Always and Only You

Chapter Seventy-One

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Present Day

If it was Simon I’d just caught out in a lie, he’d laugh, bluff and bluster a little.

Erin, sweetheart, why would you think that?

It wasn’t quite like that. Let me explain …

But Gil does none of this. He meets my gaze. ‘Yes. It was me.’

I back away from him, reach for the railing for support. A few short months ago, it felt as if everything I knew about myself, about my world, was shaken up like a snow globe, and the pieces haven’t even all come back down to land yet. Now it feels as if it’s happened all over again.

‘It was you ?’ I whisper hoarsely. I heard the words coming out of his mouth, but it doesn’t seem possible for it to be the truth.

Gil’s expression is closed, serious. He nods, just once.

‘Why? Why would you do that?’ Suddenly, I need to move. I turn and run down the stairs, aware that I’m moving faster than is safe, but I don’t care. I have to get away.

‘Erin!’ I hear his feet banging on the metal stairs behind me, but I don’t stop. I yank the door to the living room open and run inside. Gil is only half a second behind me.

I spin around to face him. ‘Give me your car keys. Now!’

‘Will you just let me expl—’

‘No! Just give me the car keys!’

‘No!’

We’re staring at each other, fire in our eyes, and it feels as if we’ve rewound seven months, as if we’re back in the hotel garden.

‘I can’t let you drive my car. You know I can’t.’

I put my hands on my hips and glare at him, breath coming fast. I hate that I have absolutely no comeback because he is 100 per cent right. ‘I’m leaving.’

This news doesn’t shock Gil, but he doesn’t look happy. Good. I don’t care.

‘I’m calling an Uber.’

He shakes his head.

‘You can’t stop me!’

‘No, I can’t. But I think you’ll find they don’t cover the wilds of Devon.’

All the swear words I want to yell at him jumble together in the front of my brain, making it impossible to pick one, so I just end up letting out a frustrated grunt and stride off towards my bedroom. I lock the door before he can follow me inside, secure the French windows, and then I pull my suitcase out of the wardrobe and begin throwing things inside.