It only took him about ten minutes to write and post the appeal. He’d been just about to go and find Tilly, to tell her that the post was live, when the first comment appeared below it.
I think I might know someone who would be perfect for Tilly. What’s the best way to discuss it further?
The message was from Eve meaning he finally had a reason to call her. Seeing her name was a mixture of shock and something else he couldn’t have put a name to in that moment. Felix could have called her any time, but the only reason he’d have had, up until now, would have been to tell her how he felt; that the last two weeks of not seeing her had seemed like the longest of his life. Even now, all the feelings he had for Eve, which he’d been trying so hard to ignore, seemed to be flooding to the surface.
When he’d witnessed her devotion to Max’s family after Annie’s accident, he’d felt certain she wasn’t ready to step back enough to allow Felix to become a part of her life. It wasn’tthat he’d wanted her to choose between him and Max’s family, he’d just needed to know there’d be room for him, and the last thing he’d wanted was to force her hand. Instead, he’d made assumptions about what her love for them meant for him and Eve. If he was honest with himself, he’d been scared of getting hurt again; his feelings for Eve already much bigger than he’d expected them to be. Stepping back had been about giving her space, but it had also been about self-preservation, or at least he’d thought so. He’d told himself it could save him from getting hurt, or his feelings for her from getting even bigger, but he’d been wrong. All he’d managed to do was to stuff those feelings down and try to convince himself that it was best for both of them. Now he had a decision to make about whether to risk getting hurt, or keep trying to convince himself that walking away was for the best. Opening his contacts, he scrolled down to her number and pressed call, still with absolutely no idea what he was going to say.
23
The day after her birthday, Annie had messaged Eve asking if they could meet up for coffee.
‘I’m sorry.’ It was the first thing Annie had said, before Eve could even say hello, and she’d gone on to apologise for leaning so heavily on her, and for pinning all her hopes of Max making a full recovery on his relationship with Eve. Annie had told her that she’d stayed up half the night talking to Nigel about everything and then they’d FaceTimed Lily, who’d told them about the baby.
‘I know you already knew and I also know you were the one who helped Lily realise she had to get away from here.’
‘I’m so sorry, I just—’ It had been Eve’s turn to apologise, but Annie had cut her off.
‘Oh, darling girl, I’m not cross. I’m just so thankful you did it and that Lily felt she had someone to turn to, who could help her get out of a situation that was driving her to the edge. If it hadn’t been for you I might have lost her too.’
‘I know it feels like you’ve lost Max, but you haven’t, not really. There’s still joy in his life and if you can find ways to share in that, what happened on the night of his accident will feel a lotless like a tragedy and a lot more like a miracle that we didn’t lose him completely.’
‘I know.’ Annie had nodded, her expression tight. ‘I think it’s always going to hurt that he’ll never be the Max we used to have, but I’m so grateful he’s still here and I’ve got to find ways to show him that. I also need to find something positive out of this, so that all we’ve been through hasn’t been for nothing. Nigel spoke to me about the restorative justice thing again and I’m still not sure if I’m ready for that, but I wanted to start by putting some of my energies into fundraising for Oakwood Park, instead of spending all my spare time with Max and cramping his style. I think we’ll get on much better if I learn to give him a bit of space.’
‘I think you’re right and it will do you the world of good, as well.’
‘In that vein, I’ve decided when Max and Jamie move into the bungalow, that I’m going to take a little holiday. To San Francisco, to see Lily.’
‘That’s brilliant news!’ Eve hadn’t been able to stop herself from crossing the space between them and giving Annie a big hug.
‘There’s one more thing I wanted to talk to you about,’ Annie had said, when they eventually broke apart. ‘The ring that Max gave you when he proposed was my great-grandmother’s and?—’
It had been Eve’s turn to cut her off. ‘Of course, you must have it back, it needs to stay in the family.’
‘It already is in the family.’ Annie had put her hand over Eve’s. ‘You, my darling girl, are family and always will be. I knew it the moment we met you, but you’ve proved it over and over again these past two years. All I was going to say, was that Nigel and I would like to get the stones in the ring reset for you, so that it looks less like an engagement ring and it can be resized to wear on another finger, or on your other hand. I know it’s just a silly symbol, but it would mean the world to us if you could accept it.’
‘Oh, Annie.’ Eve had flung her arms around the other woman again and they’d both cried for what felt like the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours. It had been after she’d got home from coffee with Annie that Eve had seen the advert on the Domusamare Facebook page, searching for a new home for Flora, the little border terrier she’d seen come in with her owner Duncan several times. The kind of home she was searching for sounded like it might be the right fit for Max and Jamie. When her phone had started to ring within five minutes of her responding to the advert and Felix’s number had flashed up, she’d realised it had been him who’d posted the appeal and she’d let the call go to voicemail.
There’d been far too much high emotion over the past couple of days and she hadn’t been ready to talk to him. Instead, she’d texted back, a formal-sounding message, asking if he’d be willing to arrange for Dogs R4 Life to bring Flora to Oakwood Park, so that they could decide whether Max and Jamie might be a good fit for her. He’d replied after half an hour to say that the charity had asked him if he could act as a go-between, for an initial meet and discussion, because they were currently overstretched due to staff sickness. Now she was heading across the grounds to the bungalow that Max and Jamie were due to move into next week, so that she could be there when Felix brought the dog in. She probably couldn’t have justified it if someone had asked her why she was there, but she’d told Bev she was coming in, and was committed to it now. It was too late to worry about how she was going to react to seeing Felix again, when she’d opened her heart to him and he’d turned out not to be the man she thought he was at all.
Felix hadn’t expected Eve to be at the bungalow when he took Flora in to meet with Max and Jamie, and he’d found it hard to even look in her direction, as Bev, the deputy manager of Oakwood Park, did a round of introductions.
‘Of course you know Max well, don’t you, Felix? And I’m guessing you’ve met Eve a few times during your visits?’ Bev’s sing-song voice was like nails down a chalkboard. This didn’t feel like an ‘all friends together’ moment. He wished he could have been cooler about it and gone back to being Eve’s friend, but he liked her far too much for that and he was worried, that if he looked in her direction, he’d have no chance of maintaining the casual air he was determined to have around her.
‘Yes and we both work at the hospital.’ Even his words sounded stilted, but Bev didn’t seem to notice.
‘Of course you do, well, that’s great.’ Bev still didn’t seem to have picked up on the tension in the room. ‘And what about Jamie? Have you guys met before?’
‘Yes, you joined us for one of Max’s OT sessions in the kitchen, didn’t you, Jamie?’ Felix smiled in his direction.
‘Yeah and Max nearly set the kitchen on fire when he forgot about his bacon.’ Jamie had the sort of belly laugh that couldn’t fail to make you smile, although on this occasion it earned him a sharp jab in the ribs from Max.
‘Shut up, we’re supposed to be persuading him to give us the dog.’
‘You can rest assured we’ll be keeping a close eye on safety and making sure Flora gets the care she needs.’ Bev gave Felix an earnest look. ‘We’ve had dogs and other pets in our semi-independent housing facilities before and we’ve never had anyissues. Sometimes our residents have moved in with pets they owned before they sustained a head injury, but we’ve also done it this way around. Pets are so good for promoting the wellbeing of our residents, but we’d never do anything to compromise their safety and happiness.’
‘I know you wouldn’t.’ Felix gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. His contact at Dogs R4 Life had told him about previous rehoming success stories involving Oakwood Park, and he’d been briefed just to introduce the dog to Max and Jamie and then leave them to have some time alone, which would be monitored by Bev. If everyone was happy, Flora would spend a few half days with Max and Jamie, followed by some overnight stays, before both Oakwood Park and Dogs R4 Lifecould formalise the adoption. ‘Shall we see what Flora thinks of it here?’
Felix set the little dog down on the sofa and without Max even calling out to her she climbed onto his lap, burrowing her head into his armpit, her tail wagging from side to side like a metronome, making both him and Felix laugh. ‘I think she must like your aftershave, Max.’
