Michael glared at me but tossed me the bag without comment. It was possibly sacrilegious to handle Anna’s tartswith so little care. But as the recipient of such good fortune, I wouldn’t call him out on it.
“Leave me a raspberry one,” he mumbled before turning to where I knew the study to be.
Juliet took my arm, arranging it in such a way that it looked to any outsider as if I had offered it, then she tugged me outside in a perfectly elegant manner.
What was once a small plot of overgrown weeds and dead plants had been transformed into a lovely little garden. The gazebo was new to my eyes and fit well in the cultivated wilderness blossoming in the heart of the city.
“When did you have this built?”
“Last spring.” She led me up to the wrought iron bench in the center and urged me to sit silently before releasing my arm. “Tom, I need to—I apologize for not coming to see you earlier. I should have made the effort.”
“There is nothing to apologize for, no reason to visit.”
Her smile was soft and accompanied by a self-deprecating scoff.
“Juliet, I?—”
“How are you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I wish to know if you are well.”
“I’m perfectly well, as you can see.” I gestured to my person—well attired and groomed more than I had been in recent days.
Rather than comment on my appearance, she tucked her arm through mine and pressed her cheek against my shoulder.
Something about the gesture left my throat too tight and my eyes burning. “He left,” I choked out.
“I know,” she whispered, something thick in her tone too. “I know.”
“I just— Have you ever had one of those moments? The kind where your entire life can be divided into before and after?And the you that you are at the other end of that moment is fundamentally different from the you you were before… I’m not making a lick of sense.”
“No, I know what you mean. I have experienced a few—mostly with Michael.”
“I’ve had three—and two of them were with Xander. And this version of me—he doesn’t know how to go back to living like the version who hadn’t ever kissed him. I didn’t know anything could be like that. And now I’m expected to spend the rest of my life never experiencing it again—only now I know what I’m missing.”
“He did not run away from you—surely you know that. It has been his plan for months—years.”
“Yes, but he made those plans before me. Our kiss—to him, it was just a kiss. He was precisely the same Xander before and after. It—I—wasn’t enough.”
“I saw the two of you, and that was not the expression of an unaffected man.”
“Just not affected enough.”
“It’s not as simple as all that. You know that—you told me as much once. When you’re kissing the man you love, it all seems so simple. But the truth is, there are consequences to forsaking society, for both of you. Are you prepared for that?”
My heart answered for me. “Yes.”
She offered me a closed-lipped smile. “Then I am afraid I have to give you some wretched news.” Her tone belied her words, lighthearted and easy.
“What?” I was half trepidation, half laughter.
“Men in love are deeply, deeply foolish. You’ll probably have to go all the way to Scotland to retrieve your man.”
“Do you suppose I’ll need to have anyone arrested?”
Her laugh was bright and infectious.
