Page 86 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘Is my job still open at the Hive?’ Suddenly Lois realised they may have assumed she would take this role given that Croftwood won the award. Why would she leave if she didn’t have to?
‘Of course, of course,’ he said, shooting a look at David who started muttering something to Connie the HR woman.
‘Thanks. Because that’s what I’d like. As soon as possible.’
‘And what about Croftwood?’ asked David, looking confused.
‘Give it to someone else,’ said Lois and she ran out of the room, out of the building and across the road back into the woods.
She’d almost had everything she ever could have wished for. How had it come to this? She’d never get a chance like Croftwood again and she’d never find anyone like Oliver. She hurt more now than she had the night in the library with Oliver. She couldn’t see how anything would be okay ever again. She was going to have to go back to the Hive, to a job and a life she’d grown out of. There was nothing else she could do.
If only the trip to London hadn’t been so magical, she might not be feeling as bad as this. It was so much worse than she’d felt after Christmas. So much worse than she’d ever felt.
It had been a tough day in the coffee house. Oliver had to cope with customers who were unhappy with the coffee blend, someone who had so many food intolerances that he struggled to offer them anything other than a glass of water and his order from the wholesaler had been delivered somewhere else, so he was suddenly short on napkins and dishwasher detergent.
He was glad to see the back of the last customer but when he locked the door a new sense of dread crept over him knowing he was going upstairs to Amy.
Since she’d told him she was pregnant and he’d told Lois, things had been awful. She’d seen the state he’d been in when he got back from the library although he hadn’t told her where he’d been. He’d sat down that night and carefully explained to her that although he would do whatever she needed in terms of the baby and that he would be involved in all aspects of the child’s life, that he would do anything for their child, he couldn’t be in a relationship with her anymore. Since then, she’d refused to talk to him, leaving them both in dreadful limbo.
As he trudged up the stairs to the flat, he was fully expecting her to be in bed, where she’d been for however many days it was since he’d got back from London. He didn’t even know how long it had been.
He opened the door to find her sitting on the edge of the sofa, a pile of bags and suitcases by the door. She had her hands clasped on her lap and she was incredibly pale and drawn.
‘Oliver,’ she stood up quickly as soon as she heard him come in. ‘We need to talk.’
‘What’s going on?’ he asked, gesturing to the bags.
‘I’m leaving.’
He was torn between his natural reaction of pure relief and the sense of responsibility he felt towards her again now that she was pregnant.
‘You don’t have to go.’ He didn’t mean it and she could tell.
‘I do. I’m not pregnant.’
‘What?’ He ran his hand through his hair, looking at her in disbelief.
‘I’m sorry, Oliver.’
‘You lost the baby?’ He sat down on the sofa, feeling guilty at being relieved about something so dreadful. He looked at her, expecting her to confirm what he’d asked but instead found her looking shifty. With sudden clarity, he knew what had happened. ‘You lied to me.’
‘I’m so sorry.’ Tears were running down her face and she was kneading her hands together as she stood in front of him.
‘Why? How could you lie to me about something like that?’
‘That night, when we met in Bolero, I saw you talking to Lois and her friend. Until you’d seen her you looked like you were having the worst night of your life and then, you came back over to me and smiled, and I knew it was because of her. I see how you look at her Oliver and I couldn’t bear to think that you would look at someone else like that when it should have been me. I didn’t know how much I wanted you until it was too late.’
‘Ames…’ He took her in his arms and held her for a moment then led her to the sofa and they sat next to each other.
‘I’m so sorry Oliver. I know things have been awful between us. I thought we could go back to how things were in the beginning, but it hasn’t worked at all.’
‘It hasn’t,’ he agreed, handing her a tissue from a packet he pulled out of the drawer in the coffee table. ‘We had our time, Amy. I knew that but I wanted to give you the chance to see that too and it hasn’t worked out like that at all. It wasn’t fair of me to let you think there was a chance for us.’
‘Because you were already in love with Lois.’
He wasn’t going to deny it. ‘I am now,’ he said. ‘But not when you first came back, I’d never have done that to either of you.’
‘I know,’ she said softly, taking his hand and holding it to her face. ‘You’re a good man, Oliver.’
