Mina smiled at him. ‘I’ve found what I was looking for here. I think some of that is thanks to you. Your positive attitude has made me see that you need to embrace life and go for what you want. How long will you be gone for?’
‘I have to go back to the UK for an orientation period of between four and six weeks, and then it’s weather-dependent when we set off. It sounds pretty intensive. We’ll be away for anywhere between a year and eighteen months.’
She nodded. Who knew what could happen in that length of time? Look how much her life had changed in two short weeks.
‘I can’t make any promises, and I don’t want to.’ He waved a hand at the mobile phone on the side. With a flash of insight, she realised. No contact. No texts. No messages. And she understood, completely. They both had to get on with their lives. A cruel double-edged sword.
‘What will be, will be. Let’s leave it in the hands of serendipity,’ said Mina, attempting a smile. Ironic, really, that in Luke she had found her kindred spirit and a shared passion for life, enthusiasm for adventure, and suddenly the positive outlook that had fuelled their initial attraction had to be dialled back and squashed. Now she understood what Simon had meant: sometimes, fun wasn’t enough.
His fingers finally curled around hers and squeezed her hand.
‘Thank you.’ Luke kissed her on the cheek, their eyes meeting and a thousand unsaid things passed between them making her heart fizz with sorrow. ‘Shall we just tell ourselves we’ll leave things to fate?’
‘To serendipity?’ she asked with a lift of one eyebrow.
He kissed her on the lips and put his arm around her shoulders.
Together they sat in silence watching the snow fall.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Later that night, invited by Mina, Luke came to her bed and they said goodbye under the cover of darkness.
The following morning, she watched dry-eyed from the balcony as he walked down to the station, rucksack on his back, vintage suitcase in hand, without a backward glance.
Part Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘I’m sure this wasn’t what you signed up for this weekend,’ teased Mina, pushing her roller through the paint in the paint tray, ready to apply the final touches the to the wall she was working on.
‘Not quite, but when it’s snowing like this I’d rather be doing something,’ replied Bernhardt, who was filling in the tricky masking-taped bits around the big pine skirting boards and the light switches. ‘After all,’ he added in his usual dry way, ‘it’s better than sitting by a roaring log fire with a good book.’
Mina grinned at him. ‘I’m very grateful.’
‘And don’t forget we get extra cake rations,’ said Kristian, who was applying the final coat of cream paint to the walls in the kitchen area.
‘There is that,’ said Bernhardt with a wry smile.
Mina wasn’t sure that extra cake really made up for helping with painting, it seemed above and beyond the call of duty as a guest, but when they’d offered to help, Amelie had encouraged them, sending Johannes off for extra rollers and paint trays, and Mina wasn’t going to turn down a spare pair of hands or two. Kristian had actually turned out to be quite skilled.
She stepped back to study the paint colour for the fiftieth time. She really did love this forest green feature wall; it added an extraje ne sais quoito the room.
‘It’s looking great already,’ said Bernhardt, coming to stand next to her. ‘I can’t believe how much you’ve achieved since we were last here, four weeks ago. You’re a human whirlwind.’ He shot her an admiring glance.
‘I’m not sure about that. It helps that Johannes knows every tradesman for fifty miles around, and that they all seem to owe him favours.’
‘You do know that it’s mainly curiosity.’
‘Curiosity?’ Mina frowned while Bernhardt gave a superior teasing smirk.
‘They want to see the woman who felled him. Johannes has been famously single for years. They’re also partial to cake.’
‘Tell me about it.’ She giggled. Her version ofSolothurner tortehad been rechristenedReckingener torteand had become a huge hit, especially with the plumber who’d put in the new cloakroom and the electrician that had rewired the barn and put up the most wonderful bronze dome pendant lights throughout the café area. She’d spent a lot of time perfecting that recipe and several others because she was going to need to a full repertoire when she opened the café, and because it used up her spare time and stopped her thinking about Luke.
He’d been gone for four weeks and he haunted her thoughts constantly. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. They’d both agreed to go their separate ways. It had been the right thing to do, but now she bitterly regretted that they’d never exchanged mobile numbers in that stupid pact that they’d try to make it easier by not sharing details.
To her shame, despite her promise to him, she’d looked through Amelie’s records but Luke’s details had been shredded along with everyone else’s passport details once they checked out. It had become a habit to scan through the bookings each week, in the vague hope that he might come before he set sail.
