by Alix Kelso
Laura stared at her coffee. Moments ago things had seemed so hopeless. Now they seemed so simple. In her heart she knew what she had to do.
She pushed back her chair and smiled. “Thanks Natalie.”
“I take it you’re not going to eat that biscotti?”
“It’s all yours,” she said, running for the door.
After an hour of searching, Bruce hadn’t found her.
He’d started at her flat, but got no answer at the door. At Valentino’s, there was no sign of her and he was dismayed to find Natalie gone from the restaurant too. She might have been able to give him a lead.
And as for his idea of finding Yvonne, to whose home Laura had been heading, well, that was a dead end. Just as Jimmy Pearson and Big Kev had predicted, no one at the hospital where she worked would give him any information. All he got for his troubles at the reception counter was the attention of a burly security man who eventually told him to get lost.
In despair, Bruce drove around Mungo Park, because he knew Laura liked it there and thought she may have gone for a walk. But there was no sign of her.
When he returned to her flat, he planned to sit outside in his car if she wasn’t yet back. But up on the second floor, he found the tall storm doors to her flat open. His heart skipping, he rang the doorbell.
Relief flooded through him when Laura answered.
“Laura,” he began, hands out in front of him, “whatever you’re thinking you saw earlier, you’ve got it wrong, because—”
“I know the baby isn’t yours.”
He paused. “You do?”
She opened the door wider and he stepped inside. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, but knew that this was a big moment and that more was needed than just an easy act of physical comfort.
“Did you really think I would’ve left London if that baby was mine, whether my marriage was over or not?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. I jumped to conclusions. Not because I doubted you. But because I wanted to.”
He frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She walked to the living room and he followed. They sat, but almost immediately she got back up again and paced to the window.
“I’ve never got as close to a man as I’ve got to you,” she said, rubbing her arms nervously. “At my age, I know that’s crazy, but it’s true. After my parents died, I had no one. No other family, at least none that were close. I was alone. But I got through it alone. Natalie and Angelo were the only people I got close to, and then Natalie told me she was selling Valentino’s. And I thought: See this is what happens when you get too close. You get hurt. But even with that warning ringing in my head, I fell for you.”
Bruce said nothing. She needed to say what had to be said, and interrupting would only make it harder.
“It scares me,” she continued. “It scares me how fast I’ve fallen for you. I’m totally, madly in love, and it scares me. When I saw your ex-wife walk into the pub and saw she was pregnant, I convinced myself in a split second that it proved how wrong I’d been to get close, how wrong I’d been to let myself feel these things that I feel for you. Because you never know what’s coming next in life, and all you can do is bet on yourself, and when you take a chance on someone else, well, in waltzes their pregnant ex-wife to ruin your whole world.”
She laughed sadly and shrugged. “I know that sounds stupid.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid. Don’t you think I’ve felt the same way ever since my marriage ended? You’re not the only one who’s ever been so badly hurt that you decide it’s easier never putting yourself out there at all. Don’t tell yourself that there’s something wrong with you for trying to keep from getting hurt again. Since I came back here to this city to start again, all I’ve been trying to do is get through each day. And then I met you. And you’ve changed everything.”
Laura glanced out the window once more before turning back. “You told me a lot about what happened when your marriage ended. But you never mentioned a baby.”
A long beat passed. “It hurt too much to talk about it.”
He felt her gaze, and she moved across the room and sat beside him. “Can you talk about it now?”
He took her hand and kissed it. “After Heather and I got married, I wanted us to have kids right away. But she wanted to wait and kept saying the time wasn’t right. Then we started having some trouble, and weren’t getting along so good and ... well, soon we weren’t sleeping together much, either. I thought we were just having a bad patch, most marriages have them, I supposed. Then one day, I found a pregnancy test in the bathroom bin. And it was positive. And this wave of happiness just rolled through me. We hadn’t slept together for a while, but I figured that the last time we had, we’d somehow managed to make a baby even if we hadn’t been trying to.”
He raked his hand through his hair. “Anyway, that night I told her I’d found the test and that I was so happy. And that’s when it all came out. Heather told me she’d been having an affair with this guy at work – Dan – and that the baby was his. She said the timings made it impossible for it to be mine. And she said she loved him and that she’d been trying to pluck up the courage to tell me she was leaving me to be with him and have the family they’d already started.”
Laura squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Heather hadn’t just had some silly fling. She was in love with this guy. At the time I didn’t realise that was actually a good thing. I didn’t realise it until today.”
“How is it a good thing?”
“Because she didn’t throw away our marriage for a meaningless affair. She actually fell out of love with me and in love with someone else. Until I saw her today, I didn’t realise how happy she was. She’s where she should be, and she’s with who she should be with. I might have been that person once, but I’m not any more. And it was only today I realised she’s gone from my life, and I can finally let go of everything that happened.”
Laura looked away and he saw sadness in her face. “You still have feelings for her.”
“No!” he said, holding her hand tighter to him. “Yes, I had feelings, but not feelings of love. I hated her for what she did. That’s why I took that stupid painting of hers, because I wanted to hurt her. And that’s why I was ignoring all the messages she’d sent these past weeks.”
She glanced up. “I thought you’d been acting strangely. You told me it was nothing.”
“What was I going to say? Oh, it’s just a message from my ex-wife, but don’t worry because I’m ignoring her? As it turns out I should’ve just talked to her. All she wanted was the damn painting.”
“You thought she wanted something else?”
He shrugged. “I thought maybe things hadn’t worked out with Dan and she was hoping we could get back together. I thought I wanted to reject her the way she’d rejected me, and I hated myself for wanting to hurt her like that. But that wasn’t really what I wanted at all. Heather’s made a new life for herself, without me. And now I want to make a new life for myself, with you.”
She shifted on the sofa. “Bruce, we’ve only just started seeing each other, and—”
“I’m in love with you Laura. I didn’t expect it. But it’s what’s happened. If you think what we have is just harmless fun that’ll fizzle out in a few months, tell me now.”
She said nothing.
“You don’t think that’s what’s going on here, do you?” he said.
“No.”
“Me neither. Today I finally closed the door on a sad and difficult part of my life. And all I want to do now is open the door that has you on the other side of it.”
He saw her lips curve and his heart beat faster at the sight of her smile.
“Bruce, you make it hard for me not to fall in love with you even more than I already have.”
Laughing, he touched his fingers to her face. “I don’t know what the future holds any more than you do. But maybe we could find out together. What do
you think?”
She moved her hands from his, laid them on his shirt and pulled him close. The kiss she gave him answered his question.
Chapter 22
“We’re off the beaten track, but not by much, I promise.”
The estate agent had been chattering all the way there, but Bruce didn’t mind. He wasn’t sure about this prospect – either in terms of the building or the location – but was willing to take a look. And the closer they got the more the surroundings reminded him of where his London pub had been, on the furthermost outskirts in a sweet, riverside location that belied the fact that ten million people lived nearby.
This place was a little like that, he thought. There was a village feel, even though the main road ran busy and uninterrupted six miles all the way back to the centre of the city. The location felt good, like it had potential.
Seeing Laura smiling in the passenger seat beside him as she looked around at the main street and the rows of old cottages and, beyond, the hills stretching off to the north, made it feel even better.
“There’s a train station right here in the village,” the agent explained as they got out Bruce’s car. “Regular buses run back into town. And as you can see, there’s a sizeable car parking area that comes with the property”
He surveyed the building. “You said this place used to be a pub?”
The agent nodded. “Until about ten years ago, and I doubt you’d have trouble getting a new licence. The publican owned the building outright and when he died suddenly it was passed to a nephew, who decided the pub market wasn’t right and turned it into a cafe. A lot of day trippers come here, what with the walking trail that starts near the river, and the big country park nearby. The nephew thought that a cafe was a better bet, but he wasn’t much of a businessman, or so I’m told, and it didn’t do well.”
“When was the place last trading?” Bruce looked uncertainly at the rundown grounds and the boarded-up windows.
“Not for a few years. The current owner – the nephew of the previous publican – shut the place up when it didn’t work out for him. The price reflects the current condition.”
“Open it up,” Bruce said. “We’ll take a look around and I’ll come back with questions.”
The agent nodded and while she dealt with the ring of keys and the locks on the doors, Bruce walked over to Laura and the two of them stood taking the place in.
“It needs work,” Laura said. “A lot of work. Are you up to this sort of challenge?”
“You should’ve seen the place I bought in London. It didn’t look as bad as this, but it wasn’t far off.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then you are a glutton for punishment.”
There was no doubt the property needed a massive project of works. Even if you could ignore the overgrown grounds and the frost-heaved paving and car park, the building had been allowed to languish for much too long, unloved and untended.
Once inside though, things improved. Bruce found himself liking the space and the high ceilings and big windows. The place probably worked better as a pub than as a cafe in terms of layout. It was too big and roomy for a cafe. But as a pub, he could see how it would have just the right blend of spaciousness and light, with enough nooks and crannies to provide cosy little snugs and booths to add character. Dismayed, he noticed that some clueless person had removed the original fireplaces and done a poor job patching up the empty spaces left behind. He found himself imagining how it would look with them reinstalled, and thought of cold winter days with flames flickering into the darkening afternoons while customers sat huddled at tables, eating hot lunches and drinking good wines and good beers.
And the space where the bar itself would go – now there was a lot of opportunity there, anyone could see that. Plenty of space for something really glorious, maybe using old reclaimed fittings, and you’d want a long, wooden countertop that would set the tone for the whole place, and …
“I’ve opened the back doors, Mr McGraw, if you’d like to take a look at the rear of the property,” the agent called out.
“Thanks. Laura, want to come outside?”
“In a minute,’ she called through. “I’m in one of the little bathrooms back here, and you should see these amazing old wall tiles.”
“I’ll take a look later. I want to see outside first.”
He stepped through the double doors that led to the back and groaned when he saw the rear gardens were even more overgrown than those at the front. He’d have to hire a digger to fight through the shrubbery and think carefully about how to replant.
More cost. More than he’d imagined taking on.
Still, there was something about this place. Walking to the edge of the perimeter line, he could hear water running, and grinned in surprise when he found a little stream. It would make for an irresistible beer garden when the weather was fair. And the tall sycamore tree rising on one side made for good shade and an interesting feature, and—
Realisation hit with a jolt. He knew this place. He’d never been here before, but still he knew it.
This was the place he’d dreamt about. Dreamt about and longed to find.
Turning, he looked back towards the property and saw with amazement that if he’d sketched that vision from his dream and held it up to what he now looked at, they’d practically be carbon copies. There right in front of him was the red sandstone of the villa, which he’d barely noticed because his attention had been elsewhere. There were the slipped slates on the roof. There, too, were the buckled sections of guttering.
Standing beneath the sycamore tree as the stream flowed gently behind him, he stared at the tumbledown building in stunned disbelief. He hadn’t realised that dreams really could come true.
But a moment later he knew it for certain as Laura stepped through the doors, smiling as the sunlight caught her hair.
In that perfect moment he saw their future shimmering. He saw Laura beside him as he transformed all that stood here into something wonderful. He saw a summer wedding in the gardens. And he saw children, their children, running and laughing.
Filling with love as Laura drew near, he glimpsed what they would be together and the life they would have, and the gift of it made his heart soar.
“What do you think?” Laura said when she reached him.
Bruce looked at her and at the old building, as that vision shone in his mind. “What do you think?”
She looked around. “It’s a mess. And it’s gorgeous. You’d be crazy not to buy it.”
Laughing, he slid an arm around her waist and felt the warmth of her, the life of her.
“I planned to live in the place I bought while I renovated it. That’s not an option here. Another few months with my Uncle Keith are going to be tough to take.”
She wrapped her arms around him and looked up into his eyes. “I happen to have a spare room.”
He studied her, surprise and joy swirling. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure? I mean, it’s a big decision and—”
“I’m sure.”
The steady expression in her eyes told him she meant it. Smiling, he kissed her head and pulled her closer. “What kind of rent would you want?”
“I’m open to negotiations. We could even consider bunking up together.”
“I like the sound of bunking up.”
“I can always kick you into the box room if I get tired of you.”
“Fair enough.”
“Good, that’s settled. And as you’re now officially my new flatmate, maybe you could tell me what you think about this idea I’ve had.”
He leaned back and read the look on her face.
And thought he already knew what she was going to say.
Chapter 23
Natalie boxed up the last of the desk things in her office and ran tape across the top.
“It’s strange to see all your stuff gone,” Laura said, looking up from the pile of paperwork sh
e was loading into a carton.
“Ruby will soon have it jammed with her own things, judging by the number of boxes she’s already brought over.” Natalie removed the last photograph of Angelo from the wall and looked at it before tucking it into a box.
“I can’t believe it’s already time for you to go.”
“I’m happy it’s come quickly. No lingering.”
“How do you feel?”
Natalie considered the question. “I feel fine. I’m going to miss this place, but I don’t have any doubts about going. That brings its own relief.” She closed and taped the flaps on the box and looked at Laura. “I hope you feel the same way about the decision you’ve made.”
Laura smiled. “I do.”
“Good. In that case, as I’m all finished and ready to go, it’s time I gave you this.”
Natalie reached below the desk and handed Laura a gift-wrapped box. Inside, was a framed photograph of Laura, Angelo and Natalie, smiling behind the counter at Valentino’s. Natalie had found the photograph while clearing her office and known instantly it made the perfect gift.
“It’s lovely, just lovely,” Laura said. She stared at the framed image for a long time before she spoke again. “I got you something too.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Laura.”
“Of course I did.”
Laura handed her a box and Natalie opened it. She gasped in surprise when she saw the snow-globe that lay inside, and which held inside it a tiny model of Valentino’s restaurant.
“How on earth did you find this?” Natalie said, shaking the snow inside the globe.
“I found this company online. You send them photographs of buildings or houses, and they make these little models to put inside the globes. I hoped you’d like it.”
“I love it. I’m truly touched by this and I shall treasure it.” Natalie shook the snow-globe once more, watched the snowflakes fall, and tucked it inside the box. It was a beautiful gift, and she found herself already thinking of a place at home where she’d display it. “If I don’t go now, I’ll start crying. And I absolutely will not cry as I leave this place.”