‘Does she know about me?’
He swallows. ‘Yes.’
‘Does she know you’ve come home to see me?’
‘Yes.’
‘And how does she feel about that?’
‘She was very upset when I left her.’
This feels surreal. To think that Brit Easton is worried about Finn’s feelings forme.
‘But you still came.’
‘I couldn’t not.’
‘Is this the end of us?’ I whisper.
‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
‘On what you’ve been thinking about since Chapel Porth.’
‘If I moved to LA, would you call it off with her?’ I ask hypothetically, brushing my tears away.
He nods, his expression tortured.
‘So it’s an ultimatum. Move to LA or we’re over.’
He hesitates, looking torn as he holds my direct gaze.
And then he answers. ‘Yes.’
‘And what if I said to you, move to St Agnes, or you lose me forever? What would you do?’
‘Is that what you’re saying?’ he asks, his blue-green eyes wary.
‘I don’t know!’ I’m not sure I can put it on the line for him like that. What if he chooses her? ‘I can’t believe we’re giving each other ultimatums!’
‘This wasalwaysgoing to end in ultimatums, Liv,’ he says darkly. ‘You thought we’d justfizzleout? What we have doesn’t justfizzle out. I wasnevergoing to fall out of love with you.’
My eyes widen and I stare at him.
‘OfcourseI fucking love you, Liv,’ he tells me in anguish.
I burst into tears, hunching forward, my body heaving with sobs.
He pulls me into his arms and I bury my face against his neck, feeling him shaking beneath me as he also gives in to his emotion.
‘I love you too,’ I tell him, and he clutches me tighter, our skin wet with each other’s tears.
But as our sobs die down and our breathing stabilises, I think about the road stretched out before me, one forkveering off towards Finn and an uncertain life in LA, and the other looping straight back here to Michael and my friends and Seaglass and St Agnes, a place I’ve come to love with all my heart, and I realise something.
Love is not enough.
THIS SUMMER
