Emily Forbes - A Love Against All Odds

‘Anyone I know?’

‘Not really.’ The rapid beating of her heart made her voice sound breathless.

‘What does that mean?’

‘You saw him today but there was no time to introduce you.’ There’d been no reason to introduce them either but Maia knew she hadn’t wanted to.

‘The paramedic who brought Adam in?’

It seemed he had noticed Todd’s hand on her shoulder. Noticed and remembered. Maia nodded.

‘When is the wedding?’

‘Six weeks.’

Henry sat back in his seat and let go of her hand. She noticed he hadn’t congratulated her. What did that mean?

Probably nothing. She couldn’t afford to read anything into the silence. It wasn’t her place to speculate about his thoughts.

‘Timing was never one of our strong points,’ he said.

She studied his expression but it was difficult to read in the dim lights of the bar. Did he have regrets too?

Maia shook her head. ‘No, it wasn’t.’ His regrets were no longer her concern. They couldn’t be. Her life had changed when her father had died and it was naive to think things could ever go back to the way they were. Their lives hadn’t fitted together three years ago; it was unlikely they would fit together any better now. Nothing he’d said made her think his priorities had changed.

‘So things have worked out well for you?’ he asked. ‘You’re happy?’

‘Of course.’ She was, wasn’t she? She had nothing to be unhappy about. She was healthy, she loved her job, she had family, friends and a fiancé who loved her.

She didn’t want to think about why Todd was last on her list. Was that where he fitted in her life?

She should be happy. There was no reason not to be yet she knew she was lying. If she was happy why was she sitting here imagining what her life would have been like now if Henry had never left? Or if she’d gone with him? But that had never been seriously discussed.

They’d known at the beginning that their relationship would have an end. Henry’s plans had already been in place. He’d been in Christchurch for a limited time, she’d known the date he was leaving and she had known he wouldn’t take her with him. He travelled alone. That was his choice and, while she didn’t like it, she’d had to accept it. Then, just weeks after his departure, her dad had suffered his first stroke and Maia had known then she would have chosen to stay. But it had been tough, really tough, and in the end she had lost both her father and Henry.

‘Things have worked out differently to what I expected but that’s life, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘Things change and you have to change with them.’

She could see the band members making their way back onto the stage. She pushed her chair back and stood. ‘I have to go.’

Henry got up too and came to her side. ‘I’ll see you soon,’ he said as he leant forward and kissed her cheek a second time, making her stomach flutter.

Oh, God, how was she going to handle this? How on earth had she thought she was over him? Just one kiss and she could feel herself falling again. She needed to get out of here.

Somehow Maia managed to get through two more songs. Henry had stayed for both before leaving the room. She doubted he’d return to the piano bar tonight but she didn’t want to hang around to find out. She told the band she wasn’t feeling well and made an early exit. An exit that felt very much like an escape.

The hotel doorman hailed her a taxi and she spent the ride home thinking about Henry. She thought she had managed to put him out of her mind. She would have thought three years was long enough to stop thinking about him and it should have been long enough for her body to forget him. But her reaction tonight proved that wasn’t the case. Her body definitely hadn’t got the message that three years had passed—her body had sprung to life as if it had been dormant these past few years.

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