Page 50 of A Summer of New Beginnings
Lachy stood and walked over to her. ‘Well, it’s been great having you here, Zara. It’ll be strangely quiet when you’vegone.’
She nodded and swallowed, willing her voice not to sound strained. ‘Thank you for everything, Lachy. You’ve been… well… the perfect host.’
‘Can I at least hug you before you walk out of my life forever?’ He smiled but his eyes remained sad.
She flung her arms round his neck and inhaled the scent of him one last time. ‘Take care.’
He rested his face in the crook of her neck and mumbled,‘You too. No more time travel or run-ins with tractors, okay?’ He laughed but it sounded forced.
She nodded. Then she crouched to say goodbye to Bess. ‘Bye bye, my little friend. I’ll miss you so much.’ Her voice wobbled and as if the dog knew exactly what she was feeling she placed her paw on Zara’s leg. Zara bent forward and sank her face into the dog’s fur where a few tears could escape, hopefullyunnoticed. Bess licked her cheek and whined before lying down on the stone floor.
‘Goodbye, Zara. Be free and be fine,’ Lachy said as he hugged her once more. The lyrics from Florence and the Machine’s ‘Delilah’ echoed around her head and she held on tight for a few more moments. ‘And do what you love.Neverthink you’re not good enough. Because you’remorethan good enough,’ he whispered. Hekissed her cheek and stepped away. ‘Come on, Bess. Let’s go to the beach, eh?’ The dog stood as if waiting for Zara to accompany them and when Lachy walked away she paused, unsure what to do.
‘Go on, Bess. Go on,’ Zara said as she gestured towards the sand and eventually the dog ran after her owner.
Through the fog of tears Zara loaded up the new bike and clipped on her helmet. She had neverexpected leaving this place to be so damned hard. As she climbed onto the bike and glanced towards the beach once more, she saw Lachy standing with his back towards her, head down, with Bess beside him, and a heavy wave of sadness washed over her.
In spite of what she had tried to convince herself, she knew deep down that this was going to be the hardest goodbye.
*
How the hell was it possiblethat one stubborn, opinionated, strong, independent woman could shake the foundations of his life so rapidly? Lachy had no clue. In the three years he had spent with Saskia he had never felt such a strong connection when they were in bed together. So how the hell could it happen with someone who was – to all intents and purposes – a stranger? And why couldn’t he wave goodbye?
He stood there onthe strip of sand with his back facing his home and the woman who had somehow tugged at his heart, leaving her mark after such a small number of days. The thought of waking the next morning and Zara being gone made his chest ache. How was he supposed to carry on as normal after that brief interlude of sunshine and fire?
The water lapped at the pebbles that scattered the edge of the sand and hefocused on the familiar sound. A necessary distraction for the reality he couldn’t affect. She was leaving and taking a tiny sliver of his heart with her. How the hell had he allowed that to happen so fast and so unabashedly? Deep down he knew he’d been powerless to stop it. She was like a comet passing through the atmosphere of his life. Beautiful but all too fast.
He hadn’t taken her number.There had been no point. As she had quite rightly said they were living at opposite ends of the country, living completely different lifestyles. So like a comet he would have to enjoy the memory of her even though it was unlikely she would appear in his sky again.
*
When she had cycled for thirty minutes, long enough to create plenty of distance between herself and Scourie, Zara stopped andtook out the little gift bag Lachy had given her. Inside was the most beautiful keyring she had ever seen. Hanging from the ring was a laptop charm and a cute dog charm that looked just like Bess. In addition to these was a silver disc that she thought was blank until she turned it over. But on the reverse it simply said,
Zara
Be free and be fine
Lachy x
