Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
The suite felt strangely quiet that morning.
Alba stood near the terrace door with her holdall slung over one shoulder, her gaze moving slowly around the room as she scanned it one final time.
The bed had already been stripped, the crisp white duvet folded away somewhere beyond sight, leaving the mattress looking oddly bare, and the terrace door was pulled back, allowing a stream of fresh morning air to drift through the suite, stirring the curtains every few seconds.
The scent of fresh coffee still lingered from the cups they’d finished not long ago, and now, it was over. The weekend was officially finished. Yet somehow, against all odds, Alba had survived it.
She zipped the side pocket of her bag and allowed herself a small, private moment of satisfaction.
There had been no dramatic confessions and no drunken mistakes, and thankfully…
no accidental moment of blurting out I think I want to fall in love with you while they’d sat out under the stars last night.
All things considered, that counted as a victory. A very impressive one.
Because if anyone had told her three days ago that she would spend an entire weekend sharing a bed, a spa, and a little too much wine with Ellie Hamilton without completely losing her mind, she would have laughed them out of the room.
And yet here she was. Still friends with her.
Alba mentally patted herself on the back.
“Ready?” Ellie’s voice came from behind her.
Alba turned. Ellie stood near the suite door, her own overnight bag resting beside her feet.
She looked relaxed in a way Alba had grown used to over the course of the weekend, her hair loosely tied back, and that gentleness in her expression that was impossible to miss.
There was colour in her face now, and a lightness that hadn’t been there when they’d first met.
The Ellie Hamilton that Alba had first encountered at Park Haven had been composed, controlled, and careful with every emotion she allowed anyone to see…
but this Ellie was different. She laughed effortlessly, she suggested cocktails, and she stretched out on couches like the world wasn’t resting on her shoulders.
Alba smiled back at her. “Yep. I think I’ve got everything.”
Ellie grabbed her bag and stepped out into the hallway, pulling the suite door closed behind them when Alba joined her.
The walk through the hotel felt slower than it had when they’d first arrived.
Maybe it was the early hour, or maybe it was the calm that seemed to settle over the building in the morning light.
The same lounge they’d passed through two days earlier now felt empty somehow, the furniture bathed in pale sunlight that filtered through the tall windows.
It felt like the building itself was easing them gently back into the real world.
They checked out at reception, exchanged polite smiles with the staff, and stepped outside into the crisp autumn air. As the gravel crunched beneath their shoes, the car park in sight, Alba inhaled a deep breath. Driving home with Ellie wasn’t a bad end to the weekend at all.
Ellie reached the car first and unlocked it with a beep. “I still can’t believe you didn’t let me pay for anything,” she said as she opened the boot. “You should have.”
Alba shrugged as she lifted her holdall beside Ellie’s bag. “You drove.”
“Okay, fine. We’re not having this argument again.” Ellie slammed the boot shut and rounded the car to the driver’s side. “But I will return it somehow.”
Alba slid into the passenger seat and pulled the door closed, fastening her seatbelt as Ellie settled behind the wheel.
She didn’t really know what to say after their slight moment last night on the terrace, but she didn’t feel as awkward as she could have done.
The drive home would certainly be reflective.
Ellie started the engine, then paused. “Thank you, again.”
“You’re welcome.”
Ellie smiled. “No, I mean it. I know I need to thank you properly, but I don’t know how.”
“Really, that’s not necessary.” Alba scanned the radio stations so she didn’t have to look into Ellie’s expressive blue eyes for a moment longer than she needed to. “We had a great time, and that’s what matters.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to spend this weekend with anyone else, Alba.”
Before Alba could respond, Ellie leaned across the centre console.
She barely had time to register what was happening before Ellie’s hand rested on her thigh, and her lips brushed against Alba’s cheek.
The kiss was quick, soft, and completely unexpected, but for that tiny fraction of a second…
it felt like the entire world had paused around them.
As Alba gazed back at Ellie, her lips parted, it seemed her brain had stopped functioning entirely. But Ellie just smiled again, completely at ease, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Alba’s internal world had just been rearranged ten times over.
Ellie put the car into gear and backed out of their parking spot. “Right. Let’s go.”
Alba turned and stared out of the passenger window as the car slowly pulled away from the hotel. The spa disappeared behind them as they rolled down the gravel drive, the lake briefly visible between the trees before it vanished from view entirely.
Her cheek still felt warm, her heart was still pounding furiously, and despite the fact she’d spent the weekend congratulating herself for keeping everything perfectly under control, she was suddenly very aware that things may not be quite as simple as she’d been telling herself.
Still, she’d survived. Mostly.
And if that kiss had meant absolutely nothing to Ellie…well, Alba was going to need the entire drive home to convince herself that it meant nothing to her either.
The drive back into town felt shorter than the journey out had been.
Ellie kept both hands on the steering wheel as the built-up streets started to replace the countryside roads, smiling as she watched autumn starting to creep into the trees along the pavements.
Alba sat quietly beside her, angled towards the window, watching the town come slowly into view.
Ellie had found herself glancing at Alba more often than she probably should have for the entire journey home, but hadn’t that been happening for a while longer than the weekend now?
Those little moments where her attention drifted.
When Alba laughed, or tucked her hair behind her ear, or said something dry and sarcastic that caught Ellie off guard.
When they’d first met, she’d dismissed it as nothing more than enjoying good company, but now she knew for sure that it was far more than that.
The sensation of that brief kiss she’d pressed to Alba’s cheek earlier remained at the forefront of her mind, confirming it.
She hadn’t thought about it when she’d done it.
It had simply felt like a natural way to say thank you.
Now, sitting here in the quiet of her car, she was aware that perhaps it hadn’t been quite as casual as she’d tried to convince herself at the time.
Ellie cleared her throat. “Well, I suppose reality is about to ruin everything.”
Alba turned away from the window with a smile. “You mean the part where we both have to go back to work tomorrow?”
“Yes. Exactly that.”
Alba chuckled. “I’m already mentally preparing myself for the mountain of emails waiting for me.”
Ellie sighed and squeezed Alba’s knee. “You’ll be fine.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re the one who sends half of them.”
Splaying a hand across her chest, Ellie gasped. “That is an outrageous accusation to make.”
“And yet…it’s very true.”
Ellie laughed, but it faded quickly as her car slowed near a row of terraced houses that led to Alba’s street. Her stomach sank; they were almost there. Which meant this—whatever this weekend had been—was about to end.
She hadn’t expected that part to bother her quite so much.
After all, it had only been a few days. But somewhere between the balcony conversations, the swimming pool, and the laughter over room service, Ellie had grown used to Alba’s presence beside her.
She’d grown used to the easy conversation and the way Alba seemed to understand her without asking too many questions.
The thought of going home to an empty house tonight felt different than it usually did.
Heavier somehow.
“You okay?”
Ellie blinked herself back to the present. “I think so. Yes?”
“What’s up?”
Ellie forced a small smile as she slowed the car at the end of Alba’s street. “I guess I’m just not looking forward to going home after such a lovely weekend with you.”
She turned onto the street and stopped the car at the kerb outside Alba’s house.
She kept her hands resting on the steering wheel, staring ahead at the pavement and the small garden gate that led up to Alba’s front door.
She didn’t want Alba to get out of the car.
Because the moment Alba stepped out, the weekend would officially be over.
No more shared coffees, no more evenings on the terrace under the stars, no more of Alba’s attention directed solely at Ellie. Just…normal life again.
Ellie swallowed. “Well, here we are.”
Alba unfastened her seatbelt and cleared her throat. “Thanks for the lift.”
“Thank you for the weekend.”
“It was really no problem, Ellie. You’re great company.”
Ellie paused and chewed her lip. She wanted Alba to know that she’d like to do something together again in the future, but she didn’t want to put her on the spot.
Still, if she didn’t say it now, she would only text her once she got home.
Ellie would prefer to see her reaction rather than read it. “If you ever wanted to do it again…”
“Another spa weekend?” Alba lifted a brow.
“Maybe not quite that extravagant, but something. I’d like to return the favour somehow.”
Alba tilted her head. “You don’t have to do that.”