“I’m not working tomorrow,” he told her. “Shall we do something?”
“Yeah. I’ll give you a call.”
He kissed her again and called goodbye to Mel as they left.
“Maybe you should ask him to stay?” Mel said, slipping her arm into Keira’s when they were outside of the pub.
“What?”
“If you want him to stay so badly, you should ask him. He might not realise you want him to. He’s a straight guy after all. They can be a bit clueless when it comes to romance.”
“I can’t ask him,” Keira said sadly.
“Why not?”
She hesitated, trying to get her emotions in check. “What if I ask him to stay and he says no?”
“At least you’ll have had a conversation about it.” Mel squeezed Keira’s arm. “You’re going to have to talk to him about what will happen between the two of you anyway.”
“When we were in Scilly, he said we’d figure things out … that we’d find a way to make it work. But clearly he was thinking we’d have a long-distance relationship.” The ache in her chest radiated through her whole body. “I don’t want to only see him occasionally. I hate the thought of a long-distance relationship.”
“You need to tell Noah that,” Mel said as they approached their building.
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
Before then, she needed to figure out exactly what she wanted to say.
* * *
Keira took herself into town late on Saturday morning, needing to get out of the flat. After a restless night her thoughts were even more muddled, and she was keen to put off speaking to Noah. It was almost lunchtime when he messaged to see what she was doing, and he immediately offered to come into town and meet her for lunch. She declined, saying she wanted to visit her parents and would let him know when she got home.
Saturdays were a good time to visit her mum, since her dad was always at work. The conversation was relaxed and easy as they ate sandwiches at the kitchen table. Only when her mum commented on how much she’d enjoyed meeting Noah did Keira’s mood take a sudden nosedive. Her mum wasn’t the right person to confide in; Keira couldn’t even bring herself to mention the fact that he would be moving back to the Isles of Scilly in a week’s time.
As though he could track her movements, Noah called her almost as soon as she’d walked back into the flat late in the afternoon. When he asked her what she wanted to do for the evening, she told him she’d go over to his place. Previously, things had been pretty immediate with them – if they arranged to go over to each other’s place, they’d generally be there within ten minutes. With absolutely no sense of urgency, Keira pottered around the flat for a while and made herself a cup of tea, which she sipped while trying to figure out what she was going to say to Noah.
What she wanted to say was that she didn’t want a long-distance relationship, so he needed to change his plans and stay in Bristol. Except she couldn’t shake the feeling that if he truly saw a future for their relationship, he wouldn’t be leaving. She shouldn’t have to beg him to stay.
By the time she arrived at his place, her stomach was tied in knots and there was a lump in her throat that made her feel as though she might choke.
“You didn’t reply to my message,” Noah remarked, kissing her cheek as she walked in. He’d been going for her lips but she’d moved at the last moment.
“What message?”
“About food. I ate not long ago but I can find something for you if you’re hungry.”
“I’m fine.” Walking down the hallway, she was taken aback by Kevin sitting in the living room. Generally, Noah’s housemate wasn’t at home much, but it was typical that he was there when she wanted privacy. “Hi,” she called to him, then turned to Noah. “Shall we go in your room?”
“Yeah, we can. Do you want a drink or anything?”
She shook her head and made a beeline for his bedroom. “We need to talk about you leaving,” she said, leaning on the edge of the desk, which was littered with papers and envelopes.
“Okay.” He sat on the bed and patted the space beside him. “I suppose we can’t put it off much longer.”
She ignored the invitation to sit with him. “What’s going to happen to our relationship when you go back home?” she asked bluntly.
“I’ll come back and visit you regularly.” He looked at her in earnest. “You can visit me whenever you want.”
“Right.” She clutched the edge of the desk and fought off tears.