‘Yes.’ Carly got a tissue out of her bag to blow her nose. ‘The kind of stupid connection that has a mind of its own.’
‘Do you want me to go and sort him out?’ Lucas put his fists in the air and pretended to punch.
Carly managed a smile. ‘No, he wasn’t a bad man, just wanted different things to me.’
‘Like what?’ Lucas said, then groaned. ‘None of my business, sorry.’
‘It’s fine.’ Carly took in the handsome man in front of her and felt her tummy do a little rushy thing. ‘You see, I wanted something more permanent.’
‘Like marriage and kids, you mean?’
‘Er, yes. Which I know is a red flag to many men but I’m not going to lie about it. I’m twenty-nine; I want the full package.’
‘So, was he The One then, do you think?’
‘That’s the thing. I was trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. So no, he wasn’t. I kept thinking that maybe things would change. But they didn’t – he didn’t. It’s been a good wake-up call.’
Lucas’s hand brushed her knee as he went to move his stool. ‘Sorry, sorry.’
Carly blushed, then took another sip of her drink, which was already working its magic. ‘I’ll get there,’ she said more cheerfully. ‘It’s all one big learning curve, this life and love thing, isn’t it?’
‘With no handbook or rule book, so how is anyone expected to do it right?’ Lucas agreed.
‘No girlfriend tonight then?’
‘No. Father Christmas and the reindeer needed a lift back to Polhampton earlier. His car wouldn’t start or something. Anyway, Davina lives near him and said she might as well stay at her place tonight.’
‘The reindeer too?’
‘Don’t ask, he has a crate that went into her boot, I think.’
‘That’s mad.’
‘This whole grotto idea is mad. I will rethink for next year for sure. I’m wrung out already and we’ve only just started.’
‘You don’t live with your girlfriend then.’
‘God no! Uh oh, I know that makes me sound like a red-flag man but I’m not, honestly.’
‘You just don’t want to live with her then?’ Carly said baldly.
‘It’s complicated.’ Lucas wasn’t ready to lay bare his fears of being alone to this beautiful woman in front of him who had already shown him more kindness with her support at the grand opening than Davina ever had.
‘You’ve certainly given me food for thought now though,’ he mused.
Carly put down her drink, stood up and announced abruptly, ‘I must go.’
‘Oh. But you’ve only just got here.’ Lucas was disappointed. ‘Can’t you stay for a bit longer and finish your drink?’
‘No, I’m driving. I’m going to head home. I came in here with the intention to drown my sorrows – but what good would that do? And, well, now I know you want to get married and have kids too we might as well just set the date.’
Her face remained deadpan until Lucas laughed out loud. ‘Well, now you mention it, I’ve always liked the idea of a summer wedding, if that works for you?’
Carly beamed at him. ‘That’s settled then.’ She turned to leave, then remembered: ‘Oh, yeah. Have you got time to discuss the website one day this week? I need to start planning ahead for spring packages, menus, et cetera.’
Lucas got off his stool and faced her. ‘For you, I will make time.’ He stared right at her with his brooding hazel eyes. She had never noticed his long lashes before and the butterflies in her tummy started to do the hokey-cokey all over again.
‘I’ll check my diary and message you tomorrow.’ Carly scrabbled in her bag to find her car keys. ‘Hang on, I need to pay you.’
‘For three sips?’ Lucas held his hand up. ‘On me. And let’s meet in Rosa’s Café. I feel I need to get away from this place, even if it is just for an hour.’
‘Sure thing. And Lucas? Tonight has made me realise that I’d rather be single and happy – even single and miserable – than in a relationship and miserable.’ As Carly got to the door she turned around and smiled. ‘And look at you, you won’t be single for long.’
Lucas sat back at the bar and drank the rest of his cider down in one. When he had first met Davina, it had been a relationship purely based on sex and not mutual affection. If he was honest, it wasn’t any different now, although even the sex had been waning of late. He was biding time. Wasting time. But now she was helping with the grotto he couldn’t be finishing with her; it didn’t seem right. She had been so keen to help and she was being extremely useful looking after the finances and managing Father Christmas.
But what if she was cheating? It would piss him off but not upset him, he didn’t think. His heart obviously wasn’t in it any more. Not like it had been with Rosa when the torment of unrequited love had hit home. Once he learned that she was pregnant he had realised that she would never leave Josh. It was game over. No hope left. At that point he had experienced a despair equal to that of losing his mother, so intense were his feelings for the feisty fellow Londoner.
The last day or so had been so busy and messed up with the Prawngate incident and the hotel inspector that he hadn’t even had time to think about what Danny had said about Davina cheating. If he had genuinely cared, he would have tackled her there and then. Or maybe if he knew, then the decision had already been made for him and he would find himself back on his own again. Lucas felt guilty. He had acted so harshly in accusing Danny before he had any true facts. No wonder the bloke had stormed off; he had every right to have done that. Good old Tina had stepped up to the plate, not having a go at him but taking Alfie home to be with his dad while she donned the whites and did the cooking and cleaning for the day. God, that woman was a brick, as was Danny. He liked him too. Liked him a lot.
‘Fuck,’ Lucas said aloud. He must text him tonight, arrange to talk to him civilly and calmly tomorrow. Apologise for being such a twat. Yes, the two of them had had a row, but Danny was only warning him about Davina in order to protect him. What’s more, if Lucas thought about it logically, why on earth would Danny want to give the hotel a bad rep? He loved his new life; his family were stable and young Alfie was safe and happy. And if the Ship only had two stars, what did it really matter? Two was better than none. They were still doing OK. And what if Alabaster Anna did write them a bad review? Maybe Carly might be able to get it taken it down – so really when he thought about it, it wasn’t the end of the world. Cockleberry Bay would forever be a beautiful place to visit and he would always make a good living from the restaurant and bar alone if need be.
Feeling so much better, Lucas turned his thoughts to Carly. She was not only incredibly pretty but she was also sexy, kind – and now he knew she shared a common vision of the future, with marriage and kids – even more desirable. But had she been flirting with him just then? Or just being her usual funny self? He decided that he would go and talk to Rosa tomorrow; OK, it seemed fucked up to go to the woman with whom he had been so deeply in love to ask for relationship advice, but Rosa would set him straight. He also had to have the difficult conversation with her about Prawngate.