Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Flick let herself into her flat later that day feeling emotionally drained. From the disappointment of losing the house, the frustration and shock of Luke swooping into save them, the relief of saving the house and what that meant for their relationship, she’d been on an emotional rollercoaster.
Luke had told Polly and the other artists he intended to buy the place but would only keep it if it was self-sufficient.
He’d made it clear that the twenty-five percent profits they gave him had to be enough to cover all the bills and overheads because he didn’t want any of them resting on their laurels and slipping back into old ways.
They’d all committed to keep doing what they were doing now as it was clearly working so well.
So that was it, the house was saved, so why did she feel so flat about that? It was everything she wanted. Except it wasn’t. There was something she wanted far more than that, something money could never buy .
Her phone rang in her pocket and she fished it out to see it was Tabitha. Luke wasn’t back yet but she wanted to talk to her friend in private so she shut herself in her bedroom.
‘Hey lovely,’ Flick said as she sat cross-legged on the bed.
‘Hey gorgeous, how goes the world’s greatest love story?’
Flick sighed and tears pricked her eyes. ‘Unfortunately I don’t think it’s that.’
‘Oh no, what happened? The last time we spoke you were telling me how you’d fallen head over heels in love with the man.’
She’d spoken to Tabitha a couple of times and Tabitha always wanted to know every detail of their relationship. Although she hadn’t gone into detail about their sex life, much to Tabitha’s disappointment, she had told her everything else, including how fast and hard she had fallen for him.
‘I’ve been dreading having that conversation with him, about what happens when he leaves for Scotland in a few weeks in case he’s decided that we’ve had a great time but that’s it.’
‘I don’t think that’s the case. From everything you’ve told me, the man is as smitten as you are.’
‘Well today, my nan phones to tell me she’s selling the house as she’s fallen in love with someone in Australia.’
‘Whoa, good for Audrey.’
‘I know, I’m happy for her. ’
‘But that means you’ll lose your home and the studios you so desperately wanted to save.’
‘Yes exactly. I tell Luke and jokingly suggest that I could move with him to Scotland. The next thing he’s bought the house from Audrey so I can stay here and we can continue doing the workshops.’
‘Well that’s great news…’ The penny clearly dropped. ‘You think he did that to stop you moving to Scotland with him.’
‘No, I think he did it because he’s incredibly kind and generous.
But my life is here now for the foreseeable future and he must have known that when he agreed to buy the house.
If we are to have any kind of long-distance relationship, surely that’s with the end goal of being together at some point, either here or in Scotland or somewhere in between, but he’s made sure that I can’t really leave.
And I wanted this, I wanted a life here, I want to save the workshops more than anything, and I have my gift shop which is a dream come true.
But he’s not going to come back here just for me when he wanted to get so far away from Lovegrove Bay that he bought a house in Scotland. So where does that leave us?’
‘Ah yes, I see.’
‘And now I’m thinking that he made this decision to buy the house so easily, there wasn’t a thought for one second about what that means for us.
So maybe our relationship isn’t the greatest love story after all, maybe it was only ever a fling, just great sex, just a bit of fun.
And I’m trying really hard to get my head round that. ’
‘It is a very generous gift, the kind of thing you do for someone you love,’ Tabitha said. ‘Knowing how much the house meant to you, maybe he sacrificed your relationship to make you happy.’
‘Oh god Tabby, he makes me happy, I love him. There has to be a way to make this work.’
‘Honestly, I think you have to talk to him about all of this. I’m sure you can figure it out if you just talk.’
Flick sighed. She knew Tabby was right but she only hoped it wasn’t too late for that.
Luke let himself into the flat and, noticing that Flick’s bedroom door was closed, he walked over to ask her if she wanted to go out for dinner.
He wanted to talk to her about their future, about him staying in Lovegrove Bay a bit longer to see if they had something worth fighting for.
He raised his hand to knock and realised she was on the phone.
He was just about to turn away when he heard some of what she was saying.
‘… it was only ever a fling, just great sex, just a bit of fun.’
His heart fell into his stomach as he moved quickly away from the door. He’d been wanting to talk to Flick about their future but that was his answer: they didn’t have one. And he’d never felt so utterly heartbroken before.
Flick was sitting next to Luke on the roof later that night. He’d been very quiet all evening and she didn’t know why.
She took his hand and leaned into his shoulder.
‘I’m going to go up to my new house tomorrow,’ Luke said.
She sat up to look at him in shock. ‘I thought you’d be here until the renovations are finished.’
He shook his head. ‘There are complications with it. I need to go up there to oversee everything.’
‘How long will you be gone?’
‘I’ll be there until it’s all finished, then I’ll pop back for a few days to collect my things and that’s it, I’ll be gone.’
‘Oh god Luke, I thought I had more time with you.’ Tears pricked her eyes. ‘I’m going to miss you so much.’
He frowned as he stared at her. ‘I’ll miss you too.’
‘I’ve loved spending time with you since I’ve come here.’
He swallowed. ‘I’ve loved it too.’
Her heart was hammering against her chest as she plucked up courage for what she wanted to say next. ‘I could… come up and see you.’
He frowned. ‘I don’t think that’s a viable option.’
Her heart crashed into her stomach in disappointment.
‘A fourteen-hour drive is no fun and if you fly it’s still going to take the whole day with arriving at the airport two hours before departure, a two-hour flight and then a further five-hour drive once you reach the other end. You do that journey a few times, pretty soon you’d start resenting it.’
‘I wouldn’t resent seeing you.’
His eyes softened and he stroked her face, then he let his hand drop.
‘And you’d be making the journey the opposite way too. If you wanted to see me, that is. Would you resent that?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘No, but I just don’t think it would work.
How often would we see each other, once a week, once a month?
You travel up there, spend one day with me and travel back, that’s three days you’re not here in the studio.
How often could you feasibly do that and successfully run the studios and oversee the workshops? ’
She supposed he made a good point but she couldn’t bear thinking of the alternative and never seeing him again.
‘So you don’t even want to try?’
He frowned. ‘We can try but I think all that travelling back and forth would start wearing thin for you, pretty soon you’d be making excuses not to come and your visits would get less and less.’
‘It sounds like you’ve given up already.’
‘Flick, I have loved the last week so much, we’ve had a lot of fun and the sex has been incredible but you’re not going to keep travelling up and down the UK just for great sex.’
Oh, that hurt so much. She let go of his hand. ‘No, I suppose not. ’
They fell into silence which for the first time was horrendously awkward. This was it, this was the end.
‘I have to be up really early tomorrow morning to get my flight so it’s probably best you sleep in your own bed tonight,’ Luke said.
‘Right, yes, of course,’ Flick said, her voice quiet.
He gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you in a few weeks.’
With that he got up and went down the stairs, leaving her alone on the roof. The tears she had been holding back fell down her cheeks.
Flick was woken by soft noises from the lounge a few hours later.
She looked at the clock and saw it was just coming up to three in the morning.
Clearly Luke was on his way out. She scrambled out of bed before her brain could talk herself out of it.
She opened the door and saw he was walking towards the front door with a bag in his hand.
He stared at her in surprise and she ran forward, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard. He immediately dropped the bag and gathered her in his arms as he kissed her back. The tears she thought were gone came flooding back.
He pulled back to look at her and frowned when he saw her crying. ‘Why are you crying?’
‘Because I’m going to miss you so much. ’
His frown deepened and when he spoke his voice was rough. ‘I’m going to miss you too.’
‘Will you text me when you get there so I know you’re safe?’
He nodded and looked at his watch. ‘I really have to go.’
She reached up and kissed him again, stroking his face. She pulled back to look at him. ‘Getting over you is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’
His eyes widened. Then he gave her another brief kiss on the head and walked out the door.