“Is Kit okay?” Lowen asked when they rounded the bend and the stone jetty came into view.
“Probably,” she said with a shrug. “I honestly don’t know.”
He blew out a breath. “Areyouokay?”
“Not really, no.”
“Can I do anything?”
“No. I’ll be okay. I just need to figure some things out.”
He stopped and looked out at the day tripper coming into view. “Thanks for visiting.”
“Are you serious?” She wrinkled her brow. “I cost you lunch and annoyed the heck out of you!”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m always happy to buy you lunch and listen to you rant at me.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
“The part about lunch is,” he said, taking a few steps backwards. “Take care.”
“You too,” she whispered, then watched him walk away.
As the wind whipped around her on the ride back to St Mary’s, all she could think was how much she didn’t want to end up like Lowen: cut off from everyone she cared about and seeing each other occasionally to exchange polite conversation while pretending nothing had changed.
She’d been right about her decision not to start anything with Kit.
All she needed to do was make sure she stuck to it.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Avoiding Seren wasn’t difficult on a practical level. Kit’s main difficulty was overriding hisdesireto see her. She wasn’t an easy habit to break. A few times he considered pretending he hadn’t declared his undying love for her so he could continue his routine of ensuring their paths crossed multiple times a day.
It wouldn’t do any good though. Besides, he was reserving all his fake happy vibes for his paying customers, so there was no way he could manage to convince Seren he was fine. Even passing her while he was driving the train had been hard. His forced smile had felt as though it might break him.
It wasn’t only Seren he was avoiding. He’d happily hide from the whole world if he could, but the more he retreated, the more his family closed in on him. Noah and Trystan called and messaged him regularly. While he appreciated their concern, he’d rather they left him alone. Thankfully his mum hadn’t got wind of the situation or he’d never get any peace.
He was sitting at his kitchen table on Wednesday morning when his phone vibrated with a call from Keira. He answered it with a wry smile.
“You’re persistent,” he said. “Anyone ever tell you that?”
“I’m worried about you … and …”
“And you want to come with me on the train?”
“Can I?”
“I thought you were back to your office job now.”
“I am, but it turns out I’m much more efficient away from the office. And I’m only supposed to be working twenty hours a week, so I have loads of free time.”
Kit massaged the nape of his neck. “How about you come with me this morning?”
“Perfect! I’ll see you at the promenade in a bit.”
When he arrived there an hour later, Keira was already waiting and flung her arms around him when he stepped out of the train.
“I was worried you hated me,” she said, her brow wrinkled.