Chapter 55
Tim
As soon as the red light on the cameras flicked off, I took Tabitha’s hand and raced us down a hallway, out the back door, to a scruffy street where the rubbish bins were kept.
I swung her around. She looked confused and exhilarated, but still apprehensive.
“I’m coming down to live in London,” I said. “We can be together, and you’ll be able to take that promotion you’ve been offered.”
She didn’t even ask how I knew she’d been offered a promotion.
Instead, she did a double take. “How? What about your business, your mother, your rugby team?”
“I have it all set up. For work, while I love what I’ve built, you’re more important to me.
Remember that call I got from that guy who wanted to buy my business?
” She nodded and I went on. “I didn’t want to sell to him, but it got me thinking.
I made a ton of calls. One of my local competitors is interested in buying my business.
There would be a couple years of earn-out, but I’d rather sell to him than anyone national.
And I can work construction in London through my connections.
I’ll still need to head to the Cotswolds every second weekend to see Mum.
Amy and I are going to switch off. And rugby?
” I shrugged. “There are other teams down in London.”
“No,” she said. Her body language was confident, her expression firm, and it drove a stake through my heart.
“No?”
“Tim, I appreciate all this, but you’ve done it again. If you’d talked to me, I would have told you things have changed for me too.”
My stomach clenched. “What do you mean?” Oh God, had she already found someone else?
“Coming back home, I’ve realized I missed it.
Not Mum and Dad’s chaos, but the quiet, the beauty, nature.
I’ve loved London, but I’ve gotten to the end of it.
I don’t want the promotion because it’s very managerial.
It’ll be even more hours than I’m now working, and I want to do fewer hours.
I’ve actually accepted a writer/presenter job on a new, less-ambitious TV show about country homes, from tiny sheds to big estates, which they’re hoping will spin out into coffee table books. ”
I drew back, genuinely shocked. “Another TV show?”
She smiled. “I know. I thought I’d never go near television again, but they’ve assured me it’s going to be a nice, gentle show and, ironically, quite boring for a lot of people.” She shrugged with a smile. “I know. It’s a thing. Nice and boring is the new cool. So, sue me.”
I threw back my head and laughed with abandoned relief and surprise.
I was so proud of her. She’d sorted this new role out for herself, and her taking on this job was even better because it meant we had a future.
The skies over the grumpy old city were gray and cloudy, but my heart was relieved, knowing everything I’d ever wanted and needed was right here beside me.
I nudged her in the ribs. “Tabs, you do know that’s not how you use that expression, right?”
She poked out her tongue at me, and I laughed again.
I held her gaze intently. “Will you forgive me for being an idiot?”
“Yes, I will. Seeing those shots on the screen showed me how genuinely you love me. I’ve thought a lot about how you saying I was a bore was something that was spoon-fed to you, not your actual opinion.
But that still really hurt me, Tim. It was too close to what Perry had said about me for years, and I hadn’t realized how much I needed to heal from what he did. ”
I’d really like to punch Perry for the hundredth time.
“That makes sense, and I’m just so sorry. I never want to hurt you again.”
“Well, you might, as you are a man after all,” she said, chuckling. “And, Tim, you need to do one last thing to keep me.”
“What’s that, Tabs?”
“Do not bloody sell your business, you silly man.”
I roared with laughter, which made her sigh with joy.
“Do you still love me?” I asked.
“Yes, I still love you.”
Oh, thank fuck. “So you’re coming to live with me?”
“Is that an invitation?”
As an answer, I reached out and pulled her hard into me. A rustle sounded from behind us, and two heads popped up, holding cameras.
The two cameramen grimaced apologetically. Swinging Tabs around, I put my back to them to shield her face. Filled with love for her, I put two fingers gently under her chin and kissed her tenderly, like it was only us. Like we had all the time in the world. Like we weren’t being filmed.
“I want to tell you more,” I said. “There’s that pub just around the corner where we can hide.”