Free Don't Let Me Go by Susan Lewis

when I arrived.’
    Her eyebrows went up. ‘Sad?’
    ‘It was coming off you in waves.’
    Sighing, she said, ‘Not sad, exactly, more nostalgic. I checked my emails this morning and . . . Well, I guess I’m finding it harder to let go of the past than I expected.’
    ‘And you’re surprised by that?’
    ‘No, I suppose not, just disappointed. I thought it would get easier, but then I had a message from someone I . . .’ Her eyes went briefly to his. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, shaking her head.
    ‘Well, it clearly does, so come on, out with it.’
    ‘No, honestly, it’s nothing.’
    ‘OK, so tell me, would you go back to Blighty, if you could?’
    She didn’t need any time to think about it. ‘No, I’m certain I wouldn’t. It’s just that there’s all this . . . I don’t know, unfinished business, I guess.’
    ‘Can you find a way to finish it?’
    ‘That’s what I’m trying to do.’
    ‘And in the process it’s making you sad. So I’m guessing it’s either about your sister, Gabby, or maybe it’s a . . . man?’
    She smiled wryly. ‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the way you read me so easily,’ she chided.
    He looked amazed. ‘Believe me, there’s nothing easy about it. In fact, I’m putting you down as the Finnegans Wake of the female world.’
    ‘Is that another way of saying I’m dense?’
    His eyes lit with mirth. ‘No, it’s a way of saying you’re completely impenetrable and there’s a very good chance you’ve lost the plot.’
    She gave a cry of laughter. ‘Oh, I definitely have,’ she agreed, ‘and if you’ve got any ideas for how to get it back on track, I’m listening.’
    ‘I’ll work on it,’ he promised. ‘Meanwhile, I’ll need to know more about this bloke. Was it serious between you?’
    Her smile faded as she shook her head. ‘No, not at all. In fact, there wasn’t anything really. We just met and I guess there was some sort of chemistry . . . At least there was for me . . .’
    ‘And now you’ve heard from him and you think there might have been for him too?’
    ‘Alex heard from him,’ she corrected. ‘He doesn’t know I’m Charlotte now and I don’t want to tell him. So that’s it. All over before it even began.’
    ‘Mm,’ he grunted, apparently unimpressed.
    ‘Another?’ she offered as he stared at his near-empty bottle.
    His eyes narrowed as they came to hers. ‘Are you trying to get me drunk – again?’ he challenged.
    ‘ Me get you drunk,’ she protested. ‘I’ll have you know it was the other way round last weekend . . .’
    ‘Guilty as charged, and do you know what, I feel just like getting blasted again, so if Chloe’s with Shelley for the night . . . Is this her first sleepover, by the way?’
    ‘It is, so I’m fully expecting to have to go and fetch her at some point.’
    ‘Shelley’ll bring her back, if you’re about to use that as an excuse not to get blasted with me.’
    ‘I know she will, but . . .’ Did she want to get into how much she’d been drinking lately, or did she just want to go for it? Catching his roguish grin and feeling her own need blossom she decided the hell with it, and said, ‘I’ve only got a couple more Steinies, but I can do you a bottle of the house Pinot Gris.’
    ‘My dad’s evil brew?’ he scoffed. Then, laughing as she tossed a bottle top at him, ‘It’s actually not bad, but don’t tell him I said that. So, bring it on, oh you of iron will, you.’
    Giving him a quick throttle on the way into the kitchen, she fetched a freshly chilled bottle, two glasses, a dish of aioli and a white crusty loaf which she carried out to the table. ‘It’s all I have to eat,’ she told him, ‘and I guess we should have something.’
    ‘Did you make it?’ he asked, peering suspiciously at the aioli.
    ‘No, my mother brought it over last night. I made the bread though, and Chloe saved me two of her prized cupcakes from a baking session at Aroha