Rome ran out onto the street and looked around but Freya was nowhere to be seen. Though wherever she had gone she had done so without shoes as they lay littering the street in front of him. Clearly she had wanted to make a quick getaway.

He needed to speak to her, to put things right, but quite how he was going to do that when he had no idea what he’d done wrong, he didn’t know.

He glanced along the street that led back towards the shop and her flat and then in the opposite direction, which led to Eden’s house.

He made a snap decision and ran along the street that would lead to Eden’s house.

He tried to retrace what had happened. What had he said that had made her react in such a way? Everything had been going so well over the last few weeks, but especially over the last few days. Something had shifted between them and he’d liked the way it was going. There’d been that wonderful sexy moment in her flat when he’d stripped off the bin bag and there had been something in her eyes that said if he’d kept on removing items of her clothes, she would have been more than OK with that. He really thought that she was attracted to him in the same way he was attracted to her. He’d had no idea how he was going to broach the subject of them going out together that night or what her reaction to it would have been if he had, but the one thing he was confident of was asking her to be partner in his company. She loved her job. That was supposed to be the easiest part of the night, then after that he could move on to the trickier conversations. Her reaction was so surprising and unexpected, he just didn’t understand it, but he knew he had to do everything in his power to put it right.

He came to Eden’s door and knocked, probably a bit too hard. It took a few minutes but his sister eventually came to the door.

‘Rome, I didn’t expect you tonight.’ Her voice was strained and so he pushed past into the house, not waiting for an invite. There was no sign of Freya inside.

‘Is Freya here?’

‘No, I thought you two were going out tonight?’

‘We were, we did, I really need to talk to her.’

‘What happened?’

Rome moved through to the kitchen, not taking Eden’s word that Freya wasn’t there.

‘I cocked up, though I don’t honestly know how, but I’ve done something to hurt her and I need to put it right.’

‘She’s not here, Rome, but if I see her, I promise I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.’

He turned back to look at his sister. ‘Look, if you see her, please tell her I’m sorry and that I really need to talk to her.’

Eden nodded and Rome looked around again before heading back outside. He had to find her. Whatever it was, he needed to fix it because losing Freya was absolutely not an option.

* * *

‘He’s gone,’ Eden called and Freya came back to the top of the stairs and looked down. She didn’t think that Eden would sell her out but Rome was her brother so Freya knew she was loyal to him too. Satisfied that he really was gone, she came down and flopped onto the sofa, tears of frustration still brimming in her eyes. She’d only just arrived at Eden’s when Rome hammered on the door so she hadn’t even had a chance to explain to Eden how stupid she’d been yet.

Eden sat next to her, with her arm round her shoulders. ‘What happened?’

‘Oh god, Eden. I’m such a fool. I convinced myself that Rome loves me and even in some crazy moment of madness that he might even propose to me tonight after a silly conversation outside the ring shop last night. There have been so many little signs over the last few weeks, little touches, looks, comments. I thought even if he didn’t propose he would tell me that he had feelings for me. I was so excited and so nervous. And you know what happened?’

Eden looked sympathetic. ‘I’m guessing he didn’t propose. I told you, he’ll want to take things slowly—’

‘He asked me to be his partner. His business partner,’ Freya clarified.

Eden stared at her.

‘He had no romantic intentions tonight at all. It was always about work. Years of waiting and hoping that he would finally fall in love with me and I realised tonight that it will never happen. I told myself it was fine, that I would accept his offer of partnership and just carry on as normal, but then I saw him flirting with the waitress and I knew I couldn’t carry on working for him, watching him turn his attention to every other woman but me. I just snapped. I told him he could stick his job and left. And now, I have no job, no home and I’ve lost my best friend.’

The tears were coming thick and fast now and Freya had no chance of making them stop. The worst thing was she’d been here before.

‘Oh no, Freya. I don’t know what to say. I felt sure that he feels the same as you and now I feel bad because we pushed you into thinking that and hoping for that too.’

‘Don’t feel bad. This wasn’t your fault. I wanted to believe he had feelings for me so I started to imagine that his comments and looks actually meant something. We actually had this conversation about getting married and I started to believe in it. I created this picture-perfect scenario in my mind where he would declare his love for me and I couldn’t see past that. I’ve made such an idiot of myself and I don’t think I can face him again.’

‘Well, I can’t promise you won’t have to face him at some point. On an island the size of Hope Island, you two are bound to run into each other sooner or later but you can come and work for me – lord knows I need the help at the moment – and you can sleep in my spare room as long as you want. It will help me actually. Dougie arrives tomorrow and as he is house hunting over here, he’ll want to stay with me. You staying here will save me the awkwardness of having him sleep under the same roof.’

‘I don’t want to be in the way.’

‘You won’t be. I’m looking forward to seeing Dougie and a part of me wants him to stay with me but the sensible side knows it’s not a good idea. I really don’t need the heartache of him staying here for the next few weeks. He can stay in a hotel, he can afford it.’

Freya looked at her sadly. Eden was as messed up in the love department as she was. Although Eden was even worse; she had been in love with her friend Dougie for over twelve years and even the fact that he had emigrated to America hadn’t changed that.

‘OK, thanks. It’ll just be a few days, maybe a week or two. I just need to figure out what I’m going to do or where I’m going to go,’ Freya said, swallowing down the lump of emotion in her throat.

Eden narrowed her eyes. ‘You’re not thinking of leaving Hope Island are you?”

‘I don’t know.’ The idea had occurred to her. Could she really face seeing Rome every day knowing that he would never be hers? But the thought of leaving him was not one she could stomach and as she thought about it the reality of leaving her job was almost as bad. She loved working with glass and she was good at it too. The school mural was a project she loved being involved in, she didn’t want to walk away from that.

‘Your home is here, your friends are here,’ Eden said. ‘Regardless of what happens between you and Rome, even if you think you can’t work with him anymore, this is where you belong. Bella’s old house is practically empty as she spends every night at Isaac’s, I’m sure she would be happy for you to live there and sub-let it off her, or take over the rent completely and pay Finn instead. I know he would be happy to continue renting it out at a cheap price for you and if that doesn’t work out then you can stay here indefinitely. I’ve always wanted a housemate, we’d have fun living together.’

Freya smiled gratefully at Eden for that sign of solidarity. ‘But what would I do for work?’

Eden shrugged. ‘You set up your own glass studio.’

‘Go up against Rome, I couldn’t do that to him.’

‘He has more business than he can handle and you love working with glass. I’ve seen your work and you have a fantastic talent for it. Don’t walk away from that just because Rome can’t see how wonderful you are.’

That was a possibility that she hadn’t even thought of. Bella’s house had a big shed at the bottom of the garden, she could use that as a workshop and then sell her pieces in some of the craft shops in the town. And although she wouldn’t be working on the school mural, she would still be able to work with glass and she could stay on Hope Island.

But she would miss working alongside Rome every day and the thought of that broke her heart although after telling him where he could stick his job, she might not have a choice.

* * *

Rome woke up with a sore neck and looked around for a few moments before he realised where he was. After trawling the streets looking for Freya, going to all her favourite spots with no luck, he’d come back to her flat and determined he was going to wait for her there, but she’d never come home and he’d ended up falling asleep on her sofa.

He stood up and wandered to the bedroom, just in case she had come home late and he hadn’t heard her come in, but he knew she wasn’t there – the flat was too quiet for that.

Where was she? He grabbed his phone and called her again but it rang for a while before he was connected to her answerphone once more. Christ, what if she was hurt somewhere? He should have tried harder to find her the night before.

He looked out of the window, hoping to see her little bouncy walk as she headed back down the street, but there was no of sign of her.

He gave Bella a call to see if she’d ended up there.

‘Hey Rome, I’m just off out, you OK?’

‘Did you see Freya last night?’

‘No, why? What’s happened?’

‘I’m an idiot, that’s what’s happened. If you see her, can you tell her to call me?’

‘Is she OK?’ Bella sounded worried.

‘I don’t know. I need to talk to her. Just tell her to call me.’

‘Of course I will.’

He hung up and paced the lounge. He called Eden, starting to speak before Eden had even said hello. ‘Please tell me she came to you last night, I’m so worried, I have no idea where she is.’

Eden hesitated for a moment then she spoke. ‘She stayed in my spare room last night.’

‘Oh thank god. Is she there? Let me speak to her.’

‘Sorry Rome, I can’t.’

‘I’ll come round.’

‘No, she doesn’t want to see you. She’s going to stay with me for a few days.’

Rome stared at the pink orchid brooch sitting on the table in front of him. Freya didn’t want to see him?

‘Do you know what’s wrong, did she talk to you?’

‘Yes.’

‘I have no idea what I did, or what upset her so much. But I will do anything to put this right.’

‘I’m not getting in the middle of this. If she wants to tell you what’s wrong then she will.’

‘Please Eden, I… I can’t lose her.’

Eden sighed. ‘Give her a few days. She might be more willing to talk to you then and, in the meantime, I suggest you think about what it would be like if she left Hope Island for good.’

Rome sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘She’s leaving?’

‘I don’t know. She was very upset last night and she said she didn’t think she could stay here any more.’

‘God, no, you can’t let her leave.’

There was silence from Eden for a moment. ‘You’ll come to Pots and Paints for lunch, won’t you?’

‘What?’ He stood back up, his brain whirring. He had to do something, he had to talk to Freya even if she didn’t want to talk to him.

‘I think you should,’ she said, emphatically.

He paused in his pacing of the lounge. Clearly Freya was going to be there too. ‘Around one?’

‘That will be perfect.’

He hung up and looked at his watch. He had just over four hours to figure out what he had done wrong and what he was going to do to rescue the situation.

* * *

Freya was busily serving teas and coffees to Eden’s customers, feeling thoroughly miserable. As it was the first Saturday in the summer holidays, it was busier than Freya had seen it in a long time. But at least being busy meant that she didn’t really have a lot of time to think.

Her cheeks burned every single time she thought about the night before. Did Rome have any idea of her feelings for him? She knew she had hardly been subtle over the last few days, but it would be mortifying if he did. And what was she going to say to him when she saw him? How could she possibly explain her bizarre reaction to his business offer?

She glanced up with a smile, ready to serve the next customer, but the smile fell from her face when she saw that it was Rome. Of course he would be here, he came here every day. And even if she had hidden out at Eden’s house like she’d wanted to that morning, she knew she would have ran into him at some point.

Humiliation flooded her cheeks and the depressing thought that he would never be hers was like a punch to the gut. He was staring at her intently and any words that she wanted to say were lost in her throat.

‘What would you like?’ Freya said, her voice strangled. She looked around to see if anyone was witnessing her further humiliation but no one seemed to care.

‘I’d like to talk to you,’ Rome said, seriously.

‘I haven’t got time,’ Freya objected, just as Eden slipped behind the counter.

‘Go and have your lunch break, I can look after things behind here for a while,’ Eden said.

Freya looked at her desperately, silently pleading with her to help her, but as she had already given her a roof over her head and a job, Freya could hardly complain.

‘Go and talk to him,’ Eden urged, quietly. ‘You can’t avoid him forever and he was so worried about you last night. He deserves to know.’

Freya sighed. Eden was right and though she had no intention of telling Rome the truth about her feelings, having suffered enough humiliation to last her a lifetime, he deserved some kind of explanation. He had done nothing wrong after all.

She took off her apron and joined Rome on the other side of the counter.

‘Shall we go for a walk?’ Rome asked, awkwardly, and her heart went out to him.

Did she really want to be alone with him? If he pushed her for an explanation she was afraid everything would come tumbling out and then her humiliation would truly be complete. She shook her head. ‘I can’t talk for long, Eden needs the help.’

Rome nodded and they sat down in the corner of the café. Freya stared at her fingers, not willing to look at him. After they had sat in silence for a few moments, Eden came over with two coffees and two slices of cake then discreetly left them alone.

‘I’m so sorry about last night,’ Rome said.

She looked up at him in surprise. ‘You are?’

He nodded. ‘I’ve obviously done or said something to upset you and believe me that’s the last thing I want.’

He had no idea. And in some ways that made it worse. Although if he didn’t know then her humiliation was a lot less.

‘Was it the money?’ Rome said. ‘I know we never really sorted out your salary properly. I know in the beginning you insisted that the free rent on the flat was more than enough but that never really sat well with me as you should have been paid a fair wage, not just had the flat for free. I know the salary I paid you initially was nowhere near enough and that I increased it a bit last year when things started taking off but you’ve never had a proper salary from working with me. I’m so rubbish when it comes to that side of things and I never gave it much thought and you never brought it up. I know you get the money from the pieces you make but that’s why I wanted to make you partner so we would both have an equal share from all the profits. We can talk about a deal that you would be happy with. It certainly wasn’t my intention that you would carry on working on your low wage when you became partner. Is that what upset you?’

She stared at him. He honestly thought that she had stormed out because of the money? That had never been a factor for her. She got her lovely little flat above the shop for free and no bills as that all came under the bills for the shop. The small wages she did get, plus any commissions from the pieces she had made, helped to buy any food and household things she needed. Rome was always so generous with his money, insisting on buying her lunch and inviting her round for dinner, that her outgoings were tiny.

‘It’s not the money.’

‘Then what is it?’

She had no decent explanation, no words in her head at all. What possible reason could she have for storming out like that?

She picked at the cake, feeling so uncomfortable with him for the first time since they’d met.

Finally she looked back up at him. His eyes were filled with concern.

‘I just need some time away from you for a few days.’

He stared at her aghast. ‘What did I do? What’s happened? You’re working here so I guess that means you don’t want to work with me any more, you didn’t come home last night. Tell me what’s wrong. How can I fix it if you won’t tell me what’s wrong?’

She shook her head. How was there any way back from this? Why couldn’t she just accept the partnership graciously and then none of this would ever have happened?

He swept his hair back from his face in frustration, swearing softly. ‘I’ve done something awful, haven’t I?’

‘No. It’s not you, it’s me.’

‘Everything was fine between us, better than fine, things were going great and I’ve screwed it all up.’

‘No you haven’t, I just need some space. I need to make some decisions about my future.’

He stared at her with something that looked like real fear. ‘Eden said you were thinking of leaving the island?’

Freya didn’t admit it but that was one of the things she had thought about the night before. Could she really leave? Could she really stay and watch Rome date a whole string of women for the rest of her life? Would she fall out of love with him one day or would she be like Eden was with Dougie and still be in love with him in ten or twenty years’ time?

‘I need time to think.’

‘Look, you’re my best friend and I don’t want to lose you. Whatever it is, whatever I’ve done, let me fix it, give me the chance to put things right.’

She smiled, sadly. ‘Some things can’t be fixed.’

She could see he was getting annoyed at the lack of explanation from her and quite rightly so. ‘Freya—’

‘Look, I promise I’ll tell you in a few days. Just give me some time.’

And she would tell him. She owed him that much. And if she really was leaving then it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t feel the same way. She wouldn’t have the embarrassment of seeing him every day. She just had to figure out whether leaving the island was something she really wanted to do or whether she could continue to live here after her declaration of love and subsequent rejection.

He stared at her and then down at his untouched cake. ‘If you want space or time alone, then I can do that. But please don’t make any rash decisions. And whatever you decide, however long you need, your flat above the shop will always be your home. Don’t stay at Eden’s to avoid me. You have your separate front door, so you won’t need to come through the shop at all and I promise I won’t come up there.’

She nodded. ‘Thank you.’

He hesitated for a moment and then squeezed her hand and left her alone. As soon as he’d walked out the shop, she put her head in her hands. What a mess.