Page 37 of The Perfect Gift

Frankie didn’t take his hand for fear the tears would come again. She’d cried too much in front of this man as it was. She did accept his request to talk though, brushing past him and taking her seat at the kitchen table once more.

‘It must’ve hurt your feelings when the girls didn’t react as you’d hoped to the idea of you extending your stay here.’

Frankie had to swallow around a lump in her throat. ‘I felt so stupid when I realised everyone had kept the truth about the cottage from me. Even after you broke in⁠—’

‘I had a key!’ Ed protested with a laugh.

‘Even after you let yourself in with a key you shouldn’t have had,’ Frankie retorted. ‘No one would be straight with me about it.’

‘We should’ve explained it to you properly.’ Ed shook his head. ‘I should’ve explained it to you when I came to apologise.’

‘So why didn’t you?’

Ed shrugged. ‘I don’t know, really. I hadn’t had a chance to speak to Matt about what happened so I didn’t have all the details. And it didn’t feel like something I needed to burden you with because none of it was anything to do with you.’

Frankie glanced down at her hands. ‘It didn’t feel good to find out people I considered my friends didn’t trust me with the truth,’ she admitted. She raised her head and met his gaze. ‘It made me feel like maybe they’d been nice to me simply to keep me sweet and make sure everything with the production ran smoothly.’

Her phone started to ring again and Frankie stiffened. Why couldn’t they take a hint?

‘You could’ve waited until you were back in London before sending that text, you know.’ Ed’s comment was soft but it struck straight through her defences.

Her head shot up. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’m just wondering if maybe the reason you sent it is because you hoped they’d reach out and try and persuade you to stay.’ Ed extended a hand across the table towards her. ‘You don’t strike me as someone who’s naturally disorganised and yet I found you this morning in complete disarray. You haven’t booked a ticket, haven’t thought about cleaning up or emptying the fridge.’

‘That’s a bit rich coming from the man who didn’t bother to let his family know he was coming home after being away for months on end!’

Ed shrugged. ‘I’m a work in progress. What’s your excuse?’

‘I don’t need to explain myself to you. I don’t need to explain myself to anyone,’ she snapped, then shook her head. Getting angry at him wasn’t going to help her avoid the truth. He was right, there’d been no need to text the girls before she left. Unless she’d wanted to test them. Unless she’d wanted to make them feel bad for hurting her, even though she knew they hadn’t meant to. It was an uncomfortable thought.

Without another word she left the table and returned to the front room. She picked up her phone, took a deep breath and pressed the missed called message. It barely had time to ring before it was answered. ‘Hi, Chloe.’

‘Don’t hi me! I knew something was up last night but you kept insisting it was okay and then you drop a text and say you’re going back to London! I know I got myself in a tangle trying to explain everything, but you’ve known me long enough to know I open my mouth without thinking and anyway friends are supposed to tell each other when they’ve screwed up and give them a chance to apologise and make up for it!’

‘Take a breath, Chloe, before you pass out!’ Frankie exclaimed, laughing in spite of herself. She knew Chloe meant what she was saying because there was no way to have faked that stream of consciousness. The gush of words was exactly what she would’ve expected from the other woman, having witnessed it often enough over the past few weeks. Chloe’s lack of guile was one of the things Frankie liked most about her. Had liked, Frankie tried to correct herself, but it was a wasted effort. She liked Chloe. She liked all of her new friends and that was why she’d been so hurt by what had happened.

‘Sorry! Sorry!’ Chloe exclaimed. ‘I know I don’t have any right to ask, but please don’t hang up until I’ve had a chance to explain.’

‘You don’t have to explain, Chloe. I understand why you said what you said last night, and if I was in your position I’d certainly be more concerned about my brother’s future than that of someone you hardly know.’

‘Pfft!’ Chloe blew a rude noise down the phone. ‘Don’t you start with that nonsense. There isn’t a competitive hierarchy here. You just blindsided us a bit with your announcement about the cottage, that’s all. We’d love you to stay – we want you to stay, Frankie, and it’s entirely our fault that we kept Matt’s hassles from you. We weren’t trying to cut you out or deliberately lie to you, I promise.’

Every word rang with sincerity. ‘I believe that none of you did this to deliberately hurt me,’ Frankie conceded.

‘We didn’t, I swear it! Does that mean you’re going to stay?’

Chloe’s eagerness was as sweet as it was sharp. If Frankie did decide to stay then it would mean getting in deeper with everyone, including Ed. Now he’d cracked open that door of possibility she wasn’t sure she was strong enough not to push it wide. She’d been on her own for so long that the prospect of intimacy was almost irresistible. Why risk it when experience had taught her it would only end in tears?

But what if it didn’t this time?

God damn that hopeful little girl inside her. God damn the woman who yearned and hoped even when she knew better.

Frankie glanced around the chaos of the room. More than half of what had happened last night was down to her own trust issues, and her self-preservation instincts were still in high gear and urging her to get out of there while the going was good. A noise behind her made her turn to see Ed standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching her with an intensity that made her far too self-conscious.

Frankie allowed herself to properly notice him for the first time. To take in the breadth of his shoulders, the slim taper of his body to his waist and down to the powerful thighs stretching the denim of his jeans. Her mouth turned dry as the photo of him water-flecked in only a towel jumped into her mind. All that could be hers – if she wanted it. And my God, she wanted it.

‘I’ll stay until the new year.’