Page 143 of Escape to the Country

Chapter 52

Eleanor woke up to find herself in the woods, surrounded by soft cushions and birdsong but no Tom. She sighed to herself in the soft morning light. Was that true what she had felt last night? Did she love him? But as she stared up at the sky high above the trees, she realised she did.

She was totally and utterly in love with Tom. She had never felt like this before about anyone. Any past loves had been fleeting and slight. This was all-encompassing.

She found she couldn’t stop smiling as she realised that Tom was now standing next to the blanket, facing the river.

‘Good morning,’ she said, her voice husky.

But when he spun round, he was holding his phone and staring at her with hard eyes, his face white with shock.

‘What’s the matter?’ she gasped. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Is this you?’ he said. ‘Is this really you?’

She finally registered that he was holding up the screen to that she could see it.

‘I’m plastered all over the front page ofHot Gossip!Magazine,’ he told her. ‘That is the one you work for, isn’t it? At least, that’s what the story says.’

‘No, I…’ she began.

But he was too cross to listen. ‘You lied to me. It says here that you’re a journalist. And not for some money magazine.’

She groaned, shaking her head. ‘No. I’m not,’ she told him with a sigh. ‘Well, yes, I was but I left a long time ago.’

But he wasn’t listening. ‘Is this what all this was about? Did you sleep with me just for the story?’

‘No! Of course not!’ she told him, desperate for him to believe her. ‘I don’t know anything about a story. I haven’t written anything about you.’

‘Is your real name Eleanor?’ he asked.

He looked so furious, with eyes so full of hatred that she was shocked.

‘Yes, of course it is,’ she replied.

‘And you never gave them a story about me?’ He was looking at her as if she was the lowest possible lifeform.

She sat up, knowing that she had to tell him the truth. ‘That was the idea at first,’ she told him. ‘But then you weren’t what I expected at all. None of this was. And I stopped it, a long time ago because I fell in love with you.…’ She gulped. ‘I love you.’

Finally, for the first time since her father had walked out, she was able to say it. She thought the words would be hard to say. But the fact that it felt so right meant that she believed every word. She truly loved Tom.

She wanted so much to hear him say that he loved her too. But instead, he snatched the phone from her.

‘You’re lying. It’s all lies.’

‘No! It’s not,’ she said, quickly getting up to grab hold of his arms. ‘I really do. I love you, Tom. You have to believe me.’

‘Of course I don’t believe you!’ he shouted at her. ‘I should never have trusted you. Just go. Leave. Go on, get out of here.’

But she stood still. She couldn’t leave him. Not like this. Not when she loved him so much. ‘No, Tom, I…’

‘Fine,’ he finally snapped. ‘If you won’t leave then I will.’

He stormed off through the woods, marching away from her and taking her heart with him.

For a second, she just stood there, reeling from all that had happened.

And then she sank onto the ground, crying for the love that she had briefly shared and just lost.