Page 87 of Italy and Forever

Reshma rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t know why that rumour spread when it was clearly ridiculous. It’s Rhys who’s always had a thing for Ginny.’

‘Ha!’ Ginny replied, refusing to let those words fizz in her bloodstream. ‘Well, he got what he wanted from me and now he can leave the country with that itch scratched.’

Kira was staring at her shoes, her brow knitted. ‘But… Okay, I’m totally lost. What’s going on?’

‘Ginny and Rhys have been sleeping together,’ Toni said, struggling to keep a straight face. ‘But I’m guessing some feelings got involved when they shouldn’t have.’

‘I’m a fool,’ Ginny whined. ‘I never thought it was even remotely possible that I could fall in love with him! He hates people! He never says a word unless it’s dragged out of him and he’s probably still not over his ex. But apparently I really am that stupid.’

‘You’re not stupid,’ Toni said, wrapping an arm around her. ‘It makes sense that the two of you clicked.’

‘It makes no sense to me,’ Kira muttered. ‘He’s old enough to be your… much older boyfriend,’ she finished with a wince. ‘Seriously, the sex must have been mind-blowing, because I don’t get it otherwise.’

‘It wasn’t only that,’ Ginny replied, her cheeks heating when she realised what she’d implied. ‘There’s more to him than what he shows the world. He’s gentle and kind of shy. I guess he was always that way, not just since the accident, which is why he gravitated towards photography and the outdoors.’

She caught herself before she waxed too lyrical about what they’d always agreed would simply be a fling.

‘Maybe with some perspective, you’ll start remembering his flaws,’ Reshma comforted her. ‘He should have told you he was leaving.’

‘Yes, he should have.’ Ginny sighed heavily. ‘But I liked his flaws.’

She caught the, ‘Oh dear,’ that Reshma said under her breath.

Her three friends had nothing more to say. The affair had been doomed from the start and she’d thrown too much of herself into it – as usual. Even if being with Rhys hadn’t felt anything like her string of dates, the result was the same: Ginny wanted something he didn’t.

‘It’s not fair,’ she whispered.

‘Do you want me to talk to him?’ Kira asked, her expression pained. ‘It does seem like he owes you an explanation or a proper goodbye at least.’

Ginny shook her head. ‘Please, no. I don’t have any expectations. He wants to live free as a bird and I won’t make him miserable. I thought I was all prepared to let him go. I kind of liked the idea of my secret wedding fling that would just add some colour to my dating history – because you all know how boring that’s been lately.’

No one laughed. Certainly not Ginny.

‘I only hope I’ve learned my lesson this time,’ she whined.

She stood restlessly, hauling her suitcase out of the wardrobe to pack. But the first item she reached for was Rhys’s soft grey T-shirt.

36

Returning to the UK provided none of the clarity Rhys had hoped for.

His latest short-term rental in Weymouth had already ended, so he headed home to Wales, sleeping in his mam’s spare room under a coral bedspread. The balance of his fee from I Do landed in his account the next business day, so he could have afforded to stay somewhere else until he left. He couldn’t complain about the rates for wedding photography, although he wondered why they’d paid early, when he hadn’t delivered the photos yet.

Maybe Ginny remembered him working behind the bar at the Admiral and had taken pity on him. That would be like her. He hoped she at least had fond memories of their affair, despite the sudden ending. He understood why she’d been angry at him for not mentioning his imminent – and permanent – departure, but he hadn’t expected her to ignore him so completely after she found out. She’d left the hotel on the lake without saying goodbye. It had pulled the rug out from under him, although he’d been tied in knots wondering what to say to her anyway.

He would have liked to have apologised. He might have found the courage to tell her how special she was and that she shouldn’t change herself for anyone. He wanted to tell her she should believe in soulmates, because if anyone in the world should have one, it was her. He probably wouldn’t have said any of that.

Wading through the thousands of photos from wedding week was a colossal task, more difficult than taking them by at least a factor of five. He forced himself to sit down and start before he forgot what everyone had been wearing, but even with fresh memories of Petra’s bronze silk mother-of-the-groom outfit and Tash’s outlandish hat, the faces were a jumble.

It was almost a relief that Ginny’s face was just as anonymous as all of the others. He unfortunately remembered every one of her outfits, so he could pick her out in a crowd, but if he zoomed in far enough, her features didn’t mean anything to him. He’d never thought his face blindness would become a blessing. When this wedding was a distant memory, he’d lose all recognition of her entirely.

Except that thought didn’t comfort him. And even though her features were foreign to him, her shoulders weren’t. Her ears. The little gold chain in her top piercing at the wedding would be difficult to forget – like the feel of her waist under his hands.

Strange, how much he could miss her, when he couldn’t picture her face.

He knew his mam was worried about him keeping to himself even more than usual, but she accepted his explanation at first, that he had a lot of work to do, sorting through the pictures and editing the best ones. But he lost a lot of time moving the photos of Ginny into their own folder, partly because there were so many and partly because he paused on nearly every shot.

Most of them, she hadn’t realised he’d taken, like the one at the waterfall. It was a profile shot, in high contrast with the dark greens and greys in the background, the line of her face perfectly defined. He could almost believe it was an abstract image, except her face was tipped up, gently reflecting the silver light near the waterfall, her jaw and cheekbone highlighted and her lips slightly open, and she was unmistakably, beautifully human.