Chapter Thirty-Four #2
‘Sarah got enough tough love from your parents, and you knew that she needed affection and encouragement, not the opposite. I didn’t get that until recently. And I know that what Sarah and Spence did was wrong, especially because it made you think Sterenlenn was compromised, but—’
‘Sarah’s shown me exactly how she did it, and now it’s out of Beta it can’t be operated manually. She’s too clever for her own good, but she’s assured me everything with Sparks will be above board from now on.’
‘I’m glad,’ I said. ‘But it wasn’t just Sarah or the messages that stopped me from calling you. It was because I needed to sort myself out. I realized that I’d pinned all my dissatisfactions – my lack of ambition and progress – on losing you, which is a big enough burden for anyone to have.’
‘You know I would have—’
‘I know,’ I cut in softly, and covered his hand with mine. ‘But I wanted to be certain that I could do it all without you, first. I wanted to know you again, but I didn’t want to rely on you.’
Ethan turned his hand over under mine and wrapped his thumb around my little finger. ‘So, your book?’
It wasn’t the first thing I’d expected him to ask about. ‘I’ve planned it all out,’ I said, the smile bunching my cheeks. ‘I know what I’m writing, and I’m ready to start.’
‘That’s the best news I’ve heard in weeks.’ He reached out to touch the tendrils of hair straggling on either side of my face.
‘They’re sweaty,’ I warned him. ‘I was on the cliff path before I got home and found your letter.’
‘I don’t care.’ He slid his fingers into my hair.
‘Ethan!’ I leant away from him, but he moved his hand to the back of my head and held it there, so I had no option but to look into his eyes.
‘You’re writing your book,’ he said. ‘What else?’
‘I’m not writing Spence’s. I’ve said I’ll help with research and my usual admin, but nothing else. And she’s promised me that when I’ve finished mine, she’ll give me some contacts and help with what comes next, if I want to get it published.’
‘Good,’ Ethan murmured. ‘That’s the least she can do. What else?’
‘Mum’s house is mine for as long as I want it. And I do want my own place, but it’s good to know the pressure’s off, and I can think of it as home for now.’
His expression softened, his little finger rubbing circles at my nape. ‘What else?’
I chewed my lip. ‘You know what else,’ I said softly.
He frowned, and I realized he was teasing me. ‘Oh, you mean your piece on Sterenlenn? Where you imagined being trapped inside?’
‘Did you mind?’
His eyes kindled: Ethan Sparks firing back to life.
‘Did I mind reading it on the verge of a heart attack, wondering how much detail you’d go into about what your characters got up to in the writing room?
’ He raised an eyebrow and I laughed, my cheeks heating at the memory.
‘Did I mind that your article led to Sterenlenn’s eventual new owners getting in touch with Sarah, asking for a tour? ’
‘They did not.’
He nodded. ‘I didn’t mind entirely when I was contacted by three escape room companies who wanted to know if entertainment spaces were part of my portfolio.’
‘Ethan!’ I laughed.
‘I’m serious. About all of it. I loved every word, but I’ve been living on the edge of sanity ever since, jumping whenever my phone made a noise, wondering if it would be you.’
‘I’m sorry.’ I looked at my knees. ‘I just had to do those things, for me.’
‘I understand,’ he said, though he was sounding less certain. ‘And now?’
I looked up. ‘Now, I’m ready.’
‘Ready?’ He toyed with the hair falling down my back, his gaze fixed on me. The space between us was a bubble holding our past, all the things we’d left unsaid.
‘I’ve missed you, Ethan,’ I whispered, and the bubble broke.
He leaned in, cupping my face, his thumb brushing my cheek. ‘I regret every single thing I have done and said that has stopped me from being with you.’ Every touch was a tiny tremor, as if my pores and nerve endings were rejoicing at having his skin against mine.
‘You can’t,’ I said. ‘Look at the house – look what you’ve achieved.’
He stared at me with a sort of wonder, as if he couldn’t quite believe I was there. ‘I would have done this regardless,’ he said. ‘I would have loved more of it, let myself enjoy it more if I’d had you with me.’
I nodded, unable to speak, because that was how I felt about every day of my life since he’d walked out of it. ‘The writing room wouldn’t have been a surprise if I’d been on site with you.’
He gave a brief shake of his head, but he was smiling now. ‘You wouldn’t have been on site with me every day. You’ve seen Grand Designs – the way those couples argue. Sterenlenn wasn’t ever mine, but I was still completely invested in it, and I know you would have been too. The pressure’s intense.’
‘I can only imagine,’ I said, as he brushed his lips across my forehead. ‘I have so many feelings about this place, and it belongs to someone else.’
‘We had a memorable twelve hours in it, though.’
‘Christened it, in a way, for the new Rosevar family.’
‘Made sure the disco shower really delivers.’
‘“Whatever It Takes”,’ I said, and he groaned and pressed his head into my neck, his hot breath puffing against my collarbone as he laughed.
I decided there was nothing I loved more than Ethan’s laugh, than him finding refuge in me.
‘So what does it take?’ I asked, knowing we couldn’t stay like this, wondering how the suspended time of being locked in Sterenlenn together could translate to a future for us.
He pulled back to look at me. ‘There’s nothing tying me or Sparks to Bristol, and I’ve always loved Cornwall more than anywhere else.’
My heart missed a beat. ‘Seriously? Just like that?’
‘I’ve been working through a few things over the last month, too. You remember that abandoned shop on the corner of the seafront parade?’
‘The old watchmaker’s. The glass is like—’
‘Picture glass,’ he finished. ‘It’s got all the original features, and a good-sized flat upstairs.’
‘You know this because …?’
‘I’m buying it,’ he finished. ‘I’m moving the firm here – part of it, anyway. Sarah and the technical team can stay in Bristol, but it doesn’t hurt to expand, and I won’t be that far away. The watchmaker’s needs a lot of work, but at the end I’ll have a new office with living space above.’
‘Ethan.’ My throat was fully clogged up. ‘When you say you’re buying it …’
‘My offer has been accepted, I just need to sign the paperwork. But I didn’t want to come back here, be minutes away from you if you didn’t want to see me; if it would feel like unwanted pressure when you were trying to move on. If that’s the case, George, then I will stay in Bristol, but—’
I leaned in and kissed the words off his lips. Our knees knocked together, the position awkward but the kiss perfect, because it was Ethan, and there was nobody else.
‘You’re moving here,’ I said, when I’d forced myself to put a couple of inches of space between us.
‘I can run my business from anywhere. There’s a whole lot of real estate being bought up in Cornwall because people want secluded seaside mansions, so it’s ideal, really – there’ll be so many new projects. And most importantly …’
‘What?’ I frowned.
‘That was a lot of talking. Can I kiss you again?’
‘What’s most importantly ?’ But I let him kiss me again, and by the end of it I was quite proud that I hadn’t crawled onto his lap.
I glanced at the empty house, thinking of all the furniture being shipped out to make way for the owners’ new things, that huge bed that we already knew was so comfortable.
‘Most importantly,’ he said breathlessly, ‘if you do want me here—’
‘I think I’ve just proved that I do. Do you need me to tell you that I love you? That I’ve never, ever stopped loving you, and that of course I want you here?’
‘I …’ He swallowed. ‘Right. Then, most importantly , I’ll also need to be here for my other role.’
‘There’s something else you’re doing?’
‘ Going to be doing.’ He ran his thumb along my jawline, as if he couldn’t stop touching me. My hands were at his waist, itching to get under his shirt and feel his warm stomach, so I was in much the same predicament.
‘What’s that, then?’
He smiled at me. ‘Supporting my girlfriend while she writes her first book – a future bestseller – reminding her constantly how talented she is, and occasionally bringing her breakfast in bed after I’ve shown her, thoroughly, how completely in love with her I am, that I always have been and always will be. ’
My heart skittered. ‘ Occasionally bringing me breakfast in bed?’
Ethan grinned. ‘That’s the part you’re taking from my heartfelt speech? Are you, Georgie Monroe, determined to make a joke out of this?’
‘I don’t know,’ I murmured. ‘It depends how long I have to wait for another kiss.’
Our noses were inches apart, and I knew I had the same look of delirious elation on my face that he did. He’d waited for me, he’d never stopped loving me, and now he was uprooting his whole life to be with me. I already knew I would do as much as I could to match his commitment: whatever it took.
‘Not very long,’ he said, ‘but you have to give me a couple of seconds.’
‘Why?’ I asked, joy bubbling up inside me.
‘Because it’s going to take a while to get used to this future. One filled with – what was it? – happiness and hope, living the life I always wanted?’
‘You memorized my letters,’ I said, as he wrapped his arms around me, scooping me onto his lap. Sterenlenn watched on silently – for once – and I hoped it approved of the decisions we’d finally got around to making.
‘Of course I memorized them,’ he said. ‘They were you, George. They were my way back to you.’
I kissed Ethan on the front step where, only a few weeks ago, I’d been standing, preparing myself for one of the most difficult nights of my life.
But I had got into the house, I’d done what Spence had asked me to do, and I had found what I was looking for – though it hadn’t been some divine inspiration to help her write her book, or a bundle of letters written using her characters’ names.
I’d found something much more important than either of those.
As Ethan and I kissed until neither of us had any breath left, and his hand found its way under my T-shirt, his warm palm pressing into my lower back so he could get me even closer, and the sun dropped lazily towards the horizon, content at having provided Alperwick with another perfect day, I sent a silent thank you to Tyller Klos – Sterenlenn – for being there, and for knowing that this was always how it was supposed to go: Georgie Monroe and Ethan Sparks, and our very own Cornish love story.
The End