He jumped up. “Of course I have. She’s changed the way I see everything.”
“Good heavens! My powerful brother changed by love. I never thought I’d see the day.”
“You’re not the only one,” he grumbled. “What am I going to do, Zoe?”
“You’re going to go over to that park, see Amber, and tell her you’re not giving up on her. And you want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not giving up onyou. You can do this, David. You can let down that guard on your heart which you so successfully erected when Mum died, and you can let love into your life.” She reached out her hand, which he gripped. “It won’t hurt, I promise.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because we’re talking about Amber, here. And, from what you’ve told me, what I’ve heard about her, and what I’ve seen just this morning, she’s not going to take your love and throw it in your face.”
He looked out the window at the festival which was now beginning to pack up for the day. Could he do it? He felt as if everything sure in his life was falling away, and he didn’t know what would be left after it had fallen. But there was only one way to find out.
He stood up.
“Are you coming with me?”
Zoe smiled a big smile of relief. “No, I reckon you need to do this alone.”
He paused at the door and turned to her. “Tell me, Zoe, truthfully. I didn’t get all of this”—he indicated the home he’d built for her in place of the old cottage which had stood on the site for over a century—“wrong, did I? I only wanted to stop tragedy happening to other people. I can’t bear to think I was so wrong.”
“You weren’t. You’ve done lots of things right. You’ve saved lots of people’s lives. It’s just you’ve gone a bit too far now. It’s time for a change. Time to think of yourself, time to be less black and white about things.”
He grunted in amusement. “Time to put color back in my life. Time to have Amber in my life.”
“I think so. Good luck.”
As he kissed Zoe goodbye, left her house and crossed the road, heading toward the park, he thought he’d need it.
“Amber, come and join us!”called Rachel, who was capably juggling a small baby, a glass of wine, and refereeing between their brother, Rob, and their father, Jim. It looked like all her family had turned up and were now crowded around a table set up beside Amber’s café’s stall.
“In a minute. I just need to tidy up.”
Amber sighed and went back to cleaning the trestle tables and packing the remaining food and quirky chinaware back into the baskets.
Akaroa’s French Festival was drawing to a close, but the sun still shone, unseasonably hot. All Amber wanted to do was to go home and be alone. Her mind and heart were full of David’s betrayal. She couldn’t think of anything else.
But it looked like she wasn’t going to get her way.
Rachel sent Rob off to find Flo—why, Amber didn’t know, because Flo had gone out of her way to avoid Rob—deposited her baby on Zane’s lap, and came over and began stacking the plates into a box for Amber.
“You don’t have to do that,” said Amber.
“No,” said Rachel, emptying out some half-glasses of water onto the trampled dry grass. “I don’t, but unless I do, you’ll never sit down with us.”
Amber shrugged but didn’t reply, just kept on wiping the now non-existent crumbs from the table top. Truth was she didn’t want to sit down, she didn’t want to stop because then she’d have to think and thinking hurt—both her brain and her heart.
Suddenly Rachel’s hand pressed on hers. “Stop, Amber. You’re done here.” Rachel tilted her head so Amber had no choice but to face her. “Okay?”
Amber nodded and looked away, tossing down the cloth and wiping her hands on her apron. “Okay.” She squinted into the sunlight. It was the last day of the festival and it wound up mid afternoon, so the sun was still high. “Okay,” she repeated, looking around to see what else there was to do. Therewasnothing. Rachel had finished tidying things up. All that was needed now was to take the boxes to the car.
“Say it once more and I might believe you.”
Amber turned to Rachel but didn’t say it the third time. There was no point, she wouldn’t be fooling anyone. She’d lost her heart, had it trampled on, and now felt broken. She wasn’t sure she’d be mending any time soon.
