Page 60 of One Last Thing
‘Are you okay?’ he asks.
‘Yes, fine, fine,’ I assure him, clearing my throat and fixing a smile. ‘Sorry, you were saying about your girlfriend?’
‘Ex-girlfriend,’ he clarifies and my heart lifts again. ‘She had never been here so she didn’t understand why it was so special. What it meant to me. I told her it was my home.’
‘I can’t imagine you anywhere else to be honest,’ I say and he smiles gratefully at me, as though I’ve backed up a theory of his. ‘So, she didn’t come with you.’
He shakes his head. ‘No. It was sad. But she wouldn’t make that change for me and I wouldn’t turn down the chance for her. We realised then that it was not meant to be. It was hard to accept because we’d been happy. It wasn’t enough, though.’
I nod in understanding. ‘Sure. It’s never easy to accept when something has to end.’
‘I think when it’s the real thing, neither of you accept that. That’s the difference.’
Forcing myself to look at him, I smile warmly. ‘I think you’re probably right.’
We pause to both have a drink.
‘So are you seeing anyone now?’ I ask, avoiding eye contact in the hope that doing so makes it seem like a casual question that just popped into my brain. ‘Someone who gets how much the chateau means to you.’
‘No, not recently. What about you?’
I shake my head. ‘Not since . . .’
When I trail off, he finishes the sentence, ‘The ex-fiancé.’
‘Yep. Dominic.’
‘What was he like? Is that okay to ask?’
I shoot him a knowing look. ‘Oh please. Like my dad didn’t tell you all about him.’
Nico’s expression relaxes into a smile. ‘He didn’t say much, I promise!’
‘I don’t believe you. Come on, Nico, my dad brought you in to organise his dying wishes for him, so I’m not going to let you sit there and pretend as though he didn’t tell youexactlywhat happened between me and Dominic.’
He tips his head back to laugh, that warm fluttering flooding through my veins at his dimpled smile. ‘He didn’t. I swear.’
I sigh dramatically, before giving in. ‘Okay, what was Dominic like. Um, he was . . . really smart. A very intelligent guy. But not patronising. He was a bit older than me. Successful and pretty suave, you know, sophisticated. Charming. He was fun to be around. I think I was funnier than him, though—’
‘You were definitely funnier than him,’ Nico states, having never met him.
‘Yeah,’ I say with a grin that starts to fade as I go on. ‘But, no, he was . . . I mean, he had his moments, like everyone does. He could be a bit wrapped up in himself, a bit too obsessed with his own ambition, you know, like a horse with blinkers, but I’ve always thought that about me so I couldn’t hold that against him. Anyway, I did love him. But—’ I swirl the liquid around my glass, studying it intently‘—it had to end.’
Nico is watching me carefully. ‘And it was for the best?’
‘Oh yeah, definitely,’ I say after taking a swig from my glass, nodding firmly. ‘I wasn’t sure at the time, but time heals.’
‘Yes. You learn to smile again.’
‘Exactly.’ I shift in my seat. ‘It was for the best. Just like you. Seriously, you were meant to be here running the show—’ he smiles bashfully‘—you’re making your mark! You’ll make it even more successful.’
‘I hope so. A bit of modernisation, put some money into it, some good marketing . . .’
‘You’re even doing the black-tie ball you wanted to do.’
My cheeks flush at my own mention of the ball.
In a flash, I see him next to me on the dusty ballroom floor, his head tipped back against the wall as he talks about the end of summer, my eyes running along the smooth curve of his neck, wishing I could kiss him there. God, will we ever talk about that night? Or is it better to leave it in the past? I want to laugh about it. Then the awkwardness disappears. This is something that happened when I was fifteen. It’s years ago! Maybe I’ll bring it up so I can laugh about it. He’ll want to laugh about it too; he might not even remember it. Or he’ll probably remember it but not think it’s a big deal. Like he’s probably not thinking about it right now like I am. So it would be good to laugh about it.
