When You Walked Back Into My Life by Hilary Boyd Read Free Book Online Page A

remember.’
    He grinned. ‘Not my finest hour. But the end result is fantastic, don’t you think?’
    ‘It certainly looks lovely …’ Flora hesitated.
    ‘But?’
    ‘I suppose it’s a bit severe for my taste.’
    ‘Yeah, me too. My own kitchen’s mostly wood.’
    ‘Prue loves it, though,’ she added quickly, in case he was offended.
    But Jake just shrugged. ‘All that matters in the end … that the client is happy.’ He took a gulp of champagne. ‘So what do you do?’
    For a while they stood together, chatting. Flora found him attractive. He was easy to talk to, teasing and a bit flirtatious – although she was sure he had no real interest in her – and she wished she could just fall in love with him then and there. She could live with him in his wooden kitchen with all his black clothes and forget that Fin even existed. But Fin’s departure seemed to have built a wall around her, sealing her off from the cells in her body that responded to another man’s sexual advances.
    Conversation was stopped by Prue clapping her hands for silence. She held onto the sleeve of her husband’s bespoke suit as she began to speak, as if she were worried he’d escape.
    ‘Philip didn’t want me to say anything. He didn’t want me to give him a party. He didn’t want to have another birthday, or be a year older. But, as usual, I
persuaded
him it was for the best …’ There was raucous laughter and some barracking from the guests at the commonly accepted pretencethat Prue wore the trousers in the family. And Philip, as always, beamed genially at the crowd, accepting the spotlight with his usual unflappable calm. Flora adored her brother-in-law. He was a kind, non-judgemental man, patient with his bossy wife, a good father to Bel, and had been Flora’s friend through thick and thin. But she knew that the amiably charming façade he showed to the world hid a cutting intellect that had fooled many an opponent, both in and out of court. Now he shot the cuffs of his white shirt, smoothed his blue-patterned tie, and began his witty reply.
    When the speeches were over, Flora and Jake had been separated. She looked around for him and saw him laughing in the corner of the room with a skinny redhead. So she crept away before her sister could stop her, a bit irritated with herself for not making more effort to be charming to Jake.

CHAPTER 4
    17 September
    As Flora made her way down Gloucester Road just before eight the following Monday, she decided that Fin was no longer in town. It was a week since she’d bumped into him and there had been no sign of him since, no word left at Prue’s house, nothing. He’ll be off on another climb, she told herself, professing a certain relief that she could start to put him behind her again, to begin living the life she intended to live, but was somehow perpetually putting on hold. Prue had been on the phone to her early Sunday morning, her voice squeaky with excitement.
    ‘Darling, breaking news! Jake
adores
you.
And
he fancies you like mad. His very words: “She’s gorgeous.” He was very distressed you disappeared without saying goodbye.’
    ‘Really?’ Flora had asked, not believing her sister’s hyperbole one bit. He’d seemed so young and too self-consciously trendy to be interested in someone like her.
    ‘Yes, really. You
are
gorgeous, I keep telling you. So? Did you like him?’
    ‘I did. I … I thought he was very attractive,’ she was trying to tell the truth without getting her sister’s hopes up. It didn’t work.
    ‘Bingo! That’s the first time you’ve said that about
anyone
since that bloody man whose name we won’t mention in case I have a stroke. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, I gave him your number.’
    Prue sounded as if she’d already married them off and Flora hadn’t wanted to burst her bubble. He probably won’t call, she thought, but if what she said was true and Jake did like her, perhaps she
should
see him. Just do it, find out if she