Christmas Eve Baby
Autorzy
Caroline Anderson
Lektury
16,2K
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10
CHAPTER ONE
Early May
‘LUCY.’
‘Ben!’ She spun around, her heart tripping and a smile she couldn’t hold breaking out at the sound of his voice. ‘I didn’t think you’d come.’
Hoped, yes, stupidly much, even though she’d known it was an outside chance, but here he was, the answer to a maiden’s prayers—well, hers, at least—and her knees had turned to mush.
‘Oh, you know me, ever the sucker,’ he replied with that lazy, sexy grin that unravelled her insides. ‘I had my arm twisted by one of my patients, and it would have been churlish to refuse. Besides, if I remember rightly, the food’s amazing.’
So, he hadn’t come to see her, then, but what had she expected? Two years was a long time, and so very much had happened. Too much.
Stifling the strangely crushing disappointment, she looked away from those piercing eyes the colour of a summer sky and glanced behind her at the barbeque. ‘It certainly smells fabulous. I wonder when we can get stuck in? I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and that was before seven.’
‘Sounds as if your day’s been like mine,’ he murmured, and she realised he’d moved closer. Much closer, so that she could not only hear his voice more clearly, but smell the clean, fresh scent of his skin. He never wore aftershave, but he didn’t need to, not to enhance him, because the combination of soap and freshly laundered clothes, underscored by warm, healthy man, was a potent combination.
She felt herself sway a little towards him and wrenched herself back upright. ‘Sorry—my heels are sinking into the grass,’ she said, not untruthfully, but it gave her an excuse to shift her position and move a fraction away from him. Just far enough so she couldn’t smell that intoxicating blend of citrus and musk.
‘So—how are you?’ he asked, his voice still soft, and even though she knew it was silly, that it didn’t matter how nice he was to her, her heart opened up to his gentle enquiry.
‘Oh—you know.’
His smile was wry. ‘No, I don’t, or I wouldn’t be asking. How’s general practice working out?’
She tried to inject some enthusiasm into her voice. ‘It’s fine. Great. I was on call last night and I had a surgery this morning, so I’m a bit tired today, but it’s OK. I’m really getting into it.’
‘Pity.’
She tipped her head and looked up at him curiously. ‘Why?’
‘My registrar’s leaving—decided for some reason to throw away a promising career in favour of maternity. I don’t suppose I can tempt you back to A and E?’
Oh, she was tempted. So tempted. To work alongside him again—well, opposite him, to be exact, their heads and hands synchronised, fighting together to save a patient against all odds, their eyes meeting from time to time, his crinkling with that gorgeous, knee-melting smile—but there were too many reasons why not, and one of them was insurmountable, at least for now if not for ever.
She shook her head regretfully and tried to smile. ‘Sorry, Ben. Anyway, I still get to do emergency medicine, and we’ve got a really busy minor injuries unit.’
‘What, sprains and jellyfish stings with the odd heart attack thrown in for good measure?’ he teased. ‘That isn’t emergency medicine, Lucy.’
‘We do more than that, and it’s enough drama for me,’ she said, ignoring the little bit of her that was yelling liar! at the top of its voice. ‘And anyway, we’ve been thinking about expanding. We’re already too busy in our minor injuries unit, so why not expand and make it a state-of-the-art MIU? Still walking wounded, but a bit more sophisticated than what we’ve got. Maybe have a dedicated space for one of the community physios instead of her just sharing the nurses’ room, and ideally get our own X-ray—I don’t know. And while we’re at it, expand our minor surgery. We’ll have to talk to the trust—see if we can convince them it’s a good idea. We could take some of the heat off St Piran, especially in the summer with all the tourists.’
She was babbling, trying to ignore the bit of her that was screaming Yes, take me back! but he was listening as if she wasn’t talking utter rubbish, and he nodded slowly.
‘Sounds as if you’ve given it a lot of thought, and it certainly makes sense. Our A and E’s running flat out, and if you’ve got good minor surgical facilities as well, that’s all to the good. You’d need that for all the stitching of wounds in the MIU, and you could maybe take on some more complex minor surgery. I’m sure they do loads of things in the day surgery unit that don’t really need a GA. If the simpler things could be done out in the community under local anaesthetic, it would shorten the waiting list, but the X-ray idea’s brilliant. People often sit for hours just to be told they’ve got a sprain. If you could filter some of those out, maybe put casts on undisplaced fractures or reduce the odd dislocation, it could really take the heat off us. I like it. I like it a lot. I’m all for people being seen quicker and closer to home, and I’d be happy to help in any way I could.’
‘I may well take you up on that in your new capacity as head honcho of A and E,’ she said with a smile, her heart giddy at the idea of working with him again in any capacity at all. ‘All I have to do is convince the bean counters.’
He grinned. ‘I wish you luck,’ he said drily. ‘Whatever, I’m more than happy to advise you, if you want, and if you need any help with leaning on anyone in the primary care trust or the hospital trust for funding, give me a shout. I won’t guarantee I’ve got any influence, but you’re welcome to what little I have.’ He hesitated for a moment, then added softly, ‘I see your father’s here. How is he, Lucy?’
Oh, lord. Her father. She shook her head slowly. ‘I’m not sure, really. Sometimes he seems fine. Other times he’s moody and preoccupied, as if he’s still sad inside. I just get the feeling he hasn’t let go. Hasn’t grieved properly. I mean, it’s been nearly two years, Ben, but he still doesn’t talk about Mum. Not naturally, in conversation. And I want to talk about her. She was my mother, I loved her. I don’t want to forget her.’ She looked round, spotting her father at the barbeque, turning sausages and talking to Kate.
Kate was the backbone of the practice, his practice manager and her mother’s friend. His friend first, from way back when, but nothing more than that. Sometimes she wondered if Kate would have liked it to be more, but she didn’t think there was any chance of that. Not on her father’s side, at least. Not unless he could move on.
‘I didn’t know if he’d be here. Do you think he’ll object to my presence?’
‘No,’ she said quickly, although she wasn’t sure. ‘Don’t be silly. It’s a fundraiser, you have every right to be here. Besides, you haven’t done anything wrong, and you don’t have to talk to him.’
‘No, I suppose not. I just didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s his problem, not yours. Anyway, he’s got other things to think about, and so’s Kate Althorp, our practice manager. That’s her, next to him—dark hair, in the pale pink top.’
‘Yes, I’ve met her in the past. Nice woman.’
‘She is. She practically runs this thing every year. Did you know her husband James was our lifeboat coxswain? She lost him, and Dad lost his father and brother, in the storm in ’98.’
His brow creased into a frown. ‘I didn’t know that. I wasn’t living here at the time, and the names didn’t mean anything to me. I just remember there was a group of schoolchildren studying the rockpools and they were cut off by the tide, and some of the rescuers died.’
Lucy pointed across the harbour to the headland jutting out, crowned by the lighthouse and the church. ‘It was over there.’
He was looking at the headland, his brow furrowed. ‘What on earth were the kids doing out there anyway? Weren’t they supervised?’
‘Oh, yes, but the teacher’s watch had stopped and they didn’t realise the tide was coming in until it was too late. Add in the huge sea, and you get a disaster.’
‘Absolutely. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise any of them were connected to you. I just remember one of them was a local doctor.’
She nodded. ‘My uncle. They were trying to rescue the children from the bottom of the cliff over there, and it all went wrong. Phil—my uncle—had abseiled down the rocks and got most of them up, but the storm had got really wild by then and he was swept off the cliff by a huge wave and suffered severe head injuries. My grandfather had a heart attack and died on the clifftop just after they brought Phil’s body up.’
Ben’s eyes searched hers, his expression sombre. ‘That must have been horrendous for you all.’
She nodded. ‘Especially my father. Apart from Mum and my brothers and me, they were his entire family. He’d lost his mother a couple of years before, and his brother wasn’t married. And his father was only sixty-eight.’
‘And Kate’s husband?’
‘James? He was swept off the rocks. They sent out the inshore lifeboat to pick up the kids on the rocks at the end of the promontory, but James had a broken rib so he wasn’t on the lifeboat, so he went down out onto the rocks to help a girl who was too scared to move. They threw him a line and a life-jacket, and he got it on her and tied her to the line, but the same wave that killed my uncle swept several of them out to sea and his body was never recovered.’
Ben made a sympathetic noise. ‘How awful for Kate.’
‘I’m sure it was, but she seems to have dealt with it pretty philosophically. As she said, the sea was going to get him one way or another. At least he died a hero.’
Ben nodded. ‘It must have left a huge hole in the community.’
‘Oh, yes, but my father never talks about that night. It’s as if it never happened. He’s always like that. Anything bad that happens, anything personal, he just shuts down.’
‘I’m surprised he comes to this event.’
Lucy gave a rueful laugh. ‘Oh, I don’t think Kate gives him a choice. They’ve been friends for ever, and she pretty much organises this event every year. He just does what he’s told. And anyway, it’s for a good cause. The lifeboat’s been part of Penhally for generations, and there’s nobody who hasn’t lost someone close to them or someone they knew well at some time in the past—sorry, I’m going on a bit, but I’m quite passionate about it.’
‘Don’t apologise. I’m all for passion. The world would be a much duller place without it.’ He grinned and added, ‘You can get passionate with me any time you like.’
Innocent words, said to lighten the mood, but there was something in his eyes that was nothing about lifeboats and all about passion of another sort entirely, and she felt her heart skitter. Crazy. She hadn’t seen him for nearly two years, and their brief relationship had been cut off abruptly, but if it hadn’t…
‘Mr Carter! You came!’
He turned to the grey-haired woman with a cast on her arm and smiled and shook her other hand. ‘I said I would.’
‘Lots of people say that. Most of them aren’t here. And you’re with our lovely Dr Lucy. How are you, dear? Keeping well, I hope? I haven’t seen you for a while.’
‘No, you’ve defected and moved to Wadebridge, Mrs Lunney,’ Lucy said, grateful for the distraction. ‘You look well on it—well, apart from your arm. I take it that’s how you met Mr Carter.’
She smiled. ‘Yes—and I’m getting married again because of it! All my neighbour and I had ever done was say hello over the fence for the past six months, but when I broke my arm Henry was just there for me, doing all sorts of little jobs without me asking, and then—well, let’s just say he was very persuasive! And we’re getting married next month, when I’ve got this cast off.’
Lucy hugged her gently. ‘That’s wonderful. I’m really pleased for you. Congratulations. I hope you’ll both be very happy.’
‘Thank you, dear. Now, you two enjoy yourselves. I’d better get back to Henry—he’s a bit out of his depth here, and they’ll be giving him a bit of a grilling, checking him out. You know what they’re like! I’d better rescue him.’
Ben chuckled. ‘You do that—and congratulations. I’m glad something good came out of your broken arm. Now,’ he said softly as she walked away, ‘Mrs Lunney’s typical of the sort of cases we don’t need to see at St. Piran. Simple, undisplaced fracture, and she had to come all that way and sit and wait for an hour and a half before she was seen and given pain relief. Crazy. You could have had her sorted out and on her way by the time she arrived at St. Piran.’
‘Don’t. I’m working on it, Ben, and Dad’s very keen.’ Partly because he didn’t want anyone who didn’t have to go there being sent to St Piran. Since her mother…
He lifted his head and cocked an eyebrow towards the food. ‘Looks like we’re on,’ he said, and she fell into step beside him, dragging her mind back to the present.
‘Thank goodness for that. I’m going to fade away in a minute! That piece of toast was much too long ago.’
They joined the queue, many of them known to her, either as patients or old friends of her family, and several of the villagers recognised Ben from their trips to the A and E department, so as the queue moved steadily towards the food they were kept busy chatting.
She picked up two plates and handed one to Ben, and then they were there in front of the massive oildrum barbeque, and her heart sank. She’d hoped her father might have moved on to do something else, but he was still there beside Kate, turning sausages and piling up steaks and burgers, and he lifted his head and paused, a sausage speared on a long fork hovering in mid-air.
Ben met his eyes and inclined his head the merest fraction in acknowledgement.
‘Dr Tremayne, Mrs Althorp,’ he said, and Lucy felt her pulse shift up a notch. It was inevitable that they’d end up running into each other, but now, watching as they eyed each other in silence like stags at bay, she conceded that maybe Ben had been right about not being here.
For an awful, breathless moment she thought her father was going to make a scene, but then he handed the fork to Kate, muttered something to her and walked off.
‘He’s just remembered something he had to do,’ Kate said apologetically, but she couldn’t look them in the eye and Ben shook his head and turned to Lucy with a strained smile and handed her the plate.
‘I’m sorry, I appear to have lost my appetite. Enjoy the rest of the party.’
And he turned on his heel and strode away through the crowd, heading for the gate that led out of the car park. Lucy turned back to Kate, her eyes wide with distress.
‘Why is Dad like this? Why can’t he just get over it?’ she said helplessly.
‘I don’t know. I’m sorry, Lucy. Can I get you anything?’
She looked across the crowded car park. Ben had turned the corner, gone through the gate into Harbour Road, but she could still catch him…
‘No. Sorry, got to go!’ she said, turning back for a moment to dump the plates back on the pile. Ignoring the damage to her high heels, she sprinted across the car park and through the gate into the road and followed him. He was just reversing his sleek BMW convertible out of a space, and she ran over to the car and wrenched open the passenger door.
‘Ben, wait!’
‘What for?’ he asked, his eyes bleak. ‘I shouldn’t have come, Lucy, it was stupid of me. I’m out of here.’
‘Me, too,’ she pointed out, sliding in beside him and shutting the door. ‘After all, we have to eat, and we’re all dressed up with nowhere to go. It seems a bit of a waste.’
‘I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll be very good company.’
‘I’ll risk it,’ she said, holding her breath. ‘We could always get fish and chips.’
For a moment he just sat there, the engine idling, and then he gave a ragged laugh and cut the engine. ‘Go on, then. Go and buy them. Here—take this. I’ll wait here.’ He handed her a twenty-pound note, and she ran over the road to the chippy. It was deserted, because everyone was at the barbeque, so she was served quickly. She put the change into the Penhally Bay Independent Lifeboat Association collecting tin on the counter and ran back to Ben.
He was staring sightlessly out to sea, his eyes fixed on the horizon, and she slid into the seat beside him and gave him a smile. ‘I gave your change to the PBILA,’ she told him, and he gave a crooked smile.
‘How appropriate. Right, where to?’
‘Somewhere quiet?’
He grinned. ‘I know just the place.’ Starting the engine again, he nosed out into the crowd, drove slowly down Harbour Road and then, as they left the crowds behind, he dropped the clutch and shot up out of the village along the coast road with a glorious, throaty roar. The sun was low over the sea, but it was behind them and once past the caravan park he hit the accelerator, the car hugging the curves and dips of the road as if it were on rails.
She gathered her long, tumbled curls in one hand and turned to him, raising her voice to be heard over the roar of the engine and the rush of air. ‘So where are we going?’ she yelled.
‘There’s a viewpoint along here, and we can catch the sunset. It’s my favourite place,’ he said, his eyes fixed on the road, and she nodded.
‘Good.’
And at least no one from Penhally Bay would be there. They were all safely at the barbeque. She settled back in the seat, and waited for the sick feeling in her stomach to settle.
‘That was fabulous.’
He crumpled up the paper and wiped his hands on it. ‘It was—and probably no more unhealthy than a barbeque, even if it was the most expensive fish and chips I’ve ever had,’ he added pointedly.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said feeling a flicker of guilt, but he just grinned.
‘Don’t be. Fancy a stroll?’
‘In these shoes?’ She laughed.
‘You’d be all right in bare feet on the sand.’
‘But I have to get there, and I won’t get down those steps in these heels.’
‘I’ll carry you,’ he said.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she told him, but she took her shoes off anyway and started to pick her way over the stones to the edge of the car park, wincing and yelping under her breath.
‘Idiot,’ he said mildly, and, scooping her into his arms and trying not to think too much about the feel of her warm, firm body against his chest, he carried her down the steps and set her on her feet on the sand. ‘There,’ he said, and he heeled off his shoes, stripped off his socks and rolled his trouser legs up to the knee. ‘Last one in the water’s a sissy,’ he said, and sprinted towards the sea.
She couldn’t resist it. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to, and he let her catch him, grabbing her hand at the last moment and running with her into the surf.
Just ankle deep, and so early in the year that was enough, but it brought colour to her cheeks and laughter to her brown eyes, and then the laughter faded and she lifted her hand and rested it against his cheek.
‘Ben, I’m so sorry about my father…’
He turned his head and kissed her palm gently. ‘Don’t be. It’s my fault. I suspected he’d be there and I should have stayed away.’
‘But he was so rude to you.’
‘I can cope with it. It’s my own fault, but I hoped you’d be there, and you were, so let’s forget about your father and just enjoy being together. Come on, let’s walk for a bit.’
It was like something out of a film set. They were strolling beside the water, their hands still linked, and it was wonderful—romantic, peaceful, with the sun’s last rays gilding the rippling surface of the sea. But he was unsettled, churned up inside by his encounter with Nick Tremayne and going over it all again and again, as if it would change the past.
Stupid. It was over—finished. He put it out of his mind and turned to Lucy. The sun was about to slip below the horizon, a pale gold orb hovering just above the surface of the sea, the sky shot through with pink and gold, and he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her, easing her against him so her back was warm against his chest, and he held her there motionless as together they watched it flare, then sink into the sea and disappear.
‘I never get tired of watching it set,’ she said softly. ‘I can see it from my sitting-room window at this time of year, and I love it. I can quite see why people worship the sun.’
She turned slowly and lifted her head, her eyes gazing up at him. They were beautiful, the softest brown, warm and generous. Windows on her soul. Such a cliché, but so, so true, and for the first time that day Ben felt she was really letting him in. He felt his pulse pick up, felt the slow, heavy beat of his heart against his ribs, the first stirrings of need.
‘Have I told you how lovely you look today?’ he said a little unevenly.
She let her breath out in a little rush that could have been a laugh but might just have been a sigh. ‘No. No, you haven’t.’
‘Remiss of me. You look fabulous.’ He ran his eyes over her, over the soft gauzy dress that was cut on the cross and clung gently to those slender curves. It was sea-blue, not one colour but many, flowing into each other, and with the surf lapping at her ankles, she could have risen from the water.
‘You look like a siren,’ he said gruffly, and then without stopping to think, he leant forward, just a fraction, and lowered his mouth to hover over hers. ‘Luring me onto the rocks,’ he added, his words a sigh.
And then he touched his lips to hers.
For a moment, she just stood there, her eyes staring up into his, and then her lids fluttered down and she shut out everything except the feel of his lips and the sound of the sea and the warmth of his hands on her shoulders, urging her closer.
She didn’t need urging. She was ready for this—had been ready for it for ever—and with a tiny cry, muffled by his lips, she leant into him and slipped her arms around his waist, resting her palms against the strong, broad columns of muscle that bracketed his spine.
He shifted, just a fraction, but it brought their bodies into intimate alignment, and heat flared in her everywhere they touched. She felt the hot, urgent sweep of his tongue against her lips and she parted them for him, welcoming him in, her own tongue reaching out to his in greeting.
He groaned, his fingers tunnelling through her hair, and steadying her head with his broad, strong hands, he plundered her mouth, his body rocking against hers, taut and urgent and, oh, so welcome. She heard herself whimper, felt him harden, felt his chest heave in response, and she thought, We can’t do this. Not here. But she couldn’t stop, couldn’t drag herself out of his arms, couldn’t walk away…
‘Lucy.’
He’d lifted his head, resting his forehead against hers, his breath sawing in and out rapidly. ‘What the hell are we doing?’ he rasped softly.
What we should have done years ago, she thought. She lifted her hand and cradled his jaw. ‘Your place or mine?’ she murmured, knowing it was stupid, knowing it was the last thing she ought to be doing but unable to stop herself.
He lifted his head and stared down into her eyes, his own smouldering with a heat so intense she thought she’d burn up.
Then the ghost of a smile flickered over his taut features. ‘Mine,’ he said gruffly. ‘It’s not in Penhally. And it’s closer. Come on.’
And freeing her, he slid his hand down her arm, threaded his fingers through hers and led her back to the steps, pausing only to hand her his shoes before scooping her up and carrying her up the steps and across the stones to his car.
‘Ouch,’ he muttered, limping, and she laughed breathlessly.
‘That’ll teach you to behave like a caveman,’ she teased, and he dumped her over the door into her seat, vaulted past her and slid down behind the wheel.
‘I’ll give you caveman,’ he growled, and she felt a delicious shiver of anticipation.
‘Want your shoes?’
‘No. The only thing I want is you,’ he said tautly, gunning the engine and shooting backwards out of the space, then hitting the coast road in a spray of granite chips while she grappled for her seat belt and wondered if it had been quite wise to wake this sleeping tiger…
‘Lucy?’
She opened her eyes and stared up at him, reaching up a hand to rub it lightly over the stubble on his jaw. That siren’s smile hovered on her lips, rosy and swollen from his kisses, and he wanted to kiss her all over again. ‘Well, if it isn’t my very own caveman,’ she said softly.
He laughed, then bent his head and touched his lips to hers, tasting her smile. ‘Good morning,’ he murmured, his mouth still on hers, and he felt her lips curve again.
‘Absolutely,’ she replied, and opened her mouth to his, drawing him in, her arms sliding round him and cradling him closer. He felt the heat flare between them, felt her pelvis rock, felt the soft, moist heat of her against his thigh as she parted her legs to the urging of his knee.
Hell. He hadn’t been going to do this again. He’d been going to talk to her, to tell her all the reasons why this was such a lousy idea, but her body was hot and naked against his, her soft, welcoming flesh too much for him to resist. He’d wanted her for years, ever since they’d worked together, and if it hadn’t been for her mother’s death…
Damn.
He shifted, pulling away, but she followed him, her hands holding him to her, rolling after him and taking over, her body hot and sweet and so, so lovely, and as she lowered herself and took him inside her, he lost rational thought.
He groaned her name, arching up as she rocked against him, taking him deeper, and then, grasping her hips, he drove into her again and again, feeling her passion build, feeling the tension spiral in her until her breathing grew ragged and she sobbed his name. He felt her body contract around him, felt the incredible power of her climax, and followed her headlong over the edge.
It was her phone that woke them, ringing from somewhere downstairs in the depths of her handbag.
‘I’ll let it ring,’ she said, but then it rang again, and again, and finally she got up. ran downstairs naked and answered it.
He followed her slowly, pulling on his dressing-gown and going into the kitchen to put on the kettle, the shirt he’d worn the previous day flung over his shoulder.
‘Dad, I’m fine. No, I’m not at home,’ she was saying as he threaded her arms one at a time into the shirt. ‘I’m twenty-nine years old, for heaven’s sake! I don’t need your permission to leave my house on my day off!’
She rolled her eyes at Ben, and he smiled faintly and turned back to the kettle, listening by default to her side of the conversation as he made them tea.
‘Yes, I’m sorry, too. Yes, I think you do. Yes, I’ll tell him if I speak to him. OK. I’ll see you on Tuesday, after the bank holiday.’
He heard her cut the connection, heard the soft sound of her bare feet on the floor and turned with a smile. ‘You looked a little underdressed,’ he said, glad now that he’d covered her because she looked sexier in his shirt than he could have imagined in his wildest fantasies.
‘Thanks.’ She threw him a fleeting smile and pulled the shirt closed, buttoning it and running her hands round the neck and lifting her hair out in a soft, gleaming tumble of curls that made him want to gather them in his hand and tug her gently back to his arms. Or bed. Whatever. Closer, anyway.
He turned back, poured the tea and handed her a mug instead. ‘What did your father want?’
‘To apologise for being rude to you yesterday. He said he owed you an apology, too. He asked me to tell you if I saw you.’
Ben grunted. Nick Tremayne probably did owe him an apology after yesterday, and if he hadn’t just spent the night with the man’s daughter Ben might have been less forgiving. As it was, he just felt sick at heart and deeply sorry for everything that had happened, even though it hadn’t been his fault.
He wondered if Lucy really believed that he wasn’t to blame, or if somewhere deep inside there was a bit of her that wasn’t quite sure. He must have been crazy to bring her back here last night and complicate things like this…
‘Ben?’
He glanced up at her, his face sombre, and she felt her heart sink.
‘This isn’t going to work, is it?’
‘Us?’ He shook his head and sighed softly. ‘No.’
She felt tears sting her eyes and blinked them away. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t. ‘Too much baggage.’
He didn’t reply. There was nothing more to add.
So that she didn’t have to go home in the same dress everyone had seen her in the day before, he lent her a pair of denim cut-offs that were loose on her waist and snug on her hips, and the shirt she was already wearing, and drove her home. He pulled up outside her front door. Gathering her things together, she paused, her hand on the car door.
‘Thank you for last night, it was wonderful,’ she said, and, leaning over, she kissed him goodbye.
It seemed horribly, unbearably final.
