sage kind of way, as if he hadn’t heard the underlying pleading in her voice.
So that was it; she had to leave right now, on her terms. It was important for her peace of mind that she kept her control, after having it so savagely ripped away from her in her last relationship.
For her own sense of self-confidence, she couldn’t allow Julien to dismiss her too.
‘Okay, well, I’m ready to go when you are,’ she said overly brightly.
He didn’t say another word as they walked up to the deck together. When they reached where the small onboard motorboat was housed, she hung back until he’d released it from its mooring and manoeuvred it down the small slope and into the water.
After climbing in he held out his hand to help her clamber in too and she hoped to goodness he wouldn’t notice how much she was trembling.
Neither of them talked as Julien piloted the small craft back to the shore, sending waves of froth into the choppy water behind them.
At any other time she would have loved the feeling of powering through the waves at high speed, revelling in the adrenaline rush of something so alien and exciting, but the heavy tug of gloom in her belly cancelled out any enjoyment she might have felt.
Julien drove the boat straight onto the deserted beach and jumped out, pulling it further ashore so she could step out without getting her feet wet.
Hopping out, she turned to face him.
‘So, I guess this is it, then,’ she said, giving him a smile that she knew must look incredibly fake.
‘Probably not,’ he said, dipping his chin and raising his eyebrow, his eyes holding a look she couldn’t decipher.
Was he making a joke about their strangely magnetic connection, or was he about to ask to see her again after he’d concluded his holiday?
She drew in a shaky breath, anticipation making a pulse beat hard in her throat.
‘Based on our luck so far, we’re bound to run into each other on Capri,’ he said with a playful lilt to his voice.
She nodded and waited – heart racing, breath stuck in her throat – for him to suggest they make a plan to meet up there.
But he didn’t. Instead, he gave her a tight smile, then turned to look back towards where his yacht was anchored a mile or so off the coast. ‘Well, I’d better get back and chart my course,’ he said, his voice giving no suggestion at all that he was sorry to see her go. ‘I only have the boat for three more days then it’s back to real life for me too.’
Real life.
Her stomach dipped and her eyes grew hot, but she refused to show him how much it was going to hurt her to leave him like this.
‘Okay, well, enjoy the rest of your holiday,’ she said, steeling herself as he moved towards her and placed a gentle kiss on each cheek, French-style.
