I exhale slowly. “I can do that.”
“Good,” he says. “Because if you’d properly blown it, she wouldn’t have bolted — she’d have told you to sod off before she left.”
I laugh despite myself. “Helpful.”
“I know. I’m basically a therapist,” he says, deadpan.
“God help us all,” I chuckle.
Dan clears his throat. “Right. Off you go. Slowly. And don’t brood. And for the love of sanity, don’t practise conversation starters in the mirror.”
“I don’t do that.”
“You absolutely do.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Night, mate.”
I end the call and let the phone drop onto my chest.
The cottage is quiet around me. Just the creaking of the floorboards cooling down, the faint hum of the fridge, the smell of woodsmoke drifting in from next door. Normally it settles me. Tonight it leaves too much space to think.
Christina’s words echo first.Go slow. Don’t vanish.She’s not used to people choosing her.
Then Dan’s voice, more cautious.Maybe she was overwhelmed.Try again — gently.I scrub my palms over my face.
“All right,” I say out loud into the empty room. “One more shot.”
Not because I think I’m owed anything. Not because it’ll be easy. And definitely not because Dan told me to.
But because something about Emma feels… unfinished. Like there’s more there if she ever lets someone close enough to see it.
One more chance.
If she bolts again — fair enough. I’m not chasing someone who doesn’t want to be caught.
She’ll just have to be the one that got away. The one I wonder about when I’m old and grey and Phil’s still being called Bambi.
I let out a long breath.
“One more shot,” I say again, quieter this time.
Then I push myself off the sofa, switch off the light, and head upstairs.
Tomorrow, I’ll take the slow route. And see where it leads.
Chapter 6
Emma
Iam such anidiot.
The air outside the pub hits my face, but the humiliation hits harder. My heart is thudding, my stomach is in my shoes, and I cannot believe I reacted like that.Why am I like this? Why can’t I behave like a normal person instead of panicking the moment a man actually looks at me with interest?
“Emma, wait.”
I stop. Of course Christina followed me. I turn slowly. She doesn’t look annoyed. She just looks… worried.
