Page 106 of A Recipe for Love
‘I can’t…’ he started.
Bella didn’t want to hear, couldn’t face hearing. It wasn’t just that she was cross with him. She was cross with herself for thinking she could be somebody who put down roots. She was cross with herself for forgetting who she was. Bella Smith travelled light. Bella Smith didn’t join groups. She didn’t settle down. It didn’t matter one bit if she wanted those things or not. They simply weren’t for her.
‘It’s not about you,’ Adam started again.
That was evident. Whatever was going on in her supposed partner’s head, she hadn’t been part of it.
‘I have to go.’
‘What?’
Bella pushed past Darcy and ran up the stairs.
Adam watched her go. His mother and grandmother were still glaring at one another. His stepmother had tears rolling down her face. ‘You can’t sell Lowbridge,’ she whispered. ‘Your father loved this place.’ She gulped. ‘It’s home.’
This was why he’d pushed the feeling that he should accept John McKenzie’s offer and walk away deep down inside him. He’d known that doing what felt right for him would feel wrong for his family. ‘You can stay in the area. We’d be able to afford somewhere for everybody.’
‘Live across the river from the crumbling leftovers of the estate while McKenzie’s rich idiots barge around the rest of the place like it’s their personal playground?’ his grandmother asked. ‘Well thank goodness for that.’
Adam looked desperately to Flinty for some support. She met his gaze. ‘I think you ought to go and talk to your lassie.’
Of course he should. He couldn’t fix things here, but he could explain to Bella and he could get her to see that this decision would put them back onto the track that his father’s death had knocked them off.
He found her in the lady’s bedroom, stuffing her belongings into the rucksack she’d brought back from Spain. His blood froze. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’ve been stupid.’
‘What do you mean?’
She picked up the waterproof she’d bought from Anna and Hugh a few weeks earlier and rolled it into a tight bundle. ‘All of this. The cookery school. Making plans.’
Adam didn’t know what to say. ‘I didn’t know it meant this much to you.’
‘How could it not? I was trying to make things work here.’ He’d never seen Bella this angry before. ‘It would have been nice to know you didn’t care before I let myself…’
‘Let yourself what?’
‘Feel at home,’ she muttered. It was more than that. ‘Fall in love.’
‘I’m sorry.’
She stared at him. ‘It’s too late.’
‘Wait.’
She watched him take a deep breath in.
‘What did you fall in love with?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well you came here because of me, right?’
She nodded.
‘And you love it here.’
‘Yes.’
