turned back to the bed, leaned across to him, pressing her lips to his.
‘We will be together next weekend and after that…’ He paused.
‘I need to speak to Dominic. It’s too soon to think about…’
‘I was not thinking. I was wishing and hoping, for the first time knowing it will come true.’ He kissed her back, lingering, his hand in her hair. She relinquished his hold.
‘Where will you live? For now, I mean,’ she asked, pulling on her jeans and picking up her bra.
‘I will find something. Somewhere to rent maybe,’ he replied.
She nodded.
‘Perhaps close to you and Dominic?’ he suggested.
‘I would like that.’ She picked up her blouse, discovering the broken buttons.
‘Oh…’
‘In the case. There is a T-shirt or something,’ he offered, pointing.
A mobile phone began to ring. She knew it wasn’t hers.
It was his. He rolled over to look at the nightstand and the phone vibrating on it. Keith.
‘Who is it? Is it Madeleine? Oh God, it is, isn’t it? It’s too soon and I shouldn’t be here,’ Emma said as she got a T-shirt out of Guy’s battered case.
‘Non. No. It is not Madeleine. It is no one.’
No one he wanted in his life. Someone who should never have been in his life. He needed to do something about it, but what? Keith was not the sort of person to negotiate with.
The phone stopped vibrating and he watched her put his T-shirt over her head, then slip her trainers back on.
‘This is not too soon. It has been too long.’ He got out of bed, grabbing up a hotel robe and fastening it around himself.
‘I know, but I feel for Chris and for Madeleine.
‘We were not right for them. We are right for each other.’
He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into him. He felt her sink into him, mould herself against his frame and he closed his eyes, savouring how it felt to hold her.
‘I have to go,’ she reminded, letting him go and taking another glance at her watch.
‘I will call you,’ he said, holding onto one hand as she moved toward the door.
She came back to him, found his lips and gave him one more kiss.
‘I love you,’ she whispered.
‘J’taime.’
Smiling at him she opened the door, then closed it behind her.
As the door shut, his mobile phone vibrated anew. He would turn it off. He wouldn’t allow Keith to ruin this night. The night he’d finally felt the love he thought he’d lost.
The red circle indicated a new voicemail message. His hand hovered over the power button but curiosity got the better of him.
‘You have one new message. New messages,’ the robotic voice began.
Keith’s voice came next.
‘I still have the photos.’
His heart hit the floor.
Chapter Forty-Eight
‘Did he cry?’
‘What?’
‘Chris. Did he cry?’
‘No. Why are you asking that?’
‘He looked like a crier. I don’t mean that in a nasty way. He just looked the type, that’s all.’
Emma looked at Ally, shaking her head.
‘Are you trying to make me feel worse than I already do?’ she asked.
‘Not at all. If it wasn’t right then it wasn’t right. I know I banged on about marriage and a good man but that’s because I was jealous. I mean you’re marriage material, aren’t you? Always have been. Me, I’m wining, dining and shagging material… six months tops. No rings. No matching clothes or jointly-owned pets, not even a couple’s gym membership,’ Ally said, flopping down onto Emma’s bed and almost upending the suitcase she was trying to pack.
‘Chris and I never had any of those.’
‘You had a goldfish.’
‘We won it at the fair and come on, it lasted two weeks!’
‘Two weeks still counts. I’ve called relationships that last two weeks long-term before now.’
‘How are things with Jonty? You haven’t said.’
‘Alright. We’re creeping towards five and a half months and he’s got an overnight in Chicago with the beverage bimbo,’ Ally informed.
‘Have you actually asked him about her?’
‘No! Of course not! How insecure would that make me seem? I’d look like a possessive hag – on skis.’
‘But at least you wouldn’t be worrying about it all the time,’ Emma suggested.
‘Like you, you mean. All sorted and loved up and about to go away to France for the weekend,’ Ally teased.
She folded another T-shirt and added it to the small case she was packing.
‘Are you sure you’re OK having Dom after school? Dad’s signed up to some mechanics course at the college until six on Fridays,’ Emma said.
‘I wouldn’t have said I could have him if I couldn’t. I’ve left Milo