Page 85 of The Summer Escape

“I think I need an early night too,” Beth said. That probably wouldn’t happen though, since Dee was coming over later to catch up and celebrate the kids being back at school.

By the time Beth had battled to get Ellie settled, she was happy to have Dee to drink wine with and vent about how difficult Ellie had been.

“All kids are the same after the summer holidays,” Dee said, reclining back on the couch. “She just needs time to adjust. Ferne’s been the same this afternoon. Everything I did or said was wrong. She was still wide awake when I left. Hugh’s going to have a frustrating evening with her no doubt.”

“How are things with Hugh now?” Beth took a long sip of wine and set her glass on the coffee table.

“Okay. He’s been coming over more.” She shook her head. “He’s not moving back in, that’s for sure, but it’s kind of nice having him around.”

“That’s good.”

“Have you spoken to Trystan since you got back?”

“No.”

Dee scrunched her nose up. “Why not?”

“Because I think it’s probably better if we leave what we had as a nice holiday thing and not try and drag it out to something more than that.”

“So you haven’t had so much as a message from him?”

“No.” Beth stared into her wine. “But…”

“But what?”

She shrugged. “I promised I’d message him to let him know we got home okay … but I messaged his mum instead.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew that if I messaged him, messaging him would become a thing. Then messaging would turn into phone calls and phone calls would lead to him coming to visit us.”

“I take it he was keen to keep seeing you then?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an idiot. You realise that right?”

“I have Ellie to think about. Having Trystan show up every now and again will confuse her.”

“No, it won’t.” Dee rolled her eyes. “If you explain that Trystan lives in London and can’t be here all the time, Ellie will absolutely understand that.”

“It’s completely unrealistic to think we can maintain a long-distance relationship.” Beth rested her elbow on the arm of the chair. “Especially since my life is exactly what he didn’t want with his ex. He doesn’t want to settle down and have a family. Which is what he’d be getting with me. I miss him like crazy, but that will fade.”

“Or maybe it won’t.” Dee flashed her a smug smile. “You might miss him forever and spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been.”

“He hasn’t even messaged me anyway. He’s probably forgotten all about me already.” She reached out to give Dee’s leg a playful slap. “Stop rolling your eyes at me.”

“Stop saying stupid things then!”

“Let’s not talk about Trystan. I need to stop thinking about him and settle back to real life.” She curled her lip. “Figuring out what I’m going to do for work would be a more productive use of my mental energy.”

“I thought you could afford to take some time off. You said you could easily take the rest of the year off …”

“I can, but watching my savings dwindle isn’t exactly fun. Besides, I need something to occupy my mind.”

“So set up a website with your new services and start advertising.”

“What are my services going to be though?”