Page 43 of Whispers from the Past

‘No, it’s fine. Me and Tony were just glorified friends really. And I mean, come on. How am I meant to compete with Lucy; she’s beautiful.’

Luke looked between the two women and shrugged. He took another second and then leaned closer. He was so close now that Rose could see the gold flecks in his emerald eyes. He steadied his hand on the bar as he whispered, ‘Rose, you’re the most beautiful woman in this room.’

Her next breath caught in her throat as she processed what he’d said. She narrowed her eyes at him, looking for a trace of humour or sarcasm. But found none. She swallowed hard. The sadness and anger that always seemed to cloud his eyes was also missing.

‘I know I’ve not always been as nice to you as I should. But you confused the hell out of me. I was fine, just being angry at the world after Hannah died. Everyone just let me be and I thought that was how I wanted it to be. Then you arrived. But you and Tony were spending so much time together, and I guess I was…jealous? But when I was away this last week, I missed you.’ He paused his monologue to look at Rose again.

‘Luke…’

‘Why the serious faces?’ Holly shouted over the buzz by the bar. ‘Oh, is it because Tony’s here? Want me to throw them out? I can do that…I can channel my inner Peggy Mitchell. Actually, please let me throw them out. I’ve wanted to do that since owning the pub, but everyone is too nice and well behaved.’

‘No, no it’s fine. Luke just distracted me.’ And then Luke laughed.

‘Did you just laugh?’ Holly spluttered in mock shock. ‘Well hold the front page. He is human.’

Rose let out a short laugh at the siblings. She took the few minutes that Holly was with them to reason that Luke was just cheering her up. But she didn’t get a chance to talk to him about it again as everyone who knew him seemed to find their way to the bar to talk to him.

Rose lasted another hour, and then quietly made her exit, choosing a moment when Luke was deep in conversation about carburetors and Holly was convincing a couple from Edinburgh to try the gooseberry pale ale she’d brewed for the festival. As soon as she stepped inside the sanctuary of The Book Nook, she sagged against the door. Luke’s words swam around her head. Could he really have meant what he’d said? No one had ever told her she was beautiful. Let alone the most beautiful woman in the room…and that was a packed room. Whether he meant it or not, at that moment it didn’t really matter. Hearing him say those words had filled her with a warmth that made her smile deeply. She decided she didn’t want to know whether he meant it or not. Her phone vibrated in her bag and she flushed when she saw it was from Luke.

Everything ok? You disappeared.

Just tired. It’s been a long week.

Rose could see that Luke was typing a response. But it seemed to be taking forever. So she was surprised that when the message finally came through, it was so short.

I meant what I said earlier.

Her breath hitched and she messaged back, adding an emoji at the end to lighten the tone.

About heading somewhere else? I’m too tired for a pub crawl 😴

She watched her phone for his response, but one didn’t come. Sighing, she slipped her phone back into her bag and lent back on the wooden door frame. The old wood grounding her, filling her with a sense of peace. Which didn’t last long as a sharp knock on the door startled her. Pulling herself up, she eased open the door a fraction.

‘No. I meant what I said about you being the most beautiful woman in the room.’ Rose furrowed her brows.

‘Luke, you don’t need to…’ but she didn’t finish her sentence because he reached through and pushed the door open a fraction more so he could step inside.

‘I mean it, Rose. You’re beautiful and I’ve thought it since the moment you filled my garage with the dying fumes of your car.’

Rose covered her face with her hands. He gently peeled them away.

‘And I’ll keep telling you until you believe me.’ He kissed the hand he was holding. Rose was too stunned to reply, let alone move to stop him as he turned to leave.

As she slipped upstairs to bed, she took her phone out of her bag and started a message to Luke;

No one has ever said something as lovely as that to me.

You’ve been around the wrong people.

😁 That was quite high on the corny scale.

Oh I can go higher.

Her phoned showed the telltale dots that meant he was typing again;

Are you a magician?

She waited for the punchline, and it didn’t disappoint;