Meet Me at Willow Hall: A perfectly charming romance for 2019!

‘Liz is expecting again too. Did Julian tell you that on Sunday?’

‘No! That’s wonderful news. When is she due?’

‘September, I think.’ He grimaced. ‘Don’t quote me on that, though. I might have got it wrong.’

I laughed. ‘Well, that’s lovely. Tell them congratulations from me. I bet your mum’s pleased.’

‘Yes, she can’t wait. She loves having the little ones around. They seem to make everything better.’

‘I can imagine. Can I ask you something, though? Why did you move out? There must be plenty of room at the hall for everyone.’

He shrugged. ‘You know what I’m like; I need my own space.’

‘Don’t you get lonely? I mean, I haven’t seen where you’re living, but I can imagine it must be pretty remote.’

‘It’s only a short walk from the main house. I’m all right. I like living on my own, away from all the nagging.’

‘Nagging?’ I felt a surge of indignation. ‘I didn’t nag, did I?’

‘Not you!’ he laughed. ‘My mother. She’s great but she does go on at me, checking I’ve done this and that. It’s like I’m a kid again. No, I liked living with you.’

‘Really?’ I blinked in surprise.

‘Of course. We got on all right, didn’t we? You were easy to live with.’

‘Oh.’ I cleared my throat, my flush of happiness floating away with the blossom being stripped from the trees around us. Easy? Hmm, easy was convenient and unremarkable. It wasn’t exciting or passionate or fun. No wonder he’d found it so easy to say goodbye. It was painful to think that while I counted the days I’d spent living with Anthony as some of the happiest of my life, to him they had just been pleasant and… easy. Still, what did I expect? I knew he didn’t love me. He’d told me in his letter. You know I don’t love you. Those words haunted me. They popped into my head when I least expected them, leaving me with a burning pain deep in my gut. I sighed. It was well and truly time I got over him.

‘I’d better go.’ I stood up, pulling my bag over my shoulder. ‘Good luck with everything. I hope Willow Hall turns into a roaring success.’

Anthony looked up at me in surprise. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to work.’

‘Why? You’re not that busy, are you? You used to take an hour for lunch.’ He nodded towards the show boat. ‘How about we take a trip on that? Come on, for old time’s sake.’ He stood up and his eyes twinkled as he looked down at me. ‘I don’t remember much about our last trip.’

I blushed and looked down at the floor, my resolve weakening. It would be nice to go on the boat. It would certainly make a change from being in the shop all afternoon, and I’d been so bored all morning. ‘Well… all right then. It’s only a half-hour trip, isn’t it?’

‘I think so, yes. Come on, I think it’s about to leave.’

We hurried down the river and boarded the boat. Anthony paid for us both before leading the way up the stairs to the top deck. Our feet clattered against the wooden boards and we found a seat towards the back. I was thankful the seat we’d sat in last time was taken by two elderly ladies, otherwise I had the strangest feeling Anthony would have sat there.