The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club (29 page)

My breathing became erratic and I could feel my heart hammering against my ribcage in a bid to escape.

‘I can't, Rose. People like me don't take chances. We make logical decisions, we weigh up the pros and cons and we always do the right thing. I… I can't throw away everything I've worked for, I just can't! Thank you for everything and I'll really miss you, but there's no way I can stay.'

I ran out of the room before Rose could say anything else to convince me to stay. The plan was set: I was going back to Glasgow.

So why didn't I feel happy about it?

Chapter 29

Saying my final goodbyes was unbelievably hard. I had to try and hold it together while Rose, Noah, Dixie, Jake, Lucy, Diane and the breakfast club members gathered to wave me off. I made it through the parade of hugs and promises to visit without crying, but as soon as I got into Cilla and backed out of Sunflower Cottage's driveway, the tears began to fall. My heart pulled me back to the B&B, but I ignored the incessant pleas. I was doing the right thing, like I always did. In the rear-view mirror, I saw Noah staring after me. Half of me wanted him to chase down the car and make a last-ditch attempt to get me to stay.

He didn't.

*

Glasgow was a rainy, grey smudge when I got back. The summery weather from Luna Bay hadn't reached this far north; instead, my favourite city in the world was cloaked in grey clouds and rain puddles.

‘Ah,' I said to the sat-nav, my only company in the car. ‘Home sweet home!'

My first port of call was my parents' home. It felt strange walking in after the revelation that had turned my world upside down, but I didn't feel apprehensive about seeing my mum and dad. Instead, I was looking forward to it.

‘You're back!' Mum's voice was a screech as she ran into the hall to greet me. ‘Welcome home, darling!'

She threw her arms around me and I found myself in one of her boa-constrictor hugs.

‘Can't… breathe…' I eked out. ‘Let… go…!'

She released her vice-like grip and I took in great lungfuls of air to get my breath back.

‘Look who it is.'

I would have recognised that voice anywhere: Dad. I looked up and saw him leaning against the living room doorframe.

‘Hiya, Dad!' Saying that word didn't feel weird like it had when I'd first found out about Derek. Now it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Here was the man who'd been there for every great life moment; he was the very definition of the word ‘dad'.

He ruffled my hair and smiled at me. ‘How was Yorkshire? Was the journey back up OK?'

Hearing him talk about normal everyday things was music to my ears. Any anger I'd felt towards him for writing back to Diane on my behalf melted away in an instant. He'd had his reasons for it, all of which I completely understood.

‘Yorkshire was amazing, thanks. The little village I was staying in, Luna Bay, was just adorable. You'd love it there, Dad. The journey back up was OK; didn't get too much traffic and there were no road closures.'

‘You have to sit down and tell us
everything
that happened,' Mum insisted, directing me to the living room.

I could see a full tea tray filled with cakes and sandwiches waiting for me. Although I still had a lot to get my head around, I had the greatest parents in the world. Our relationship had taken a fair beating, but I was confident we'd be absolutely fine.

*

Soon, I settled back into my old routine. Work, then cocktails with Frankie, followed by more work when I got home. Every trace of the ‘me' from Luna Bay had been wiped clean. I went back to drinking green smoothies, working too much and stressing over things that didn't really matter. In short, my life was no different than it had been before I'd left.

Yet it was. It was different in a million tiny ways that nobody could see but me. Nobody noticed the wince I took every time I drank one of my green smoothies. Nobody caught on to the fact that I now spent most of my days gazing out of the window, my heart and mind firmly rooted in Luna Bay. And I was pretty certain nobody noticed that Noah occupied my every waking thought. The voice in the back of my mind had turned from a whisper to a scream; something had to be done because the life I was living wasn't the one that would make me happy.

The day I decided to change things was quite an ordinary one. I was listening to Frankie's tale of woe about an Italian waiter called Luca who was ‘an amazing shag' but totally lacking in the commitment department. I nodded along and said ‘I understand' in all the right places, but my mind kept pulling me back to Luna Bay. To the time Noah kissed me while I was telling him about Derek and the first time we made breakfast together. To the breakfast club members and their funny, unique traits that made me excited for Monday mornings. To Diane, who'd been so kind to me after finding out I was Derek's daughter. To the gorgeous little place that wouldn't let me go no matter how much I tried to stop thinking about it.

‘…Life's just too bloody short, isn't it? I should dump him, I think.'

I snapped my head round to her. ‘What did you say?'

‘That I should dump him?' Frankie repeated.

‘No, no,' I said urgently. ‘Before that.'

She frowned, looking at me like I'd just sprouted another head or something.

‘That life's too short?'

‘Yes, it bloody well is!' I got up from my desk and marched straight over to Paul's office, throwing the door wide open. He was sitting in his chair with Tara on his lap.

‘Do you mind?' Her voice dripped with venom. ‘We're having a meeting.'

‘Is that what you're calling it these days?' I replied with a sweet smile. ‘Paul, I need a word.'

‘What now?' he groaned, shoving Tara off his lap. ‘It's not another one of your daft crusades, is it? Do you have any idea how difficult it was to find a new site for that bloody resort?'

‘You did the right thing and the bosses will likely show their gratitude in your bonus,' I reminded him.

I waited until Tara left the room before dropping my bombshell. ‘Paul, I quit.'

His face turned white with shock. ‘You what? But you've only just come back! Y… you got the promotion you wanted, didn't you?'

I nodded, feeling happiness rise throughout my whole body and making every inch of me glow. ‘Yup, but this isn't the life I want anymore. I figured a lot of things out while I was away; namely that I don't want to work for a man who'd happily screw over an entire community to line his own pockets. Consider this my last day, Paul. I'm leaving Walter Marshall for good.'

Leaving him open-mouthed and shell-shocked, I waltzed out of his office feeling as though I was floating on air. My next stop was my desk to pick up my stuff.

‘Where are you going?' Frankie asked. ‘Don't tell me Paul sacked you?!'

‘Nope, I'm leaving. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do yet, but I don't want to work here anymore. About that Luca bloke, you deserve a hell of a lot better than someone who nicknames his penis El Diablo, which is Spanish by the way, and whose idea of a good time is showing you the numerous selfies on his Instagram account. You're worth so much more than that, Frankie, so don't settle for anything less than what you deserve.'

I gave her a quick hug then stepped out onto the busy Glasgow street. All of a sudden, the world was laid out in front of me. I could go anywhere and do anything I wanted. I had unlimited choices and felt freer than ever.

But there was only one place in the world I wanted to go to: Luna Bay. I was preparing to go home, pack all my belongings into Cilla and take off when an approaching figure stopped me.

Noah.

What was he doing in Glasgow?! How had he found me? Those questions evaporated as soon as he reached me, thanks to the huge, lopsided grin on his face.

‘Hiya,' he said, gazing down at me.

‘What… How…?' Words completely failed me. I couldn't believe he was standing in front of me. It felt like a ridiculously amazing dream.

‘Wow, I've managed to make Emily Reed speechless! My life is complete!' He let out a deep, throaty chuckle. ‘I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here?'

I nodded, still unable to utter a sentence.

‘I was in Luna Bay, completely devastated because you left, and it hit me: I had to come up to Glasgow and find you, see if there was a chance for us. I looked up where Walter Marshall Hotels' office was, jumped in my car and drove. I know I could've driven two hundred miles for you to tell me to piss off, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. You're everything to me, Emily, even if I haven't always acted like it. You've turned my world upside down and then some, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I want to wake up next to you every morning, cook breakfast with you, make you laugh. I know you've got your life here and if you're happy then I'll leave, but if you're feeling even a tenth of the way I do then—'

I stole the rest of his words by pulling him in for a passionate kiss. I delighted at the way our tongues danced together, at the way my skin shivered with his touch. The feeling of his lips on mine was the most perfect one I'd ever known. He wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to him and holding me tight.

‘So I'll take that as a yes then?' He grinned when our lips parted.

‘I just quit my job. I was about to come and find you, actually; I realised I don't want the life I'm living. I want
you
and I want to be in Luna Bay. I've played it safe my whole life and I don't want to do that anymore, Noah. I'm ready to take a chance if you are.'

He looked down at me with pure adoration in his eyes. ‘I was born ready.'

Looking for more from Luna Bay?

Turn the page for the first chapter from
The Broken Hearts Book Club
…

Chapter One

There are worse things you can do than spontaneously burst into song at your nana's funeral.

I can't think of what those things might be, but I'm sure there must be some.

At least I'd chosen to belt out a classic –
Big Yellow Taxi
– although I definitely sounded more like Peggy Mitchell than Joni Mitchell. I'd been up giving a eulogy about my Nana Lily, who'd recently passed away, and had come to the part where I said ‘you don't know what you've got till it's gone.' The rest of the lyrics followed – with surprising accuracy, I might add – before I had a chance to stop myself.

I gave the final chorus everything I had (which, admittedly, wasn't much) then
took a bow
. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I
bowed
. The stunned congregation who'd come to say goodbye to my Nana Lily stared open-mouthed at me, shocked at the assault their eardrums had just taken. A few polite people clapped uncertainly, most just whispered amongst themselves. I guessed they were wondering which loony bin I'd been released from.

As my cheeks flushed crimson, I scurried to my pew and sat next to my mum and dad, who were desperately trying to suppress smiles.

‘What did you think?' I asked, dreading the answer.

Dad didn't reply right away. A noise that sounded like a mouse being strangled escaped from his mouth as he tried to get his giggles under control.

‘It was … different, Lucy. I think Nana Lily would've loved it anyway!' Mum said, trying her best to look sombre and serious and failing miserably.

She shook her head and hid her face behind her hymn book so people wouldn't see her laughing at her own mother's funeral. It didn't matter really, since about half the people in St Luke's Church were now doing the same thing.

Well done Lucy, you absolute banana.

I shuffled down in the pew and screwed my eyes tightly shut. My best friend and flatmate George put his arm round me and gave my shoulder a supportive squeeze.

‘Oh Lucy, you're such a daft little hedgehog,' he said. His lush accent came straight from the Welsh Valleys and was my favourite sound in the world.

I shouldn't even have been here. I'd left this place behind a long time ago and for a very good reason. Now here I was, back in my old hometown of Luna Bay, Yorkshire, and faced with everything I'd spent eight years running from. George had come for moral support and to make sure I actually turned up.

‘Don't want you running off to become a sheep farmer in Scotland, do I? I need to keep you around to stop me from making terrible life choices,' he'd said.

Once upon a time, my life had been perfect. OK, so not
quite
perfect but pretty darn amazing nonetheless. Then last week happened. I'd been assigned a wealthy man's fiftieth birthday party and everything had gone horribly wrong. He'd been having a secret affair with a twenty-five-year-old Australian lady named Cynthia and the whole party learned about it in pretty spectacular style. When I'd been off fetching Mr Marshall to do his birthday speech, she'd switched a montage of his finest moments for a video of them having noisy sex in a grungy motel off the M25.

Naturally, my boss Helen hadn't been amused.

‘He's talking about suing us, you know. He isn't a happy man,' she'd said as we'd sat in her office the following morning.

‘In my defence, I couldn't have known Cynthia was part of the waiting staff at his birthday party,' I'd replied. ‘I think he was just as surprised by that as I was; he thought she was a dental hygienist. You know, I was a bit surprised he chose a grotty motel to have an affair in. With the money he makes, he could've at least sprung for a Best Western.'

My fate had been sealed after that. Through gritted teeth, Helen had said that while I was good at aspects of my job – creative, intelligent and good with people – I was also a walking disaster when it came to being organised and seemed to attract chaos wherever I went.