Sebastian had stayed angry for longer than he’d let her see. His instinct to protect her being stronger than his need to vent. But as the afternoon drew on, he softened. And by the time they arrived back at the chateau, he had forgiven her entirely.
When Marguerite called and told him she was close by, it felt like fate – the perfect time to finish his gift and prove to Annie that he’d never stopped thinking about her.
Brushing his hands down on his shorts, he shrugged to loosen his shoulder muscles, then stretched his hands out in front of him.
Annie was going to love it…
21
Annie
Annie didn’t return to the chateau until the evening. The sun was turning orange and getting ready to dip down below the horizon. The air was dusky and humid. She had spent the entire afternoon walking – walking through Saint-Sabran, walking by the river, walking and thinking about Sebastian.
GiGi had asked her if she was certain of how she felt about Sebastian. But the truth was, even after hours of trying to figure it out, she still wasn’t.
It was all too mixed up. Her memories from their childhood summers together, her heightened emotions about the chateau being sold, her confusion about the life she’d left behind in London.
So when she returned, instead of trying to find Sebastian, she walked up the front steps of the chateau with the intention of going straight upstairs – hoping that sleep would help her put her feelings in some kind of order.
She sighed and shrugged her bag off her shoulder, resting it with a thud on the console table near the staircase.
Then she looked up.
In the centre of the entrance hall, highlighted by a dusty beam of sunlight streaming in from the windows above the stairs, sat a large, wooden rocking horse.
A trickle of electricity ran from Annie’s neck all the way to her toes. Her hand went to her mouth to stifle an, “Oh, my…”
She walked over to the horse and let her fingers stroke the smooth curve of its back. She knew this rocking horse. It looked exactly like…
“Does it look like him?” Sebastian appeared from the sunroom. He was smiling at her but looked nervous, holding his hands behind his back and dipping his head as if he was scared of her answer.
Annie could feel tears welling up behind her eyes. “It’s Monty, isn’t it?”
Sebastian’s smile widened. “So, I captured his likeness?”
Annie’s hand was now resting on the horse’s mane. She nodded. The rocking horse was a perfect replica of the horse she’d had as a child. The horse she’d been forced to leave behind when her parents sent her to boarding school. The horse she’d told Sebastian about so many times.
“I always promised you that I’d find a way of bringing him back to you. I know it not the real Monty but…”
Sebastian didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because Annie hurled herself towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was crying, but she didn’t care. She nuzzled into him and whispered, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
When she finally let go of him, she looked from Sebastian to the rocking horse and back again.
“How did you… I mean, when did you?”
Sebastian walked over to the horse and patted its flank. Bashfully, without looking at her, he replied, “I began it when we were sixteen. After our last summer together.” He cleared his throat and looked up. “Do you remember, that night in the storm, when we…”
Annie began to blush. The night they shared their first and only kiss, they had spent hours talking about what they would do when they were older. All the things they would see. They had talked about having a family of their own and…
“We said that when we were older, and married, and running the chateau together, we would let our children ride horses all day long.” Sebastian paused and looked at her. “I wanted to make you this as a… gesture. For when you returned. To welcome you back.”
“But then I never came back…” Annie almost whispered it because the thought of Sebastian waiting and waiting and working on this beautiful gift was making her heart hurt.
Sebastian shrugged, “Ah, no. You didn’t. So, I stopped working on him. But after I collected you from the airport, I knew I had to finish it.” He laughed a little and stroked the horse’s tail. “It was nearly ready days ago, but I had to wait for my friend Marguerite to bring me the horse hair. I wanted it to be real horse hair.”
Annie’s eyes widened. “Marguerite? Your friend?”
“Oui,” Sebastian replied casually.
Annie looked down at her sandals and shook her head at herself. “She came here last night?”
“Yes.” Sebastian was looking at her as if he wasn’t sure why she was asking, but then his eyes widened. “You saw her?”
“I did.” Annie’s cheeks were flushing pink and her skin felt prickly as she remembered the knot in her stomach when she saw Sebastian embrace his friend. “I thought…”
Sebastian stepped closer and dipped his head to meet her eyes. “What did you think?”
“I thought she was your girlfriend.”
Sebastian smiled slowly, the corner of his lip curling ever-so-slightly, the way it always did. “And what did you think about that?”
“I felt awful.” Annie sighed as she spoke. Saying it out loud, she felt a whoosh of tension release from her chest. “I hated the thought of it, Sebastian. And I know that I’ve no right to feel that way, but…”
“Annie…” Sebastian reached out and took her hand in his, stroking her palm with his thumb as he spoke. “You don’t need to worry. And do you know why?”
Annie shook her head. She couldn’t speak. Her heart was fluttering and her breath was catching in her throat.
“Because I have never, ever loved anyone but you.” He moved closer and leaned in so that his forehead was almost touching hers.
“Sebastian, I…”
Sebastian stepped back and put his finger to her lips. “Annie, you don’t have to say anything. I know it’s not easy. We are different people now and we live in two different places. And I think we have both been too wrapped up in trying to figure this out right away.”
Annie shook her head and smiled. “That’s exactly what I’ve been doing all day. Trying to figure out how I feel and what we should do…”
“Okay, then let’s stop.” Sebastian clapped his hands then waved them decisively. “I still have feelings for you, Annie. Big feelings. And I think you have feelings too…?”
“I do. Of course I do.”
“Okay, then maybe for now that’s all we need to know. Maybe now we should just enjoy each other’s company and stop trying so hard to work out all the rest.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” Annie suddenly felt as if all the pressure and tension had been lifted. Suddenly, the thought of spending the next few weeks with Sebastian felt glorious and exciting instead of confusing.
“And I know how much you love planning…” Sebastian grinned. Then he tucked his hand into hers and said, “Would you care to join me for some iced tea on the terrace, Madamoiselle?”
“Absolutely,” Annie replied. And as she followed him outside, she realised that she was almost – so nearly, almost – certain.
22
Annie
TEN DAYS LATER
Annie found Sebastian out by the empty swimming pool. He was sketching something on a large notepad.
“What’s this?” she asked, sitting down beside him and crossing her legs in front of her.
“A treehouse for Mayor Debois’ grandchildren. She has a very big garden, and very energetic grandchildren.” Sebastian laughed and showed Annie the sketch. “I’m trying to recreate the one your grandfather made us, but I can’t remember…”
“You’re missing the look-out point at the top.” Annie took the sketch pad from him and added a badly drawn platform and telescope above the main balcony of the treehouse.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at it. “Wow,�
�� he said, shaking his head.
“What is it?”
“I think I have just discovered the one thing that you are truly terrible at… drawing.” Sebastian looked up sheepishly then started laughing as Annie nudged him in the ribs.
“I won’t argue. Art was never my strong point.”
Sebastian leaned back on his elbows and looked up at the sky. His skin was shiny from the heat and as he shook his hair from his eyes he sighed and said, “They say a storm is brewing. Can you feel it?”
Annie laughed and shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. There aren’t even any clouds in the sky.”
“Storms here move quickly, Annie. Can’t you feel how humid it is? There’s no air.” Sebastian sat up again and shuffled uncomfortably.
It certainly had become more humid over the last few days. Today, particularly, was stiflingly hot. “When is this storm supposed to arrive?”
Sebastian looked at her guiltily, as if somehow he was in control of the weather. “In the next day or so.”
“What about the festival? We’re supposed to open on Friday. Sebastian, all our planning–”
“It’ll be fine.” Sebastian nudged closer and put his arm around her. “If it does come, it will be over quickly. Don’t worry, okay?”
Annie leaned onto his shoulder and sighed.
“Have you heard from the hospital?”
Annie leaned away, reluctant to move from Sebastian’s embrace but far too hot to be too close to another human being. “Yes, they’ve given her the all-clear and she’ll be home tomorrow.”
“That’s fantastic. She has medicine for her heart?”
“Yes, but they said that will keep everything under control.”
Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head. “Ah, I’m so pleased, Annie. I was worried about her.”
“I know you were.” Annie reached for his hand and squeezed it. “But, listen. To celebrate. I thought I’d make you dinner this evening…”
Sebastian frowned as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. “You want to cook?”
“Well,” Annie shrugged. “I don’t want to cook. But you’ve played chef pretty much every night for the last fortnight, so I think it’s my turn, don’t you?”
Sebastian smiled, but he was looking at her strangely.
“What is it?” Annie looked over her shoulder at him as the pair of them stood up and started to walk towards the house.
“Nothing,” Sebastian said quietly, still smiling. “It’s just… nice.”
Annie tucked her hair behind her ear. She knew what Sebastian meant; they’d spent the last ten days falling into an easy and yet still full-of-butterflies kind of rhythm where they worked on the festival for a few hours during the day and then ate and talked together until the early hours of the morning most nights. But she wanted him to say it. She wanted him to say that it was nice to be in one another’s company. It was nice to have taken the pressure off and just allowed themselves to be with each other – to be themselves and to remember that, together, everything made more sense. “What’s nice?” she asked coyly.
But Sebastian wasn’t going to play the game. Instead, he grinned cheekily and asked, “What are you going to cook me?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know.”
“Then I’m not answering yours, either. You’ll just have to wait and see…”
Despite her best intentions, dinner didn’t go particularly well.
“Hmm,” Sebastian said, putting down his knife and fork and taking a sip of wine. “It seems we now have two things that you are terrible at…”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Annie protested, laughing at herself.
Sebastian leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “It really was. But it’s okay. I can do the cooking from now on.”
That small, easy, gesture made Annie’s heart flutter. But then the flutter turned to nerves. And she knew why.
Sebastian had been talking more and more about their future. Just casual comments, but comments that seemed to forget the fact that after the festival Annie should be getting on a plane and going back to England.
She kept thinking he might ask her to stay. But he hadn’t. So, perhaps his references to what the future held were just accidental. Perhaps they didn’t mean anything and all of this was just a bit of fun. A nice way to spend the summer.
He still hadn’t kissed her. Not properly. And although she’d been so happy and relaxed for the past fortnight, now the festival had almost arrived, creeping thoughts of home and leaving and, What if? were sneaking back into her head.
She hadn’t heard back from Jeremy either, and now that GiGi was coming home Annie would be forced to tell her that she’d looked at the accounts and couldn’t see any way forward for the chateau… except to sell up and leave.
Without really meaning to, Annie sighed.
“Are you alright? I was only joking about the food…” Sebastian said, shuffling his chair a little closer to her.
“It’s not the food. It’s just…” She turned to look at him. Then shook her head at herself and said, “I’m fine. In fact, I’ve had an idea…”
Annie got up and trotted back into the house. She needed Sebastian to open up about how he was feeling – about whether this was just a beautiful reminder of how they used to feel for one another, or whether this was something else. Something new. Something real. And she knew exactly how to start the conversation.
23
Sebastian
Watching Annie hurry inside, clearly plotting something because she had an excited glint in her eyes and the fizzing kind of aura that settled around her whenever she was hatching a plan, Sebastian breathed out slowly and tried to slow his heart rate down.
With the festival just around the corner, he suddenly felt as if time was running out.
For ten days, they had forgotten about trying to figure out what they were doing and if it would lead anywhere. They’d stopped tip-toeing around one another. They’d laughed and talked and – if he did say so himself – managed to plan the most spectacular festival for Saint-Sabran.
They worked well together. They complimented each other. Where Annie was organised and practical, Sebastian was spontaneous and creative. He brought out the best in her and she brought out the best in him.
And all of it had made him remember exactly why he had never felt for anyone the way he felt about Annie when they were teenagers.
Now, though, the pressure was beginning to build back up. And he knew she could feel it too.
The clock had begun to tick. Annie should be leaving in a few weeks. She’d had no contact with her business partner since she left and said she simply couldn’t stay away much longer.
As she said it, she had looked at him as if she wanted him to say something. But he hadn’t.
He wanted to. But he was torn between wanting to tell her that he couldn’t bear the thought of her leaving again and wanting her to make the decision to stay.
When Annie returned, she was holding something. And as soon as Sebastian saw it, he knew what it was.
“Annie…” His eyes widened. “Our memory box?”
Annie grinned at him and placed it down on the table in front of them. “It was exactly where I left it. Under my old bed.” She pushed it towards him and raised her eyebrows at him. “Do you want to…?”
Sebastian felt his shoulders tense a little. He knew how many love letters and postcards and photographs were in that box.
“Alright.”
Slowly, Annie opened the lid and the two of them peered inside. First, she took out a stack of photographs. She handed half to Sebastian and they began to flick through.
“Oh my goodness,” she said. “Look how cute we are here!” She held out a picture of the two of them when they were eleven or twelve, perched on a tree trunk down by the stream with ice cream all around their mouths. “Gramps took this one,” she said with a smile.
“And this�
�” Sebastian laughed. “This is the one I took when you fell head-first off your bike and ended up down a ditch at the side of the road.”
Annie gasped and snatched it from him. “I remember this! Instead of helping me, you took a picture!”
“You were fine.” Sebastian rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t know that,” Annie chided.
Sebastian turned to her and ruffled her hair. “Well, I’m very sorry. Let me kiss you better now.” He kissed her forehead playfully. But as he drew back, she slipped her hand into his. Instead of turning back to the photographs, she was still looking at him.
Sebastian’s chest felt so tight he wasn’t sure whether he was still breathing. This was the moment. She was waiting for him to kiss her, he was sure of it. But their first kiss had been so amazing, so mind-blowing… imprinted on his memory for fifteen years. What if he couldn’t recreate it? What if he kissed her and she realised that all of this was…
Annie leaned in a little closer and coyly tucked her hair behind her ear. Just do it, Sebastian, he said to himself. Be brave. Kiss her.
24
Annie
Sebastian was going to kiss her. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst right out of her chest, and she was sure she could feel his heart doing the same.
He was so close to her… and then a loud, sharp BUZZ shattered their moment.
Sebastian blinked at her.
Annie took back her hand and looked towards the house. “It’s the front gate. Someone’s here.”
Sebastian smiled reluctantly. “I’ll get it. It’s probably another vendor trying to secure a last-minute spot.”
The True Love Travels Series Box Set Page 37