Chapter 34
‘Are you seriously telling me you were up here kissing Rhys?’ Sophie hissed.
‘I wasn’t actually telling you,’ Ginny pointed out delicately.
‘That’s even worse! You didn’t want to—’ She drew herself up in a decent impression of a meerkat. ‘There was never anything with Laurie, was there?’
‘Of course not!’ Ginny groaned. ‘I don’t even know why you’d think that.’
‘I certainly didn’t think…’ She blinked, looking from Ginny to Rhys and back again as though she were watching a tennis match. ‘If you didn’t want to tell me, I’m assuming the rest is true – the, uh, “casual” nature of the…’
Rhys stifled a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t say anything, even when Ginny eyed him urgently.
‘Well, yes,’ she answered flatly. She left a long pause, waiting, hoping Rhys would pipe up and say that it had all started out as completely casual, but then they’d stumbled upon this unique connection and maybe Ginny would declare an end to her dating ban so they could see where things led, if everyone would still give them some space and time to work things out, because Rhys had been hurt before – had had his whole life turned upside down – and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to undertake another relationship—
‘How did you let this happen?’
Ginny snapped her attention back into the present to find Sophie confronting Rhys, who was gradually losing all colour from his face.
‘I don’t really know.’
‘Why do you assume it’s his fault?’ Ginny answered for him. ‘It was pretty much all me. Since I’m still on this dating ban, it seemed like a good idea to try out a non-dating… thing.’ She didn’t think she should say ‘relationship’.
Rhys was bristling and she imagined he wanted nothing more than to escape this conversation.
‘So you were just “trying out” kissing at the top of the tower?’
The colour flooded back into Rhys’s cheeks.
‘It was… good,’ was all Ginny could think of to reply.
‘But you always wanted more. You’re looking for your soulmate. That speech you just made—’
More footsteps on the stairs cut off the point that Ginny had been expecting Rhys to mention, but suddenly dreaded addressing.
‘Du Rotzbua, Lucas!’ Andreas grumbled as he took the stairs two at a time, pausing at the top to catch his breath.
‘If you want your bride, you need to earn her, my friend.’
‘I will never deserve her or understand why she puts up with me, so I’m not sure how I can do that.’
‘Drink with us!’ Lucas declared.
Sophie shared a look with Ginny and rolled her eyes. ‘Some wedding night we’re going to have. Every person he passes makes him drink. And I can’t stand the smell of schnapps right now.’
‘You could tell him to stop,’ Ginny pointed out.
‘I know,’ Sophie said, watching her husband knock back a little bottle of something potent and herbal. ‘But this stuff is important to him.’
‘To me?’ Andreas shot her a sidelong look. ‘You wanted to get married properly.’
‘And getting married properly involves schnapps,’ Lucas declared.
Andreas glanced at Ginny, seemingly seeing her for the first time, then he noticed Rhys. ‘What are you two doing here? Did they steal the photographer and the wedding planner too?’
‘No, Ginny and Rhys were up here making out,’ Sophie said with a scowl.
Andreas chuckled and Ginny awkwardly joined him, until she noticed that neither Sophie nor Rhys were laughing.
‘I’m serious. I got the wrong end of the stick. It wasn’t Laurie, it was Rhys. They’ve been sleeping together!’
The smile slowly faded from Andreas’s face. Ginny didn’t dare look at Rhys. She could feel his discomfort strongly enough anyway and his silence had rarely been louder.
She crossed her arms. ‘I don’t know why you enjoyed teasing me and gossiping about Laurie, but you both seem outraged that it’s Rhys. I know you must think I talk his ear off and how could he ever stand to spend so much time with me—’
His hand landed on her waist and closed in the material of her dress. ‘Ginny, shh.’
From anyone else, she would have gritted her teeth and refused to comply with the blunt instruction, but he said her name so beautifully in his gentle accent, and the hand at her back told her everything she needed to know about his motives for silencing her.
‘It’s nothing like that,’ Andreas said gruffly, still looking from one to the other, perplexed. ‘It’s because he’s leaving for Canada in two weeks.’
Ginny had to process that information for a few long seconds, seeing nothing as she tried to reason with herself that she’d known all along he would head off on another assignment. She’d even joked about it herself. But still, the breeze felt suddenly icy and her tongue didn’t want to move.
‘That’s where you’re off to next, huh?’ she said carefully, marvelling that her voice sounded so steady despite her twisting stomach.
They’d agreed not to get their feelings involved.
She didn’t want him leaving with guilt because she’d broken the agreement.
When he got back, perhaps everything would be different between them – or nothing.
‘You mean, that’s where he’s off to permanently,’ Andreas said emphatically. ‘Planning to slip away, as though none of us would notice he’s gone!’
That stopped the world turning for Ginny. Her eyes slammed shut and she groped for the coarse wall of the tower for something to support her. She didn’t want to believe it, but a little piece of something was already breaking off inside her, smashing on the ground at her feet.
In two weeks, he would be gone. It had been bad enough imagining him leaving for a short-term assignment, but Great Heart without Rhys would be… devastatingly empty. She’d never feel his eyes on her in the gym – never have the chance to press her hands to his face.
But that wasn’t the most uncomfortable realisation. Andreas knew, but Rhys hadn’t said a word to her. He would have told her, if he felt any kind of dilemma about staying – for her. If he felt anything for her, he would have told her.
She couldn’t even blame him. He’d tried to gently dissuade her from pursuing the attraction and she’d foolishly ploughed ahead, insisted no feelings would be involved.
No matter what she thought she’d learned this week, she was na?ve.
And for all her brave statements about being glad to have had the time with him, she’d still allowed herself to imagine it wouldn’t end.
Crashing back to earth was painful.
She wanted to rail at him, beat his chest, but it was all her own fault. He’d tried to do the right thing and stay away from her. She opened her mouth to make some kind of excuse to get off this tower before she burst into tears, but only a gurgle of a sob emerged. Shit.
‘I have to—’ she forced out, gesturing wildly at the stairs before making her escape – just in time. Her vision blurred with tears before the door had even closed behind her.
Rhys was torn in two watching her. He wanted to go after her, hold her by the shoulders and make her understand why he had to leave. But then he imagined getting to the bit where he couldn’t imagine being in Weymouth, seeing her every week, not being able to touch her, and he reconsidered.
Their affair had got a little intense and he regretted that, but she clearly didn’t want a monosyllabic, washed-up photographer who was either away all the time or skint. She was hurt that he hadn’t told her he was going so soon. She’d get over him a long time before he would get over her.
He should just let her go – to enjoy the wedding as much as she could without him making it worse.
But Sophie and Andreas were looking at him expectantly.
‘Aren’t you going after her?’ Sophie prompted.
‘Uh, why?’
‘Because you upset her and you need to make it better,’ Andreas grumbled.
‘I’m only going to upset her more, if I talk to her now.’
Sophie sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Why didn’t you tell her you were leaving?’
‘Ginny insisted we were just fooling around. We even agreed that this wouldn’t continue after tomorrow. I hadn’t told any of you about Canada yet, so it seemed…’
‘Ginny said that and you believed her?’ Sophie asked, exasperated.
‘She doesn’t even like me,’ Rhys said baldly. ‘You all know that.’
‘I thought we knew you don’t like her, but Ginny likes everyone,’ Sophie insisted.
Rhys had to admit the last part was true, but it didn’t mean she wanted the man who liked no one haunting her life long-term.
‘I probably should have told her I was leaving, after we… got to know each other better. I’ll apologise if I get a chance, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ve… liked her for a long time, but she doesn’t feel the same and there has to be an end some time.’
He inwardly groaned when he realised he’d robbed both of them of speech.
‘She said she didn’t want anything serious,’ he insisted, ‘and, unlike all of you, I give her credit for knowing what she wants. She’ll be over this – over me – and dating again before you know it and I’ll have my fresh start in Canada.’
Now he needed to stay away for years to clear her out of his system.
He gestured with his camera. ‘We should get back to the party. I assume Andreas has successfully ransomed his bride?’ He glanced at Lucas and Marco, who nodded mutely.
Sophie and Andreas followed him back down the stairs, but he felt them looking at him and caught an urgent exchange of gestures between the two of them.
‘Rhys,’ Sophie said, just before they reached the doors back into the reception room, ‘I’m not sure you’re right about how Ginny feels.’
The lump in his throat was difficult to swallow. How he would love to think there was more to this connection than something fleeting. Certainly, she’d knocked him over, completely and utterly, in the space of a few days. But he didn’t dare believe it.
‘She said it herself, just now,’ he pointed out. ‘She was trying out a “non-dating thing”. Those were her exact words.’ And they had hurt like hell. ‘She’ll have someone new in no time – as she should.’
‘Pride can make us say some foolish things,’ Andreas said solemnly, in a tone that suggested he knew what he was talking about.
His hand landed on Rhys’s shoulder. ‘Just because Annie found someone else so quickly doesn’t mean that Ginny is the same.
In fact, I can’t think of two women more different. It doesn’t compare.’
‘You’re right,’ he said, wanting to shake off the comforting hand and stomp away to lick his wounds alone.
‘Annie was with me for four years. We lived together, shared space and money and dreams for the future. I only shared a hotel room with Ginny for a few hours over three nights. It really doesn’t compare. ’
Rhys stalked to the door and opened it to the pleasant murmur of voices and the clatter of cutlery – and the unexpected image of Laurie’s hand around Ginny’s waist. He was sweeping her around in a terrible approximation of the waltz, although it wasn’t any worse than Rhys’s attempt four nights ago.
Frozen to the spot, he couldn’t even whirl around and yell, ‘See?’ in agitation at Andreas.
When Ginny caught sight of him and her expression fell, he snapped into action, tearing his gaze away. It was always going to end like this. He shouldn’t be angry about the inevitable – but he could still rip himself to pieces for allowing the intimacy that made this moment so much worse.
He heard Sophie gasp behind him and walked away before he could see the pity in her expression. At least he had the perfect excuse to hide in the corner.
The Sony had better be a miracle camera, because he had no idea what sort of photos he was taking for the rest of the evening.
Kira caught the bouquet but immediately handed it to Toni.
He managed a few close-ups of the bride and groom during the waltz.
He was used to finding Ginny without any effort at all, but either it was more difficult in a crowd or she wasn’t dancing.
Somehow, he got through the evening; the job that had asked too much of him. And he made sure there were no more photos of Ginny in his camera roll.