On the day I arrived back in Summerfield, Cameron jumped the hedge that divides the medical practice from the veterinary practice and shooed away wasps. There are still no garden beds on the vet surgery’s side of the fence, but now Dr Brown isn’t here to send Jimmy away, he mows the weeds when he mows Julia’s lawn.
Cameron follows me through the gate and, when I stop on the path, he almost bumps into me.
‘Aren’t we going in?’
The streetlights illuminate the footpath and the porch lights glow softly, but the terrace’s door and surrounds aren’t as brightly lit as I’d expected them to be. I fumble with my phone and activate the torch.
‘I talked to Dr Brown and he put me in touch with his solicitor.
I went to see him yesterday.’
Cameron frowns. ‘Is there a problem?’
When Milly worked out my foot size was so much smaller than hers, she insisted I wear the gumboots she’d bought her mother for Christmas. The boots are bright yellow with flurries of bees. I consider them closely.
‘Amelie?’ Cameron speaks quietly. ‘You don’t have to give me a present.’
Looking up, I meet his worried gaze. ‘Do you have a present for me?’
‘Not strictly a present,’ he says. ‘Just something I have to return.’
‘You’ve had it all this time?’
‘I’ve been waiting for you to come back.’
‘The night when we had dinner at the pub, you told me you needed something to hang on to. I think that’s what I’ve got you, but I’m not very experienced at giving presents.’
He takes my hand. ‘Tell me, Amelie.’
I don’t tell him, I show him.
AMELIEPETERSON, B.V.SC(HONS) SYD, M.R.C.V.S, PHD SYD, PHD UQ. VETERINARYSURGEON.
Cameron, his grip on my hand so tight that it hurts, stares at the smart brass shingle. I could tug my hand free or ask him to loosen his grip, but I don’t want to interrupt whatever it is that he’s thinking. An owl hoots. A dog barks. Finally, he turns to me again.
‘I’ve never had a shingle.’ I turn off the torch and pocket my phone. ‘I had to get it made. Frank put it up for me.’
Silence.
I free my hand. ‘It doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to.’
Muttering something under his breath, he takes both my hands and gently but firmly holds them against his chest. He dips his head and kisses one eye then the other.
‘I hope this means what I think it means. You’re not leaving in January.’
‘I’ve bought Dr Brown’s practice. I’m going to live here.’
His heart is beating even faster than mine. ‘I didn’t expect this.’
‘You don’t have to—’
He kisses me short and hard. ‘Let me finish.’
‘It was expensive to get all those letters engraved.’
‘I appreciate every single one of them but …’ He takes a deep breath. ‘I want to be with you, Amelie, I want that more than anything, but that doesn’t mean we have to live in Summerfield. You were unhappy here.’
‘When I came back, I was prepared to be unhappy again, but that didn’t happen.’ I smooth the creases in his shirt. ‘I found Maggie and Milly and my other clients. I also found your family.’