Country Affairs by Zara Stoneley

Author:Zara Stoneley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008122812
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-04-30T15:34:37.036000+00:00

Chapter 15

‘You’re leaving aren’t you?’ Pip had never been one to avoid the truth, even though she had to admit she’d given it a damned good try lately. But enough was enough. After insisting Todd had a shower alone, despite the fact that right now a no-strings-attached shag and shared cigarette had a certain appeal, she’d given him instructions to go for a long walk, preferably via a few pints in the pub.

Letting Mick discover another man boosting more than just her ego wasn’t the way she wanted things to end. Not this time. So she’d sat, facing the door, and waited. Like a convict awaiting sentence.

Mick had spent way longer than he should have done tidying his tools, while he tried to work out exactly what he was going to do about the whole mess. But he should have known she’d be in there first.

‘I do love you, Philippa. You’re an amazing woman.’

‘That sounds like a tribute, not a declaration of affection. You could put that on my gravestone.’

‘You know—’

‘I’m kidding. I know what you mean.’ Being serious hurt. It would be easier to make light of this, or just be logical. But he was saying the wrong things to make her want to be logical.

‘I wanted this to work, treas.’ Mick sat down heavily. And when he stared at her, there was as much confusion and hurt in those dark eyes as she felt in her own heart.

‘But it’s not done, has it? How can it, when you’re in love with somebody else?’

‘I’m not—’

‘You hurt when you look at her. Well, I bloody hurt when I look at you.’ So much for logic and distance. ‘It’s not fucking fair. I don’t want to like you this much.’

‘Come here.’ He dragged her closer, held her, unresisting, on his knee.

‘I don’t want to get upset.’

‘I know. You don’t do tears, do you, pet?’

‘Or make a scene – it’s not me.’

‘I know.’

‘Stop smiling.’

‘I’m not.’

She glanced up. She wasn’t going to crumble into a pathetic emotional heap. She wasn’t. And he was smiling, she knew he was. Even if it was a sad smile.

‘It’s okay to make a scene now and then, darling.’

It would be okay to reach up and stroke that strong face, kiss those firm lips, too. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t. ‘What are you going to do, Mick?’

‘Nothing.’ He shrugged, gazed past her at something she could only guess at. ‘Or go back to Ireland.’

‘That’s running away. That’s what other people do – not you.’

‘Turn to the bottle?’ He gave a short laugh.

‘Love sucks, doesn’t it?’

‘All the tough things in life do, treasure, or they wouldn’t be worth going after.’

‘Then, go after her.’

‘No. The tough bit is “not doing”.’

‘It won’t make you a better man, you know, resisting temptation.’

He laughed properly then. ‘It might make him one, though.’

‘Do you think Rory loves her, you know, properly? Enough to get married?’

‘It’s not for anybody else to say what “properly” means, is it?’

‘I should be mad at you.’

‘You should. Feel free to rant and rave.

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