Free When Love Knocks Twice (A Contemporary Love Story) by G I Tulloch Page A

happiness, isn't it?”
Tom reached out and wiped away a tear from her cheek with his thumb.
    “ Hell,”
exclaimed Gail. “You spend most of your life bringing up your
family to be independent, and once they are, you find you're still
tied to them.”
    “ The
parenting conundrum,” suggested Tom.
    “ Oh
God, I wish I knew what to do for the best,” exclaimed Gail.
“One part of me wants to turn my life upside down, move in with
you, marry you or whatever. Start the next chapter of my life without
the baggage from the past. The other part doesn't want to give up
what I do treasure.”
    Tom,
stunned by her outburst, was completely speechless.
    Gail
turned to look at him. “There, you see. I've shocked you, and I
suppose that was the part of me that wanted to come up here with you.
The part that wants to kick over the old traces and move on, and to
hell with what other people think.”
    “ If
only life were that simple,” conceded Tom.
    “ I
don't want this week to stop,” declared Gail. “That's the
bottom line I think. It's got me out of the rut that I don't want to
sink back into.”
    “ And
I've been the bonus?” suggested Tom.
    “ You
silly man,” accused Gail. “You are the reason. The
holiday is the bonus.”
    “ So,
where do we go from here?” asked Tom.
    “ Hey,
that's my line. Find your own difficult question to ask.”
    “ Well,
we have to leave Skye that's for sure.”
    “ Shame,”
protested Gail. “ But you will stay with me on your way south,
won't you?”
    “ Yes,
I'll break the journey at your place. That is, if you don't mind,”
agreed Tom.
    “ Of
course I don't mind. I insist.”
    By
this point they were sitting in what passed for darkness at that time
of year. Tom started the car and they moved off down the coast,
headlights picking out the sheep grazing on the roadside verges.
    As
they eventually pulled up outside the cottage, Tom killed the engine
but neither of them made an immediate move to get out of the car, as
if some train of words or deeds might be broken by such an action.
    “ You
know,” started Tom, hesitantly . “I love having you
around and I think I will miss you chronically when you're not there.
Come to that I think I don't want to miss you at all.”
    “ I
know how you feel. Come on. Today is today, let tomorrow take care of
itself.”

    That
night in bed, as they lay with half-packed suitcases around them,
they hugged more tightly to each other, as if increasing the
intensity would somehow combat the threat of impending loneliness.

Saturday

    The
dawn was masked in grey, the mountain peaks occluded by cloud, and
there was rain in the air. They made an early start to packing up,
which virtually meant throwing in their night things. Breakfast was a
bizarre mixture of odds and sods, clearing out the fridge of
left-overs. By seven thirty they were ready to pack the car, and yet
reluctant to make a start. Gail took photographs of the inside of the
cottage with her mobile phone, careful to avoid getting the suitcases
in shot.
    “ I
want something to remember it by,” she declared, in answer to
Tom's raised eyebrows.
    Finally
they loaded the suitcases into the car, along with the remaining food
and those odd things that one always seemed to accumulate while away
on holiday. They had no sooner climbed into the car than the rain
started, a heavy drizzle. Before Tom had a chance to start the car,
Gail made a last plea.
    “ Let's
not go.”
    “ What?”
    “ Let's
not go. We can find somewhere to stay I'm sure. I don't want to
leave.”
    Tom
gave her a very funny look, so she continued. “Okay, I'm not
being rational, I'm not being sensible. You'd better start the car
before I get out.”
    So
he did.
    Half
an hour later, as they came off the bridge onto the mainland with
hardly a word spoken, Tom appeared to remember something.
    “ Did
you turn off the gas bottle before we left?”
“Yes. Did
you check under the bed for anything we might have left?”
    “