Page 91 of Italy and Forever

‘The what?’

He wasn’t sure what it meant that she hadn’t mentioned the nuts. ‘We… She, er… There are some chestnuts from Italy. They’re something really special roasted on a fire.’

Greg seemed to understand more from his words than he meant to say. ‘Are you sure you won’t join us to roast them? Tonight?’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t do that to her. She made herself clear.’

Trying to keep his head high as he followed Ginny’s father to the front door and back into the chill air was impossible. Greg gripped his arm and squeezed.

‘Best of luck, young man,’ he said firmly.

Rhys raised a doubtful gaze to Ginny’s father, picking up the twinkle in the other man’s eye at the irony of his words. He guessed Greg suspected the truth: he’d loved Ginny. One day, he’d be able to look back on this time with something like fondness and at least he understood now what he was capable of.

‘Ginny, your phone’s ringing – again!’

Ginny grumbled under her breath. She’d been enjoying her scalding shower after an hour of Kira barking at her on the wall. She didn’t need Kira barking at her from outside the stall as well – or anyone from the outside world trying to call her.

She was in a strictly text-only phase – not even voice messages. Anything might set her off and surely crying in public wasn’t allowed for longer than the relationship itself. Her three days had been up over a week ago.

Staying in the shower for longer than was necessary, Ginny was annoyed to find Kira waiting for her, tapping her damn foot, when she emerged. ‘You should put your phone on silent if you’re going to ignore it. It makes me antsy.’

‘Sorry,’ she replied. ‘It’s probably just my dad. I had a few missed calls after our session.’

‘You don’t think maybe you should talk to him? What if there’s a family emergency?’

Ginny scowled at Kira, who was too good at manipulating her. ‘If there were, he would have texted me in all caps,’ she reassured herself as well.

‘Ah, so he just wants to talk about why the usual Ginny has been replaced with sighing, weeping, heartbroken Ginny.’

‘There’s no need to exaggerate.’

‘I’m not,’ Kira mumbled. ‘When are you going to stop? When he’s left the country?’

Every time Ginny thought of his departure, of the moment when it wouldn’t be possible to see him, probably ever again, her skin went cold. That hadn’t stopped yet.

‘I bloody hope so.’

‘I’m a little surprised he’s avoided the gym since Italy,’ Kira said with a frown. ‘Are you at least going to be the big man and go say goodbye to him? I think he’s in Wales with his mam.’

Ginny didn’t want to talk about him – or remember how important his mam was to him, after his dad left when he was a toddler. Everything reminded her of a moment they’d connected, moments that seemed to grow more profound the more she thought about them.

‘I don’t think he wants that,’ she said in a small voice. ‘He didn’t even talk to me at the castle the day after the wedding. I always knew it was supposed to end like this and I have to respect that.’

Kira had nothing to say in reply. They both knew Rhys avoided committed relationships. This was the end of the story. The only problem was that Ginny had always preferred a happy ending, and despite her fresh understanding of what it was like to love someone – not two disconnected parts of the same soul, but two very different souls discovering each other – she still preferred it.

‘Why was he at the castle that day anyway? Did he forget something?’ Kira asked.

‘I suppose so. I have a vague memory of him locking some equipment in a storage cupboard on Saturday night. Maybe it was that stuff. He must have got a taxi there alone because he didn’t want to talk to me.’

She wanted closure. She wanted to say goodbye to him, although it was possible those two were mutually exclusive, she thought miserably. She wanted to see his face once more.

The word ‘face’ snagged in her mind as she remembered him asking if people thought she was attractive, the way her heart had skipped when he’d explained what he saw when he looked at her – how he recognised her.

Then, like dominoes, her assumptions toppled and realisation landed on her like a grand piano. She grabbed Kira’s arm and yanked.

‘Ow!’

‘Holy shit,’ Ginny cried, her voice high. ‘He wasn’t ignoring me.’