Free Summer of Love by Sophie Pembroke Page A

by the door and tried for an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry, we got a bit carried away with the photo shoot.’
    Edward’s forehead crinkled up. ‘Photo shoot? What photo shoot? And why weren’t you answering your phone?’
    Had she really not told him about Alex coming to photograph her stock? Apparently not. And really, when could she? All they’d talked about for days was the wedding, and he hadn’t even seemed to listen to her opinions on that. ‘Sorry, Mum said you’d tried to call. My phone was in my bag in the studio. I mustn’t have heard it.’ Or been too distracted by Alex’s company to even listen for it. She fished inside her bag and pulled it out. Yep, eight missed calls. ‘And the photo thing – Alex Harper offered to take some shots of my jewellery to use in my next lot of promo materials.’
    Now Edward looked even more confused. ‘But why are you bothering with new promotional stuff?’
    ‘Because it helps me sell my designs?’ Lily returned his baffled stare with one of her own. ‘Because my shop matters to me and I want it to be a success?’
    Edward reached out to take her hand. ‘Of course you do, sweetheart. But really, with the wedding to plan, not to mention starting a family… Do you really think you’re going to have time to keep up the shop? I was thinking that maybe you could look at just selling your designs online. Less overheads would give you more flexibility…’
    Lily flinched at the words, a heavy weight pressing against her chest as all the things they hadn’t talked about crashed against her. A family? They’d barely even talked about kids. Let alone her giving up the shop… She looked up at Edward through new eyes. In the dimly lit hallway of their little cottage, he looked utterly unfamiliar. A stranger, almost. Someone she barely knew.
    ‘Edward. We need to –’
    ‘Where’s your ring?’ His fingers tightened around hers and Lily looked down to see her bare ring finger.
    ‘I was… Alex had me trying on rings, for the photos. I must have forgotten to put it back on. It must still be on the windowsill at the shop.’ And she hadn’t noticed, maybe wouldn’t have at all if Edward hadn’t pointed it out. Wearing the ring still felt unnatural. Wrong.
    I have to end this
, she realized, cold, hard fear settling around her heart.
I can’t marry him
.
    Suddenly, it didn’t matter that they’d had seven years together, that she’d grown up with this man. Didn’t matter that she’d loved him, changed for him, let him into her life. Didn’t matter that he loved her too, had tried to give her everything she was supposed to want, to give them the life he felt they were supposed to be living.
    All Lily knew was that if she married Edward, if she tied herself to him – especially if they had kids – she was risking locking herself into a life that could make them both miserable for the next fifty years. And she just couldn’t do that.
    ‘Give me the shop keys and I’ll go and get it.’ Edward held out his hand, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation.
    Lily shook her head, images of the future she was giving up whirling around in a cyclone. ‘I’ll get it in the morning. Don’t worry.’
    ‘We’ve got Terry and Mabel’s wedding in the morning, remember? You won’t have time.’ Of course, Edward’s cheapskate cousin’s wedding. Held on a Wednesday, because it cost least, and at ten in the morning so they only had to serve people croissants. Lily wouldn’t have minded, but every item on their gift list had cost more than a hundred pounds.
    She handed over the keys, her mind still swirling with the knowledge that she was going to end the relationship that had formed her adult life, her adult self. She looked inside her for the spark of pain and love that would tell her this was a mistake, that she’d always felt before at the thought of losing Edward. But all she found was a dull ache, a remembered pain. A deep chasm of loss, yes – but for the sake of