‘Do you believe him? I don’t want to rain on your parade, but he hurt you badly once before.’
‘I think I do.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Give it another go.’ She rinsed the suds out of her hair and reached for the conditioner. ‘If I don’t, I’ll always wonderwhat if.’
‘Just be careful.’
‘I’ll try. But Lisa?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I think it’s too late for that.’
‘That’s what worries me,’ Lisa said, before hanging up.
It worried Beatrice, too.
‘You look like something the cat’s dragged in,’ Dave told Mark as he put a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs down in front of him.
‘Thanks! That makes me feel a whole lot better.’
‘Didn’t you sleep well?’
‘I didn’t sleep at all.’
‘Nothing wrong, I hope?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Is your room too cold? The temperature’s dropped and there’s an Arctic blast on the way. They reckon we’re in for some snow. It’s too early for snow, if you ask me. We don’t usually get any this side of Christmas.’
‘No, we don’t,’ Mark agreed.
Dave harrumphed. ‘I keep forgetting you’re from around here originally. Anyway, is your room warm enough?’
‘It’s fine, thanks.’
‘You don’t need a blanket?’
‘No, honestly, I’m fine.’ Mark realised that Dave wasn’t going to leave him alone to enjoy his breakfast until he’d explained why he hadn’t slept. ‘I was working,’ he said.
‘All night?’
‘It happens like that sometimes.’ He’d been on a roll, finalising the drafts for the illustrations ready to send to his agent, and he’d also completed the cover art. After breakfast he intended to email everything off to Angela, and then he was going to have a well-earned nap.
Satisfied with Mark’s reason for his sleepless night, Dave sloped off, leaving him free to reflect on the real reason he hadn’t been able to sleep.
Beatrice.
My god, that kiss! It had blown him away. Had her kisses been as wonderful all those years ago? He had a feeling they may have been, but he’d simply been too much of an idiot to realise it at the time. His lips still tingled, he could still taste her, smell her…
Every time he thought about her, it knocked the breath right out of him, and his heart stuttered before finding its rhythm again.
He felt more alive than he’d ever felt, every colour brighter, every sound more vivid. It was as though he’d been in a fog all these years but it had now cleared. And if he felt like this after just one kiss…?
Leaving the bacon and eggs to grow cold on the plate, he pushed his chair away from the table. Can’t sleep, can’t eat – he was a walking cliché.
