‘Or Elliot, no doubt.’ He obviously feels compelled to belatedly mention my boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend.
The corners of my lips turn down. Time to come clean. ‘We broke up,’ I say quietly, my tone losing its humour.
Charlie recoils. ‘When?’
‘A few weeks ago. After you and April came to see me.’
‘Why?’ He looks stunned.
‘A couple of reasons. We weren’t making the long-distance thing work.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ I say. ‘I’m okay.’
He reaches out and brushes my arm, leaving behind a trail of goose bumps. ‘You sure?’
‘Yeah, I’m really fine.’ I meet his gaze, but his concern brings ridiculous tears to my eyes. ‘God!’ I exclaim, brushing them away. ‘I reallyamfine. Stop being nice to me!’
‘Aw,’ he says gently.
I duck under the water and swim to the far side of the pool. When I turn around to face him, he’s still watching me.
‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’ he asks with narrowed eyes.
I shrug and push off from the side, swimming back over to him again, but the pool isn’t big enough for me to come up with a satisfactory response in the time it takes me to reach him.
‘Guess I thought I’d tell you when I saw you.’
He gives me a little frown, trying to work me out.
‘So you’re single now,’ he says in a slightly dry voice. ‘How’s that going to work out for your blog?’
He catches my arm before I can go underwater again. ‘Are you being deliberately evasive?’ he asks with a laugh.
His touch sears my skin, but I hate the cold when he lets me go.
‘What does it mean for your blog?’ he asks again, demanding an answer.
‘I don’t know,’ I reply, looking straight at him. The sunlight hitting the pool is reflected in his eyes, making the shards of green, gold and brown glitter.
‘I thought he was your last piece,’ he says, and his expression is almost challenging.
My pulse is racing, but I hold our eye contact.
‘Guess I was wrong.’ I slip under the water again before he can say anything else.
Chapter 41
‘Want us to walk you there?’ Charlie asks later that evening as I’m gathering my things together. He sounds coolly indifferent, but I’m not sure he feels it.
‘No, I’ll be fine.’ I pick up my camera and slip the strap over my head. ‘Catch you later,’ I say.
‘We’ll be here.’
He mentioned that he’d probably get room service later so April can have a proper sleep in her cot. I feel bad for deserting him for the evening.
