Chapter Sixty-Five
Gabi
The airport was full of people in a rush to get somewhere far away, but Gabi could only think of what she was leaving behind.
Her luggage had been tagged and weighed and disappeared on the conveyor belt. The next time she would see it would be in America.
She went through security and the alarm beeped. A tall woman frisked her, running her hands efficiently over Gabi’s body, and all Gabi could think of was that the last person to touch her had been Walker.
She’d managed to wave out the window of the taxi as they pulled out of Amber’s drive but then she’d sobbed all the way to Heathrow.
For the first time in her life, she didn’t want to be on her own.
The people in Honeybridge had shown her that having someone to rely on was a good thing – a beautiful thing even.
And now, she knew that it was actually all that she wanted.
Not to have to live on her own any more.
She wanted that intimacy that came with being with someone all the time. Living life together.
She made her way through crowds of strangers in the duty-free shops to the gate and found a seat facing the window where she could watch the planes landing and taking off.
Normally she’d be feeling the thrill of excitement at the thought of soon getting stuck into a new project, but this time she felt she’d left her heart behind in Honeybridge.
She checked the flight board. On time, as scheduled, no delays. Her phone pinged and her stomach flipped over, but it was just an email from the film company, telling her there would be a car waiting for her at the other end.
She put her phone away, trying to understand her feelings, somehow knowing her life had been changed for ever. Walker was the most caring, loving, funny person she had ever met. He had shown her that facing your fears opened up a whole new life. Maybe it was time for her to do the same.
Was she ready for another leap? She held her breath and thought about Walker in Scotland. How he’d faced his childhood demons to move on with his life. Yes, absolutely, she was ready for a new phase. And to do that, she had to make peace with her past.
She checked the date on her phone. The next message wasn’t due to arrive from Papà for another week. But it was her turn to reach out. She’d kept him on the sidelines for too long already. Her fingers trembled as she typed.
Gabi: Hi, Papà, are you there?
She pressed send and stared hard at the screen, wondering what he might be doing at this exact second.
The second that she realised she wanted to let him in.
She wanted to be part of his life and for him to be part of hers.
Please, she thought, don’t let it be too late.
Her phone went off, and she held her breath as she opened her messages.
Papà: I’m always here, Gabi. Are you okay?
Gabi felt the tears stream down her cheeks but laughed out loud. Walker had been right. Through blurry vision, she typed a reply. The first proper reply she had extended in years.
Gabi: I’m fine, Papà. I’m at the airport on the way to America for a new job.
Papà: Wow, Gabi. That’s amazing. I’m very proud of you!
Gabi hiccupped in surprise. It was as though he’d been waiting all along.
Gabi: I’ll give you a call when I’m settled the other side, and we can catch up?
Papà: Can’t wait. xx
She typed three kisses and pressed send, before clutching the phone to her chest. She realised now just how changed she was, and why it felt so hard to leave Honeybridge.
Because she now wanted to surround herself with people she cared about.
And more than anyone, that meant Walker.
Leaving Walker was more painful than any broken bone she’d ever had.
And she finally realised that was because it was breaking her heart.
She stood quickly and approached the floor-to-ceiling windows in front of her.
A plane taxied on the runway, getting ready to depart.
Soon that would be her, jetting off to her old life when all she really wanted was a new life.
A rising sense of panic made her put her hand to the glass, steadying herself as the plane started its engines and moved down the runway.
Steadily picking up speed, it soon nosed into the air and a moment later was just a speck in the sky.
An announcement over the tannoy interrupted her thoughts. They were calling her flight. It was time to board.
Gabi gasped. She had to act. She had to talk to Walker now.
Even if it was just to tell him how she felt.
She could not leave him like this. Not with him thinking he was just a holiday romance when he was much, much more than that.
She lifted her phone, ready to dial, when she heard a voice – a very soft, Scottish voice – gently say her name.
She spun in disbelief, and hope, and there he was. Walker.
She made a sound, unable to speak, and they crashed into each other’s arms. She held on, never wanting to let go, feeling the strength in his arms, the safety of his chest.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked as they broke apart.
‘I realised I couldn’t let you go,’ he said simply. ‘Not like this.’
Gabi’s stomach flipped.
‘What I mean is, I know you and I come from different worlds, but sometimes worlds collide. I don’t want to do six months without you, but I know how much your job means to you.
And I know how independent you are. And I would never stand in your way with that.
It’s one of the things that I love most about you. ’
Gabi nodded, her breath catching at the word love, but Walker took hold of her hands between them and continued.
‘But what about if we broke the six months down? Say, I come out on holiday in six weeks’ time? And then we separate again for six weeks, and then I come out again?’
Gabi blinked in surprise.
‘I don’t want to get in your way,’ Walker reassured her.
‘I know it’s your career, your life. But I don’t want to lose you, Gabi.
I want us to be together, whatever that looks like.
’ He held her hands against his chest, and she could feel his heart banging.
‘And then, when the film is finished . . .’ He cleared his throat and all she could do was hold her breath.
‘I’ll transfer with the fire service to London so that I can be near you all the time. ’
Her lips parted and she made a small sound of shock.
Walker’s eyes bored into her, searching for an answer. His jaw tightened in anticipation of her response, a tiny muscle twitching deep in his cheek. She could see what this meant to him, it played out on his gorgeous face.
But he couldn’t see what it meant to her, because it was so deep inside her as she’d never felt it before. She cleared her throat.
‘But when you come out on holiday, I’d be working all day.’
Walker shrugged. ‘I can sightsee while you’re busy. And then I can be waiting for you when you’re finished.’
‘And you’d move to London?’
He smiled nervously and nodded. ‘I’d go wherever you are.’
It hit her then. Walker was ready for a new life too. Everything he knew, loved and lived by. He’d change it all for a life with her.
And it was right then and there that Gabi knew what she felt, just as Isabella had told her.
Love. Epic, action-packed and technicolour love.
Her heart filled with a surge so strong that it took her breath away.
It bloomed and filled her chest. It sparked into every cell and made her fingers tingle and her eyes brim with tears.
Isabella had told her she would know when she felt love and there was no denying this.
She let it pour through her, overcome with emotion.
Walker slumped onto the chairs beside them.
‘You hate the idea,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want to look like I was taking over your life.’
She sank beside him, grasped his hand and lifted it to her lips. She pressed her mouth against his knuckles, hard, kissing each one before lowering it again. She wanted to kiss every inch of him, make him feel the depth of her love.
‘I love the idea,’ she said, ‘Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever put me first in that way before. Nobody has ever made so much effort and offered so much of themselves.’ She put her hand to his face, smoothed his sandy hair back from his forehead.
‘Nobody has ever impacted me like you. Hell, I just messaged my papà!’ She saw the whites of his eyes as they widened, the tiniest lift of his lips.
The flicker of hope. She took a deep breath and felt the same adrenaline rush as she felt flying through the air on a swing at fifty feet.
‘I’ve been such a fool, Walker, because I want to be with you too.
’ She grinned as she said it out loud. ‘I am an independent woman, you’re right.
But I want to share my life with you, whenever I can.
And if, for the next six months, that means a week here or there, then that would be more than I ever dreamed of. ’
His eyebrows rose and a laugh broke through.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed him the group photo. All that happiness caught in one second.
‘But when I come home from this job, I want to come home to Honeybridge, not London,’ she said. ‘To you, and this gorgeous gang of people. I’m going to sell my apartment and buy something in Honeybridge.’ Walker punched the air and this time she laughed.
The trapeze she was on felt fantastic. It was higher than anything she’d attempted before in her life, but she knew she had a safety net. It gave her courage to keep climbing, to go higher, to try harder, to let people in.
‘There are lots of shorter jobs I can do in the future,’ Gabi said. ‘Ones that don’t take me away so far or for so long.’
‘But I thought that was half the attraction,’ he said.
‘It used to be,’ she agreed. ‘But things change. Now you’re the main attraction, Walker. I want to be where you are.’
He exhaled slowly and she could see the excitement in his eyes.
An announcement sounded. They were calling her name.
She needed to go to the gate. Her flight was about to depart.
They shared a long look as they listened.
This was it. But suddenly she wasn’t afraid of leaving, because she knew what, and who, she was coming back to.
And it was the best feeling in the world.
Walker pulled her to standing and wrapped his arms around her.
‘So, I’ll see you in six weeks?’ she said and felt the kiss he pressed to the top of her head.
‘And we’ll speak every day,’ he confirmed.
‘And luckily I already know you’re good at phone sex,’ Gabi said, and he laughed out loud.
She had never felt so excited, so happy, so sure. It was the same feeling she got on the high diving board. She leaned back in his arms and got ready to take the leap from the very top platform.
His face was gentle as he looked down at her, his hair falling onto his forehead, his eyes soft.
‘I love you, Walker,’ she said. ‘You’re the biggest thrill I’ve ever had in my life.’
He tipped her chin with his finger and thumb, holding her face still.
‘And I love you, Gabi,’ he said. ‘With a burning passion.’
He lowered his mouth to hers and she finally let herself freefall into the love of her life.