Page 15 of Hooked On The One That Got Away (Miss Lovelock’s Agency for Broken Hearts #3)
Chapter Fifteen
After a million years of fierce, hungry kissing, Charlie paused, and against Willow’s mouth, murmured, ‘I think we might be breaching a few bylaws. Ones relating to public indecency.’
Willow glanced around and saw several tut-tutting glares. Mainly from older folk who made a hobby of tut-tutting, but still, Charlie had a point. She released him and stepped back a fraction. To her surprise, the bunch of irises was still in her hand and still intact.
‘Nice flowers,’ said Charlie. He was holding the cake stall paper bag in front of his groin. Casually trying to conceal evidence of what had been serious hard-on, Willow noted with a smile. She also noted that the bag was somewhat – squashed.
Charlie glanced down. ‘Yes, it seems we flattened my brownie. And now it’s forced to become my modesty shield. It deserves better.’
‘Was it the peanut-butter stuffed brownie?’ Willow asked, though she already knew the answer.
‘I couldn’t decide between it and the banoffee slice,’ Charlie said. ‘But I could sense people getting antsy behind me, so I went for the brownie even though it’s way too big for one person.’
‘We could share it?’ Willow suggested. ‘Back at my place?’
‘Oh, god.’ Charlie threw her a helpless look. ‘Willow, are you sure?’
‘No …’ Willow admitted. It wasn’t right to lie, no matter how much she wanted him. She didn’t want there to be any secrets between them ever again.
‘No,’ Charlie confirmed, softly.
He bent his head and touched his forehead to hers. ‘Let’s go take a walk. Somewhere, anywhere. We don’t even have to talk to each other. Let’s just – be together for a while.’
Willow slipped her hand in his. ‘I still want some of that brownie.’
‘Goes without saying,’ said Charlie. ‘Come on, let’s wander.’
It wasn’t far from the market to the river path. It was extra busy today – there was some kind of ultra-marathon on, and runners who looked as if they had regrets were slogging up from the north end. Charlie and Willow spotted a cheery sign that said, Only eight miles to go!
‘Poor bastards,’ said Charlie. ‘Those last eight miles are going to feel like eight hundred.’
‘That sounds like the voice of experience,’ Willow said, curious. Charlie before had played weekend football and ridden his bicycle. He’d hated running.
He screwed up his mouth in a wry smile. ‘It was the easiest way to keep fit,’ he told her. ‘And I turned out to be good at it. Who knew?’
That explained his present leanness, thought Willow.
It didn’t explain anything else, like where he’d been, how he’d lived, who he’d lived with , why he’d come back and the million-dollar question – why he’d left in the first place.
But Willow was strangely content to let that unfold in its own good time.
Strolling along beside the river, Charlie’s warm hand in hers, their bodies close, was all she needed right now.
She smiled up at him, and as he smiled back, she saw there were still hollows in his cheeks and dark rings under his eyes. He noticed her frown of concern.
‘I’m okay,’ he said. ‘I’m exhausted , but I’m okay.’
And before she could protest or interrogate, he kissed her again, softly this time. Met her questioning gaze with another wry smile.
‘I promised I’d tell you everything soon,’ he said. ‘But how about I tell you what I can now? Or I could just get down on my knees and grovel?’
‘Maeve said you owed me a Kohinoor Diamond-sized apology,’ Willow told him. ‘That’s a lot of grovelling. Hope your knees are up for it.’
‘How is Maeve?’ said Charlie, with a grin. ‘Or do I not want to know?’
‘Pursuing a barman with attitude and possibly demonic powers.’
‘Well, she sold her soul when she joined the advertising agency,’ said Charlie. ‘Sounds like they’re perfectly suited.’
Another group of runners sweated and puffed past them.
‘The end is in sight,’ Charlie murmured, watching them go. ‘Even though it still seems a million miles away.’
With a quick intake of breath, he turned to Willow, squeezed her hand. ‘Shall we go find a quiet place to sit? If we can?’
As he spoke, two swans floated by close to the riverbank, looking serene and not at all homicidal. One turned its long neck and, Willow could have sworn, stared right at her with its bright black eyes.
‘They mate for life, you know,’ said Charlie, following her gaze.
‘I do know,’ said Willow. ‘They also, quite frankly, scare the shit out of me.’ She tugged on his hand. ‘Come on. I think I know where we can go.’
Willow led Charlie to the park bench she’d sat on to eat ice cream and cry. Given it was a summer Saturday morning, every bench should have been taken, but Willow had never doubted that this one would be free.
‘Why is no one sitting here?’ Charlie peered at the bench surface, suspicious. ‘Fresh paint? Bird shit? Whoopie cushion?’
‘Luck.’ Willow sat and patted the bench beside her. ‘It’s our lucky day.’
Charlie’s face lit up. It was the first time Willow had seen him smile properly, and his new leanness, she was delighted to see, hadn’t got rid of the dimple. He sat and put an arm around her shoulders, dropped a kiss on her hair, and leaned against her with a sigh.
‘It’s weird, you know,’ he said. ‘I had no plans to visit the market. I was headed to the Tesco Metro to buy milk but on the way this woman on one of those cargo bikes screeched to a halt and shoved a leaflet for the market at me. She basically insinuated that I’d be run out of town if I didn’t support my local producers.
So, while she glared at me, off I went.’
‘What colour eyes did she have?’ Willow asked.
‘Eyes?’ Charlie thought about it. ‘I don’t know. She was wearing sunglasses. Why?’
‘No reason,’ Willow replied. Not a rational one, anyway.
Charlie pulled her to him and buried his face in her hair. ‘God, I’ve missed you,’ he breathed. ‘Every minute without you has been utter hell.’
‘Then why did you leave , Charlie?’ was Willow’s heartfelt, urgent question. ‘ Why?’
Slowly, Charlie released her and sat up. He leaned forward, rested his forearms on his thighs and pressed his palms together, as if asking a higher power for strength.
‘I’ll tell you what I can,’ he said.