Free Summer of Love by Sophie Pembroke Page B

their shared past, not their future.
    How had this happened? And when? When had she fallen out of love with her own fiancé? It didn’t feel sudden. Instead, it felt like it must have happened so gradually, a slow inching apart, that she barely even noticed the distance between them growing until she looked back and realized it spanned miles.
    How could they have been so close, living together, seeing each other every day, but still been so far apart? She tried to remember the last time they’d talked about their hopes and their dreams. Maybe when she first started working with Max on making the Mill a viable concern. That was… four years ago now. Four years without a real conversation about where they were going. Maybe she shouldn’t blame Edward for assuming she wanted the same things he did; she’d never told him otherwise, after all.
    But now… As Edward banged the door shut behind him, off on a mission to retrieve a ring Lily realized she never wanted to wear again, she spoke softly into the gloomy hallway, her cheeks wet with tears. ‘I’m sorry, Edward. I can’t marry you.’
    The words felt good. Honest. Real. They felt like Lily again, even if they hurt.
    Now she just had to find the courage to say them to his face.
    * * * *
    Cora was waiting at the kitchen window when Alex pulled up at the cottage, but it was Rhys who opened the door.
    ‘You’re in trouble, mate,’ he said, pressing a glass of wine into Alex’s hand. ‘You’re just lucky she’s making pasta.’
    ‘In my defence,’ Alex said, ‘I was working. And helping out her friend.’ Although given how scared Lily had looked when she’d left, he wasn’t sure how much of a help he’d really been.
    ‘Yeah? Well, save the story for the dinner table. You’ll need it to get back in her good books.’ Rhys ushered him down the hallway.
    ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ Alex said, as soon as he stepped foot in the kitchen. ‘I got tied up at work.’
    ‘That excuse is less valid now you’re self-employed, you know,’ Cora replied. ‘I’m just putting the pasta on now. Lucky for you the sauce isn’t ruined.’
    ‘I’m sure it’ll be delicious.’
    Cora’s face grew a little less stern. ‘Go sit at the table.’
    How was it, Alex wondered, that he always felt like a small boy around his younger cousin?
    Ten minutes later, once she’d ensured that everyone had wine, pasta and salad in appropriate quantities, Cora turned her gaze on Alex with a determined look that reminded him of his mother.
    ‘So. What were you working on that made you so late?’
    Alex took a breath. He had to tell her. He’d planned on taking it slower, easing people into the idea, once they saw that he could make a viable living. But things were moving too fast. If he got the space at the Mill, it would be all over town in moments. And Cora deserved to know first.
    ‘I was with Lily,’ he started, but didn’t get the chance to go any further.
    Cora dropped her fork to her bowl and scowled at him. ‘Alex. I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I’m telling you now. Leave my friend alone. She’s engaged to be married, if you hadn’t noticed. And this isn’t the City, with a pool of willing women, just waiting for their chance with you.’
    Alex blinked at her in surprise. ‘Working, Cora. Working with Lily.’
    She brandished a piece of garlic bread at him. ‘Nice try. But I happen to know that Edward does her accounts. She doesn’t need you, and you don’t need to start falling back into bad habits. I know you, Alex. You can barely talk to a woman without flirting. You say you want to settle down here, fine. Then find someone who isn’t engaged to have lunch with.’
    Cora’s lack of faith in him stung, and he could feel his temper rising, hot in his chest. Did she really think he’d moved all the way back here just to keep living his old life? He’d told her he wanted something new, something different for his future. But apparently she