Page 46 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘But I had a choice,’ said Pete suddenly. ‘And I ran away instead.’

Belle was startled. ‘Ran away?’ she asked. ‘From what?’

He kept staring into the fire as it crackled next to them. ‘From Dad,’ he finally said.

Belle opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. She picked up her glass of wine instead and took a sip, waiting for him to speak. Eventually he did.

‘He was such a force of nature,’ began Pete, looking up at Belle finally.

She nodded and smiled softly. ‘He truly was.’

‘And when he died so suddenly, it was like I couldn’t breathe. Like my oxygen had been turned off.’ He sagged back in his chair and looked at the flames again. ‘I was already regretting taking the job. I don’t know. I just had a bad feeling about it. But after the funeral, Mum and Josh insisted that I still go.’

‘They just wanted you to be happy,’ said Belle.

He nodded. ‘I know. And maybe I was.’ He suddenly looked so stricken that Belle had the urge to rush over and give him a hug. ‘The trouble was that I was so grateful for the job, I didn’t have to think. To worry or even to grieve.’ He sighed. ‘I’d promised to come back for Christmas, but I couldn’t face being in the shop without him there. So I made some kind of excuse.’ He gave a grim laugh to himself. ‘I had the worst, most miserable Christmas ever. Not that I ever told them that. And then I carried on.’

‘Is that why you never came back until now?’ asked Belle, surprised that he was being so open all of a sudden.

‘Sort of.’

Belle studied him for a moment and knew that he was holding back something. Some secret pain on top of the grief he had spoken about.

‘Maybe being here will give you the time you need to grieve,’ Belle told him.

‘Perhaps.’ He smiled to himself. ‘I’m jealous of Josh, you know.’

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Because he’s got it all,’ said Pete. ‘The successful shop, the happy life, the girl. He’s living the dream.’

‘I don’t think he’d say that some mornings when he’s opening up the shop at 7 a.m.,’ said Belle.

She was grateful to see Pete smile at her small joke.

‘Yeah, I have to say, I’m more of a night owl than an early bird,’ he said.

‘I’d never have guessed,’ she said, picking up her glass once more.

She nodded thoughtfully to herself before taking a sip of wine. Despite her sadness at the pain that he had just revealed to her, she was grateful that Pete still trusted her with his innermost thoughts. She also understood why he had stayed away for so long and it had nothing to do with their kiss.

Belle suddenly felt hopeful that they were beginning to find their way back to the friendship that she had missed so much.

26

Pete picked up his glass and drained his red wine in one gulp.

What had just happened?

They were sitting in the soft firelight, which was, admittedly, very comforting and cosy, and suddenly he had revealed his innermost thoughts, his very soul, to Belle of all people.

He looked across the small table to where she sat. Her pretty face was softly lit by the flames. The sharp retorts, the constant warring, were all gone that evening. In the firelight, she too had become softer around the edges.

She looked up and he was almost embarrassed that she had found him watching her.

She appeared to hesitate before speaking. ‘I actually think that Todd would be proud of you for taking on a mess like this,’ she said.

‘You do?’ he asked, stunned.