Chapter 21
“So, are you going to our bar when you get to the airport?” he asks, grinning at me over the screen.
“I might be,” I reply, putting the phone down while I do a last-minute handbag check. “Perhaps I’ll even get myself a sneaky mojito, for old times’ sake…”
He laughs, and it is a sound that makes me feel gooey inside. Even with hundreds of miles between us, I feel its warmth.
“I think they should probably put some kind of plaque up to commemorate us,” Josh says, “you know, like those ones that say ‘Shakespeare was born here’ or whatever?”
“I’m not sure we’re that important!”
“Are you kidding? This is a love story for all the ages. Have you got your charger? And your tickets? And your daughter?”
“All apart from the last one – cover your ears!”
I hold the phone away from me, and yell for Rose to get down the stairs because it’s time to leave and we’re going to be late. She surprises me by appearing from the kitchen, looking perfectly prepared to leave. Oh. Right.
The two of us are flying to London together, and then temporarily going our separate ways. She has arranged a tour of the college she likes in Dorset and also, I think to appease me, of one in Shropshire as well. She’s getting the train down to Dorchester and staying with Connie and Sophie, and I am heading to the glamorous surroundings of a science and business park in Hertfordshire. I finally came around to the idea of going back to the job I was trained for, and have signed up for one of the refresher veterinary courses that Dr Wong suggested to me.
Josh himself has already been offered a job within commuting distance of Starshine Cove, and is planning to move there over the summer. He’s made it clear that he wanted to do that anyway, and that he wasn’t only relocating in the hope that I would join him.
It’s been an interesting few months, I have to say. Lyssa has reported Robert to the police, and he is being investigated for controlling or coercive behaviour, which is apparently a thing you can do these days. That will throw up some difficult scenarios, and I am full of admiration for her – admiration, and support, no matter how tough that might feel. It’s something I need to do for me as well.
Josh has been a regular visitor at our home in Ireland, and I have also spent a couple of weekends with him in London. We have been getting to know each other better, and I love what I have discovered about him – and what I have discovered about myself. I have discovered that I can be happy, that I can open up, that I can allow myself to take risks. I can do all of that without being perfect, because none of us are.
I’m not sure exactly what the future holds for us. I am not sure if I will move to Dorset, or stay here, or simply do a little bit of a both for a while longer. But I am sure that whatever happens, I will be happy.
“I’d better go,” I tell Josh, after I usher Rose towards the car. “Need to get there with plenty of time to raid the duty-free perfume. Will I see you later?”
“Of course,” he says, with his lop-sided grin. “You know I’ll be waiting.”
*