The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,74
her head, her eyes beginning to mist. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘Hey, hey…’ Declan moved closer and pulled her into a hug. ‘It looks bad now but it’ll be OK. You’re stronger and more resourceful than you think and you can get through this.’
‘You think? I’m glad you can see that because I can’t.’
‘I’ve always seen it in you…’
He tipped her face to his and smiled down at her. For one stolen moment, she wondered if he might kiss her. But then she stood up and moved to the counter because she didn’t want to know the answer to that question. It would cause more problems than it solved and she had enough right now.
‘You want a coffee?’ she asked, drying her eyes. ‘It’s the least I can do to thank you.’
‘For walking along the pier on a sunny day with your lovely grandma?’ he asked with a smile. ‘I was hardly crossing the Gobi Desert on an epic quest – there’s really no need to thank me.’
‘You do seem to be there when I need you. Like my knight in shining armour.’
‘I’m glad someone thinks so,’ he said, and Sadie frowned at his tone. It had been a long time since she’d heard it, and even longer since it had been directed at her.
‘Melissa? Is everything… Never mind, it’s none of my business.’
‘Out of all the people I could tell about it, you’re the one who would understand the most.’
‘But you can’t? A burden shared… and after all, I’ve dumped enough on you these past few days.’
‘I can’t, Sadie. I would if I could.’
She nodded slowly as she went to the coffee machine behind the counter with two mugs. It hadn’t been cleaned yet, along with a lot of other things, and if it had to wait a minute or two longer while she used it then it would have to wait.
‘Well if you do feel you want to offload and it’s something you can tell me about, you know I’ll always be there, don’t you? No matter what else happens.’
‘I know that. You know, Sadie, I sometimes wonder…’ He sighed. ‘What’s the point?’
‘What it might be like if we’d stayed together? If I’d never gone away?’
‘I love Melissa – you have to know that.’
‘I do know that, but it doesn’t stop you wondering. Just as it doesn’t stop me from wondering either.’
‘I think about it a lot more than I should. Especially at times like this.’
‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t too.’
The coffee machine chugged and frothed as Sadie made the drinks and she watched it, silently contemplating what he’d said. What was happening here? Was something changing between them? This conversation – whatever it was – should have taken place a long time ago, when she’d first returned to Sea Salt Bay, but they’d both been too scared to have it.
So why were they having it now? What did it mean? Was it something to do with Luke? Was it because she found herself at some sudden and unexpected crossroads? She’d spent so long thinking that the only man who mattered was Declan, but someone new was in her thoughts now – and not as someone who was an idle prop to pass an hour, but as someone who might one day really mean something to her. Perhaps she had to deal with her unresolved feelings for Declan before she could give Luke the attention he deserved, and yet, dealing with her feelings for Declan meant accepting that she had given him up, and that he’d moved on, and that she had to move on too, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that reality just yet. Today proved it, because when the chips were down and she’d needed someone, it was Declan who’d been there, and she’d been glad it was him rather than anyone else.
Part of her wondered whether it would always be Declan. And part of her still didn’t know enough about Luke to be certain that he was someone worth putting her faith in as the man who might change all that. She had a great time with him and they had such fun, and yet she felt the presence of some dark secret hanging over him, some heartache she hadn’t yet been allowed to see. She had to wonder whether, if Luke’s secret came out into the light, it might be something big enough to scupper anything she might hope for with him.