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Feeling like she’d dodged more than a bullet, Hazel padded downstairs to fill her mother in on whatever the heck that conversation was.

Hazel tried calling Sam a few more times. Every call went straight to voicemail. It seemed he was icing her out.

She decided she would drive to his house again. The driveway was empty. The house was dark. It felt cold, like it had sat vacant for too long. Hazel got out of the car and marched over to the front door. She knocked a few times, even though she knew it was pointless. He wasn’t here.

Back in the car, she made a decision. She’d tried to be a mature adult about it all. She’d reached out, stopped by his house. His absence made it obvious that he didn’t want to see or speak to her.

Fine. She was done.

She seethed with rage all the way to Josie’s place. Taking the steps up to the apartment, she knocked, a little too harshly.

Josie answered and ushered Hazel inside. Everything spilled out of her, like word vomit. Josie’s eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

“Let’s go away for a couple of days. There’s a health retreat nearby, did you know that?”

“Really? No, I didn’t know that. What’s it called?”

“Tides.”

“You’re kidding,” Hazel muttered.

“No? Why would I kid about that?” Josie gave Hazel a puzzled look.

“I’ll explain later.” Hazel sighed. “Sounds like a sign. Let’s do it.”

“Great! We can get massages and spa treatments. They’ve got a tennis court, three pools, chill pods, excellent food!”

“What on earth is a chill pod?”

“I assume you sit in a pod and chill? I honestly thought it was a chilli pod when I first read it in the brochure, and I was so confused.”

For the first time in what felt like forever, Hazel laughed. She wandered around the apartment as Josie called the health retreat to book their stay. Josie had already hung the painting she’d bought from Molly in her bedroom.

“Looks beautiful,” she said, pointing to the artwork as Josie walked into the room.

“Doesn’t it?” Josie agreed. “It’s kind of breathtaking.”

“Very dramatic.”

“Tides has booked us in for tonight. They had two adjoining rooms available. I’ll pack, then we can stop by your mum’s, grab stuff for you, and head straight over?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Josie picked a large canvas bag. Items were soon being flung all over the room, Josie missing the target of her bag every time she threw something. Hazel helped her pack and found her mind was distracted from thoughts of Sam. She still couldn’t believe that the name of the health retreat was Tides. Hopefully, a few days there would give her some clarity.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sam flicked to the sports channel as he settled into the brown leather couch at Lucas’s place. He’d been bunking down for the last few days. He tried to concentrate on the rerun of an old cricket game. Distracted for a while, he mindlessly watched as the ball was bowled over and over. Sam caught himself staring into space when the crowd suddenly went wild. He tried to focus on the game again, but he kept catching himself drifting off.

His phone was lying in the bottom of his bag, still turned off. Sighing, he wondered if he should contact Hazel. He had nearly reached for his phone so many times, but the overwhelming shame he felt had held him back. Sam knew he hadn’t given Hazel a chance to explain, and the way he’d reacted was completely out of line. If anything, the time he’d spent at Lucas’s place had made it obvious that all he’d done was run away. A wave of nausea overcame him at the thought of losing her.

It was time to go home. He was done wallowing. Sam had told himself that he needed time, time to work out what he was going to say, but upon reflection he knew that was a weak excuse. He’d felt hurt and embarrassed. He’d thought he needed time to come up with a plan, but ironically, time had made him realise how badly he had screwed up.

Sam needed to talk to Hazel, apologise and smooth it all over. They were meant to be together. He wasn’t going to give up.

He stood, shoved his clothes and belongings in his bag. He hoped she wasn’t taking that job. Hoisting his bag over his shoulder, he did one last scan of the place before he headed to the entryway. “Lucas!” he called out as he stood by the front door.

He heard movements on the floor above and soon saw Lucas coming down the stairs.