“Hi, Lucy!”
Lucy turned with a bright smile that felt as if it could slide right off her face. “Hey, Poppy.”
Poppy skipped off towards her classroom, and Lucy’s gaze moved to Alex. Her breath caught in her throat. He stilllooked grumpy and tired and harassed, but he also looked . . . wonderful.
“Hi,” she whispered, and his mouth tugged up in one of his tiny smiles.
“Hi.” He cleared his throat. “I . . . I’ve been . . .”
The door banged open and Liz Benson blew in with a gust of wind and rain. “What a day! Blue skies when I left ten minutes ago, but look at it now.” She shook both her head and her umbrella, spraying Alex with raindrops. He stepped aside, giving Lucy a wry smile that felt like a private message, a promise to continue their conversation—or so she hoped.
Then he disappeared into his office, and Lucy turned back to the photocopier.
All day long she kept waiting for that conversation to happen, even as she told herself not to.
And the truth was, she had alifehere in Hartley-by-the Sea. She’d actually made one she enjoyed, with friends from the school and a sister who loved her. All right, Juliet might not havesaidshe loved her, but yesterday Lucy had felt closer to her sister—nohalfneeded—than she ever had before. And she was enjoying her art classes, and life in the village, and frankly she didn’t need Alex Kincaid, amazing kisser or not.
Still she jumped when a door opened, when someone came into the reception area, when the phone rang. She gave in to temptation a couple of times and craned her neck so she could see Alex in his office, but he was always immersed in work or on the phone, which wasn’t unusual but felt as if he was avoiding her.
An entire day passed without him talking to her at all. He’d e-mailed her about various work-related issues; he’d given her a distracted smile when he’d gone into the hall for lunch. That was it.
Hewasavoiding her. He regretted their kiss, regretted everything, and he didn’t know how to tell her. And she, Lucy knew, was too much of a coward to push the issue. She’d rather live in ignorance and hope than with disillusionment and disappointment.
Still, when another three days had passed without Alex saying anything personal at all, Lucy knew she had to start a conversation. She deserved better than this.
She waited until Alex was alone in his office, the teachers and pupils all safely in their lessons, and then she took a deep breath and marched to his door, rapping on it rather loudly.
“Come in.”
He looked startled to see her at first, and then wary. Lucy’s heart plummeted like a penny off the Empire State Building. Down, down, down, so hard and fast it would leave a little crater in the pavement.
Carefully she closed the door behind her. Alex waited, watching her with that same wary expression, and belatedly Lucy realized she hadn’t actually considered what she intended to say to him.
She’d wantedhimto say something. Although looking at his face now, she was pretty sure she didn’t.
“Look, Alex, I came in here to tell you that you don’t have to avoid me.” She heard the hurt in her voice, reminding her of the sound of feet crunching on broken glass. Cringeworthy. Pain-inducing.
“Avoid you?”
“Are you going to tell me you aren’t?” She raised her eyebrows, hurt giving way to anger. Was he really going to pull that lame male trick of pretending he had no idea what she was talking about?
“No,” Alex said after a moment. He placed his hands flat on his desk as he gazed up at her. “I’m not going to tell you that.”
Her anger left her in a rush, and the hurt returned to fill in all the empty spaces. “So you are, then.”
“Well . . . a bit.”
“A bit?”
“To be fair, I’ve had a rough week. Poppy’s been up every night and Bella’s getting into trouble at school again.”
“Oh, no.” For a moment her worries paled in comparison with those of Alex’s daughters. “What’s happened? Is it PE again?”
“No, she’s mouthing off to some teachers. Acting out. She’s risking another suspension.” Wearily he rubbed a hand over his face. “I tried asking her what’s troubling her, but she won’t tell me anything. I even suggesting counseling again, and she just rolled her eyes.”
“I’m sorry.” And now Lucy felt like a heel.
Alex dropped his hand and glanced up at her with wry honesty. “But you’re right, I have been avoiding you, Lucy, and that’s because I don’t know what to say to you. I had a wonderful time on Saturday and—and Saturday night.”
