When you put your mind to it, it was amazing how easy it could be to avoid somebody.
Ever since her meeting with Ben at Watermark cards and her surprise meeting with Guy in the department store, Lucy had been steadfastly avoiding him. That had been almost three weeks ago now.
She had a strange mix of emotions about the whole incident. First there had been her excitement over the commission she had just landed. Why had it felt so good and so right to tell Guy about it?
Then there was the kiss. Every time Lucy thought about that, her stomach swooped. But then there had been the woman, calling him darling, beckoning him over to her with a hand that housed a big, fat diamond engagement ring.
Lucy sighed heavily, put down her pencil and looked at her work. She was working on an illustration of Suzy the Sheep in the rain – fitting given today’s weather. Big fat droplets of rain rolled down the windows and a brisk wind howled around the cottage. It was no good. She just couldn’t get her pictures to work today. Her mind kept wandering off in one particular direction, posing questions, answering the questions and becoming more and more confused. It was almost impossible to inject humour into her work when she felt like this.
Padding into the kitchen, Lucy flicked on the kettle for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She leaned against the worktop as she waited for it to boil and turned over the same question in her mind. Who was that woman? The question led her to more questions: was she guy’s fiancée? Why had he kissed her? And, most importantly, why did his relationship with this woman matter to her so much? Of course, she knew the answer, but she’d been avoiding it for so long.
The truth was that she felt guilty about Ben – guilty that falling in love with somebody else meant that she had never loved him in the first place. The horror of that thought had caused her to deny the truth of the matter for months now. The fact was that yes, she was in love with Guy. She had known it long before she was ready to admit it. Their recent kiss had cemented it, making her realise that her feelings of friendship towards him were actually much more than that. The trouble was where did they go from here?
Before the water had chance to boil, Lucy leaned over and flicked off the kettle. She checked the time and decided that instead of waiting for Jack to come home on the School Bus as he had been doing for the past three weeks, she’d go and meet him. It would also give her a chance to speak to Guy. It was about time she confronted him once and for all, otherwise it would never be sorted out. She wasn’t the only one who had been using avoidance tactics. In the three weeks since he’d kissed her, he hadn’t phoned, texted or visited her at all.
Grabbing her coat and umbrella in order to arm herself against the weather, Lucy began to feel better about things. It was pointless moping about the house, worrying over ifs and maybes. She needed to know who this woman was and, if she did happen to be Guy’s fiancé, then she wanted some answers about why he thought it was appropriate to kiss her in the make up section of a department store. If it turned out she wasn’t his partner….well, what then? Lucy’s heart skipped a beat just thinking about it.
She hadn’t noticed the car pulling into the drive, so when there was a knock at the door, it took her completely by surprise. She quickly checked her watch and tutted to herself. She didn’t have time for vistors. She needed to be at school for the end of the day otherwise Jack would catch the school bus and she’d miss Guy. She needed to see him while she was feeling brave enough.
Lucy pulled open the heavy door to the cottage and let out an involuntary gasp. Of all the people who could have visited, she never would have put money on it being this person. How did they know where she lived? There was no mistaking that big fat diamond solitaire ring, which, even now, in the overcast and gloomy light, seemed to glint at her defiantly.
Lucy looked at the woman on her doorstep becoming wetter and wetter as the rain poured down on her. Taking a deep breath and moving to the side to allow her in, Lucy invited the woman into her home.
