‘So now “you’ve changed” you think you want me back in your life.’
‘Lucy, that was never in question.’
‘Jeez, now you’re really losing me.’
‘I didn’t believe I deserved you. That was what sent me away. You were too good for me.’
Lucy blinked. ‘And now your thinking has changed and I’m not too good for you?’
He spluttered a laugh, but she wasn’t laughing.
‘Seriously. I want to know. What’s changed that you think I’d welcome you back into my life?’
‘I have. Me. Completely. I’m afraid I don’t come with a written guarantee. You’d have to take my word on that.’
‘I can’t,’ she blurted out. She was shocked at his expression. ‘I’m sorry, I just can’t.’
He bit his lip and nodded. ‘I understand. Words are easy and I’ve been too easy with them. Is there anything I can do to persuade you I’ve changed? Because….’ His voice faltered slightly and he cleared his throat, ‘because I don’t want to lose you.’
‘How can you lose what you’ve never owned.’
He closed his eyes as if he’d just been dealt a blow. It was this, his expressive reactions to her words which moved her more than anything he could say. She could see he’d changed. It was there in his eyes, his voice, in his glance. He no longer looked as though he was entitled to own the world.
‘I should go then,’ he said.
‘No, I didn’t say that,’ she replied.
He looked up into her eyes and she knew that there was no way she was going to let this new version of Oliver walk out that door.
‘What did you say, then?’ he said. ‘I need you to be clear.’
She walked up to him and placed her hands on his arms, lifting her chin so that her face was close to his. Then she rolled onto the balls of her feet and pressed her lips to his, leaving them there for a long, lingering moment, as desire swept through her. As he opened his mouth, she pulled away and rolled back down again.
‘Clear enough?’ she asked, a slight smile on her lips.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The buzz in the hotel’s new lounge was loud enough to rattle the old windowpanes.
‘Full house,’ said Sam, glancing around with professional approval. ‘You’d almost think someone knew what they were doing.’
Lucy smacked his arm lightly. ‘Careful. I might make you wear an ‘I told you so’ badge.’
It still felt faintly surreal, standing in the middle of the Old Colonial’s main bar and not wanting to weep. The old timber gleamed, the ceiling roses were repaired and repainted, the walls no longer bore watermarks shaped like continents. The bar had been stripped, polished and resealed. The battered brass rail shone. The fan in the corner had finally been retired.
And yet, despite the fresh paint and new carpet, the place felt like itself. Just… awake again.
Locals mingled with weekenders. Kids played around the refurbished dartboard area. Someone had dragged the old piano out of storage and was tentatively working through a jazz standard. The new signage over the entry — The Old Colonial Hotel & Community Rooms — sat comfortably in its place, as if it had always read that way.
‘He’s late,’ Jen murmured, slipping to Lucy’s side with a platter of canapés. ‘You don’t think he’s —’
‘Run away again?’ Lucy snorted. ‘No. I told him if he tried that I’d send Mum after him.’
‘Good threat.’ Jen’s mouth curved. ‘No one would emerge unscathed from that.’
The front doors opened. As if choreographed, conversation dipped. Heads turned.
Oliver walked in, pulling off his sunglasses. He paused a moment on the threshold, surveying the room.
