Page 71 of Ask Another Day

Before closing time, Holly had slowly made her way over to Rose and presented her with Seb’s redundant replacement birthday present. She’d been so sceptical of how Holly had been using it for all these years, but she had to admit there was something intriguing about this portable fortune teller.

‘Holly gave it to me - it tells you the future.’

Luke’s gentle laughter tickled her neck causing her to giggle.

‘Holly was obsessed with those growing up. Would play with them whenever she saw one in a shop.’

‘Why didn’t she just buy one?’

Luke’s brow furrowed as he thought about Rose’s question. ‘Do you know, I don’t know. Mum and Dad were always careful with money growing up, so I guess it felt too frivolous to buy herself something like that.’

The slamming of the coffee shop’s door drew their attention to the street below, and Rose was surprised to see Tony fumbling with his car keys before getting into his Daewoo and speeding away. Seconds later, the door clattered open again and Lucy stepped outside, tears streaming down her face.

‘That doesn’t look good.’ Luke said.

‘Holly told me Lucy moved back in to help him with the cafe. I was hoping they’d found their way to a new understanding.’

‘Lucy has always tried to keep everyone happy. We weren’t close at school, but we had some shared friends. When she moved away to Bristol, for her job, I think that was the first time I can remember her putting herself first.’

‘Sad that the one time she did it, it didn’t work out.’

Luke nodded, his gaze following the route Lucy had now taken towards the beach.

‘Do you think we should go and check on her?’ Rose asked.

‘No, I think we should go to bed.’ Luke peppered teasing kisses down her neck.

‘Should I listen to Luke?’ Rose asked the little plastic cube, to a groan from him.

As she made out the words All Signs Lead to Yes, the cube was flicked out of her hand and tumbled to the floor.

‘Hey–’ Rose was interrupted by Luke’s lips on hers, and she forgot all about the question she’d asked.

Epilogue

Ten Minutes Earlier

Lucy was woken from a fitful sleep in the spare room to noises from the cafe below. She quietly made her way downstairs, hoping it was Tony she could hear. She was right. There in the cafe, she found him with their divorce papers strewn across the counter. Tony was working his way through each one, scribbling his signature at each little blue tab. He must have heard her approach because he turned to look at her as she stood in the doorway.

‘I’m sorry I wasn’t enough,’ he bit out through his tears as he signed his name on the final page.

‘Tony, I told you. This wasn’t your fault. We’ve grown apart.’ She’d meant the words to be comforting, but as soon as she’d said them, she knew they’d missed their mark.

‘You didn’t want to go for, It’s not you, it’s me?’

Lucy refused to be drawn into another argument. Not when he was already clearly distraught. But her silence seemed to cause him further anguish.

With a look that would haunt Lucy, he strode with conviction to the door, unlocking it and flinging it open before she could process what he was doing. When the door clattered shut, she took a couple of seconds to breathe deeply before following him. But all she found was a deserted street, shadowed in the darkness of midnight.

Instead of heading back into the cafe, her steps took her down to the beach. In the darkness of the deserted street, Lucy tried to process what had happened. She’d never seen Tony like he had been just now. But he’d been behaving oddly for weeks. When she moved back in, to help him as he’d asked, his lies about the cafe not doing well had quickly come to light. If anything, the cafe was doing brilliantly. Tony’s collaboration with The Book Nook had been beneficial for both shops. The summer months had been strong and when Lucy had looked over the books, it was immediately clear he’d misled her.

Earlier that evening, she’d confronted him about it. He didn’t even apologise - apparently missing her, excused his lies. Lucy had fled the cafe, seeking solace in the pub that had been her sanctuary for the last few months. But when she’d stumbled through those doors, she’d been mortified at interrupting Holly and Seb. As soon as she’d come to her senses, she’d gone straight back to the cafe.

That had been a mistake.

Tony had thought she’d changed her mind. He had thought she still wanted to continue their conversation - to try and make things work. The conversation played back in her mind as she made her way to the beach.

‘Lucy–’