“I’m sure they do. But you still made it easy for everyone to like you. It was the same when you came to dinner at my parents’ house. Everyone fell in love with you all over again, just like they did when they first met you years ago.”
He looked up and held her gaze. “You’re easy to love, Gaby.”
How was she supposed to respond to that? Any words she might’ve come up with would’ve got caught in her throat because her brain was misfiring. The way he was looking at her made her head spin.
“Peter,” she began, but then stopped because he took her breath away again when he took her hand and lifted it to his mouth and brushed a kiss across it.
“I’m only saying it because it’s true,” he said, and then nodded towards the pathway. “Come on, the café’s only a few minutes away. Let’s have some lunch before I say something else that makes you want to sprint in the opposite direction.”
“That’s not what I want to do. It’s just… when you say things like that and when you look at me like that… we’re just supposed to be remembering old haunts, not…”
“Not talking about big scary stuff like love?” He let out a soft laugh. “I know. Which is why it’s definitely time for lunch. My treat.”
The unexpected turn in the conversation left her unsteady. Hearing Peter say those things… hadn’t been terrifying.
What did that mean?
It means it’s time for lunch, just like Peter said, she told herself.Time for lunch and time to stop your brain doing… whatever it is that it’s doing.
They set off along the riverbank and Gaby was happy to get moving again.
* * *
The riverside café was busy when they arrived a few minutes later. Housed in an old wooden boathouse with outdoor seating that spilled towards the pathway, it was a quaint and cosy place to stop for lunch. They ordered sandwiches and found an empty table with views of the narrow river flowing by.
After the moment they’d shared on the bench, and the stunning things Peter had said, Gaby worried that things would feel awkward.
But they didn’t.
They felt anything but awkward.
Their conversation just picked up where they’d left off, easily and comfortably. Peter began chatting about the redevelopment of parts of the riverside walk since Gaby had last been there, the boathouse café amongst them, before moving on to other big changes that had happened around Hamblehurst in the last fifteen years.
How was it possible that, just a few minutes ago, Peter was telling her how easy she was to love, words that still had her brain completely scrambled, and now he was chatting about the weekly market that had been reintroduced to Hamblehurst and a new bistro that had opened to huge acclaim and the fantastic redevelopment work taking place at a nearby country house and estate and which was quickly turning into a major attraction for tourists and visitors alike?
And how was it possible that she was listening to all this and asking questions and being genuinely interested in these stories of local business and commerce and hospitality success and feeling entirely comfortable with Peter… even as her brain kept hitching back to those words he’d said?
You’re easy to love, Gaby.
The look in his eyes when he’d said those words was seared in her mind.
It was a look that took her back fifteen years. Peter had looked at her that same way back then, his eyes filled with desire and honesty and a fierce love that had set every cell inside her body on fire.
The simple pleasures of sandwiches and conversation helped her to keep those crazy thoughts at bay and put things into perspective.
This is just a walk down memory lane with an old lover, she reminded herself.Just enjoy it while it lasts and don’t get carried away thinking about…
About what?
About what might be if only things were different?
About what might be if she wasn’t leaving in a few days?
Well, shewasleaving in a few days and there was nothing she could do about that. She’d committed to a job contract and Gaby Leonard didn’t break her promises when it came to such things. She was excited about the time she’d spend working aboard the cruise ship that was due to depart next week, and she was excited about fulfilling yet another dream in her life of travelling.
Yes, it was impossible to deny the attraction she felt to Peter. Considering how passionate their teenage love affair had been, it wasn’t surprising that they’d feel that same attraction when their paths crossed again.
But if she was going to enjoy this reconnection, this last hurrah together before she left, then she had to keep that attraction in check.
