Page 89 of The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop
‘This was just bad luck,’ he said. ‘The doctors told me that, even though recurrence is rare, because I had it before, I was more at risk of getting it again. That’s all it was. Not going on walks with you, not eating tacos or tying ribbons round Yule logs. They want to monitor me for a few days, and I’ll have to have weekly check-ups for the next couple of months to make sure it hasn’t done any permanent damage, but they’re hopeful: I’ve been hooked up to monitors, had every test possible, and as long as I take it easy for a while, don’t agree to run a marathon or swim the Atlantic, I should be fine. I am so sorry I scared you.’ He pressed his lips against her forehead, and Ollie closed her eyes.
‘I went through so many scenarios,’ she said. ‘So many horror stories.’
‘My parents said that you and Liam were here all Saturday night.’
‘I didn’t want to leave you. I would have come in the ambulance, stayed in the emergency room, even if it meant sleeping on the floor, being kicked by doctors. I was worried that … that they would come out and tell me …’
Max let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly to him. Ollie resisted for a second, worrying about his heart, then let herself sink against him. Max was here, and he was going to be all right: he was going to come home to her.
‘I love you,’ she said into his chest, whispering the words against his hospital gown and, beneath, the organ that had put him here. She waited for the pause, for him to tense up, but he just tightened his hold on her, and it made her bold. ‘I am in love with you, Max Holden, and I want you in my life.’
‘Good to know,’ he murmured into her hair, ‘because I’m in love with you, too. I was trying to find the right time to tell you, but I should have said it the moment I felt it.’ He pushed her back, so they were looking at each other. ‘I was going to say that I’m hopelessly in love with you, but hopeless feels like the last thing this is.’
‘Hopefully in love?’ she suggested.
‘Much better. I am hopefully in love with you, and I intend to spend the next sixty years showing you just how much.’
She grinned. ‘That doesn’t soundtooterrible.’ She pressed a hand to her chest. Couldherheart cope with all this emotion, this flood of happiness after so much worry?
‘And I want you to know,’ he went on, ‘that I’m committed to looking after myself. The doctor says I couldn’t have predicted this, but there are things I can do, things that will make a recurrence less likely.’
Ollie ran her hand down his arm. ‘You were already doing those things. Unless you were secretly eating fifteen ofBeryan’s sausage rolls a day, and even then, it’s mainly about exercise, isn’t it?’
‘That’s a big part of it, but there are other ways I can look after my heart.’
Ollie nodded. ‘I can help with that. I think it’s my job now, anyway.’
‘Why’s that?’ All the flippancy had gone between them. The air felt charged, and Ollie could see – because she knew him well, now, despite the short time they’d been together – that he was scared. Who wouldn’t be, after something like this?
‘Because,’ she said, ‘a piece of your heart belongs to me, so it isn’t just your responsibility anymore.’
Max’s eyes flooded with emotion. ‘Ollie …’
‘I’m serious, Max. We’re in this together. You have my heart to strengthen yours.’
‘Ollie Spencer,’ he said, his voice catching, and the next moment she was in his arms again, and they were kissing each other as if they’d been given a second chance, and both of them realised just how precious it was.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘Ishould get going,’ Ollie said. ‘I told Thea I’d be at the bookshop by lunchtime.’
Max tightened his arm around her. ‘Why did Becky mention Sophia? What do you need to sort out?’
‘Ugh. Arabella called me on Sunday, would you believe? She told me that there’s been a crisis, and Sophia can’t do the event anymore.’
Max’s eyebrows rose. ‘What? You are kidding.’
‘Nope. Anyway, I wasn’t as focused as I could have been, so the first thing I need to do is call her back and find out exactly what’s going on, and if there’s anything we can do to change her mind.’
‘And if you can’t?’ Max tucked a chunk of her red hair behind her ear, then slid his fingers down the strands.
‘If I can’t, then I have an idea that currently has alotof hurdles in its way, but, if I can pull it off, will be incredible.’
‘Tell me your idea,’ he said, his eyes alight with amusement.
‘Are you laughing at me, Max Holden? On the inside?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand how anyone could be put off by your enthusiasm. It’s infectious.’
