Free Written in the Stars by Ali Harris Page B

leave me and he’s gone to work, I head down to the beach. I can’t face going back to Loni’s in case I’ve had any more visitors. It has stopped raining and I have an urge to go for a run. I’m not dressed for it but I don’t care. I pound along the sand towards the nature reserve, the sharp sea breeze blowing against my face, my calf muscles burning, my heart pumping, and I feel the mists part like the clouds above and my path ahead suddenly begins to appear more clearly than it has for years.
    The old days.
    I run for miles until I get to Holkham Hall. I weave my way up the drive through the oak trees and reach the lake. I stand there panting and holding my waist as I stare at the scene in front of me. Another wedding reception is taking place in the grounds today. Same marquee, different couple. I watch them as they thread easily through their guests; every so often they pause to kiss, or whisper to each other. Even when they are apart having separate conversations they seem together, their movements mirrored, eye contact frequently made. They look so happy.
    That could have been me , I think, feeling like I’m witnessing the alternative reality of yesterday. I would have been clutching a champagne glass, chatting to our guests like this, basking in the glory of the most important day of my life.
    But now I feel like I’ve crossed a line and instead of being on the path that was leading me to the future I am . . . where? Where will my new trajectory, my new life , take me? Am I always going to be suspended in time, unable to make any real decisions, any actual steps forward until I deal with the past? I may have run from Kieran yesterday but now I feel like my life has actually been on pause since the day he left. Maybe even before . . .
    I watch an older man with charcoal-grey hair and a broad smile, and dressed in a morning suit, approach the couple. He shakes hands with the groom and kisses him on both cheeks and then, beaming with pride, he throws his arms around the bride, who must be his daughter.
    My breath catches in my throat as I suddenly remember the last time my dad hugged me. I’d been in the garden, sitting under the willow tree. He’d embraced me, pressing his face against mine as he placed a book in my hands. Then he’d kissed my head several times before he quickly and quietly got up, turned round and walked across the lawn, into a white mist of magnolia trees, before disappearing out of the side gate, changing my life forever.

Chapter 14
    Bea Hudson has just been carried over the threshold . . .
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    ‘Here we are,’ Adam says as he picks me up, swings open the door of our hotel room and carries me in.
    ‘You’re meant to carry me over the threshold of our home ,’ I laugh, ‘not our honeymoon hotel!’
    ‘Oh sorry, my mistake!’ He goes to drop me and I squeal and cling on to him as he strides across the room and throws me onto the bed. I giggle as he lowers his body to mine then I close my eyes contentedly, relishing the warmth I feel as he covers me.
    ‘So we did it then, Mrs Hudson,’ he says, stroking back my hair and kissing me softly on my lips, my cheeks and my eyelids.
    ‘Not yet, we haven’t.’ I smile cheekily and tug at the buckle on his belt.
    ‘You could at least wine and dine me first!’ he says with mock offence.
    ‘I’m only hungry for one thing.’ I undo his belt and whip off his trousers and sit astride him again, feeling the hard swell of him between my legs. I take off my blazer and pull my dress over my head and lean down, brushing my lips over his softly and then biting his plump bottom lip gently. His dark stubble grazes my chin and I kiss his neck, working my hands down his body, pinging open his shirt buttons as I go. I lean against his chest so we’re skin against skin. Our kisses deepen, becoming more and more urgent as we allow ourselves to get lost in the welcome warmth of each other’s mouths. Nothing has ever felt as good