She took another sip of his wine, then realised that it wasn’t wine she wanted. She wanted Harrison—she wanted his arms around her and his words against her skin—and now that he was sitting right in front of her, all she could think about was how much she’d missed him. She’d missed him as if they’d known each other for years, not months, and a huge part of her wished he’d never come back, because it only hurt seeing him again.
‘I’m not going to lie, you broke my heart when you left the way you did,’ she told him, blinking away the familiar prickle of tears as she stared into his eyes. ‘I honestly never thought I’d ever see you again, after the way we left things.’
‘If you want me to leave, Charlotte, I’ll leave,’ he said. ‘But if there is even the smallest chance that you’ll let me back into your life…’
She stared at him across the table. ‘I don’t want you to leave.’
‘Good, because I don’t want to leave, either. I don’t think I ever really wanted to, but I didn’t know how to stay.’
Charlotte felt a lightness inside of her that had been missing for months. She’d tried to pretend that she was fine, that she had everything she needed in her life, but she’d only been fooling herself. But she couldn’t just forgive him, could she? Because what if he did the same thing again to her in a week or a month or a year?
‘Let me get changed and I’ll meet you at the bar.’
‘It’s really good to see you again, Charlotte.’
Charlotte stood and looked down at Harrison. ‘It’s really good to see you again, too,’ she said back. Because it was. Asmuch as she’d wanted to hate him when he’d left, it was an impossible task.
Harrison caught her hand, and she held on to him for a long moment, wishing her heart wasn’t such a traitor.
By the time Charlotte slid into the seat across from Harrison, her heart was thundering. He’d chosen a table tucked into the corner of the bar, and she shivered despite the fire that was casting heat from nearby.
‘So, how’s London?’ she asked, grateful when the server arrived with two glasses of wine that Harrison must have ordered before she joined him.
‘It’s…’ He shrugged. ‘I actually don’t know how to answer that, because I haven’t exactly been social.’
‘Work is good, though?’
‘Work seems to be my one consistent, although I’m between projects again at the moment. It felt like the right time to take a short break.’ His eyes met hers. ‘I figured there were more important things in life than just working all the time.’
She sipped her wine, her eyes widening as he leaned across the table and covered one of her hands with his.
‘I want you to know that I’m sorry, Charlotte. I was a coward, and if I could take back that morning, the way I left, I would.’
She caught her lower lip beneath her teeth, her breath catching in her throat. ‘What you did, Harrison, it hurt. It hurt more than I want to admit, and I can’t open myself up to that kind of pain again.’
She could see tears shining in his eyes, the visible lump in his throat as he swallowed.
‘I don’t want to lose you,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for this, or if I’ll ever be ready, but if you give me a second chance?—’
‘You don’t have to hide your past from me, Harrison, but you do need to promise that you won’t leave me like that again,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t do it again, so if we’re going to try this, if we’re really going to make this something, you have to promise me.’
‘I promise,’ he said. ‘The way I left, the way things ended, there was nothing about that that was okay. I’m sorry.’
Her breath was shaky when she exhaled. ‘‘So if we’re going to do this, I need to know whatthisis.’
His fingers looped into hers, and he squeezed. ‘I’d very much like to take things slowly and find our way, but what I do know is that I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.’
That was all Charlotte needed to hear, because it had been the very worst ending, and one that had haunted her for months. Maybe she should have made him wait, maybe she shouldn’t have let him back in, but her heart and her mind were both telling her that she loved him too much not to.
‘Will you give me a second chance?’
She sighed as warmth spread through her, as happiness settled over her body at her decision. ‘I will.’
Harrison’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, his forehead touching hers as he leaned in across the small table.
‘I won’t waste this second chance. I promise,’ he said. ‘Also, Louisa told me that if I came home and hadn’t made up with you, she would never speak to me again. It seems that you made quite an impression on her.’
Charlotte kissed him, drawing him closer, smiling against his lips and then laughing when her stomach rumbled loudly.
