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“Charlie isn’t just handsome. He’s stunning,” I say with a dreamy sigh.
Yup, accurate guess!
“I was like a cuckoo. They never really have their own homes, do they? They’re left in someone else’s nest. I remember reading about them in primary school and thinking, ‘That's me. I’m a cuckoo, and there is nowhere that is really my home.’”
Well that’s heartbreaking. I don’t usually get teary this early in a book.
I would give them all my affection when they’d never asked for that, and the result was that they’d skedaddle quicker than Boris Johnson from a hairbrush.
I hope he looks back on our time together well and remembers me affectionately, but just for once, I would like someone to want me to stay. I want someone to miss me when I go.
💔
Its white and navy paintwork and teak decking give it a charmingly old-fashioned air, as if Agatha Christie’s characters are going to turn up at any moment. Hopefully, not for a murder.
😆
There’s a sudden loud banging on the door. Owen frowns. “Who could that be?” “Maybe it’s the compassion police,” I say idly. “Coming to arrest you for being such a complete cocksicle, Owen.”
I’m a bird, I tell myself. I will be free and easy and ride the wind, but I will never be a cuckoo to him. I will go home when winter comes, and I will never make him regret wanting to spend time with me.
But I’m not just thanking him for the books. I’m thanking him for showing me how it feels to fall in love, and although the ending won’t be like my romance novels, I’m still intensely grateful that I’ve been gifted Teo for this short time. I will never forget him.
💔
“I rang Enzo and asked him to make it for you. It’s a one-off because he has never made one before, and I have made him promise to make no more.” He gives me a smile that seems almost tender. “It’s a rarity like you, Wren, and the bird has your graceful lines and the bright eyes you have for everything in the world.” He pauses. “Do you like it?” he asks again. I sniff. “Like it? I love it. I’ll look after it.” He strokes my hair back from my face. “And maybe when you look at it, you will think of me a little, yes?” His voice is wistful, as if he can’t imagine being so important to me. But I
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💔❤️ Sobbing!
My gaze strays to the couple at the next table. I’ve been noticing them throughout the meal. They’re married to each other, judging by the gold bands on their fingers and their closeness. They look beautiful together. The older man is tall with shaggy black hair and a mischievous look on his face, while his companion is slight with a sharp face and messy dark hair. Enzo told me that the older man is a very famous retired war journalist, but he hangs on his companion’s words, and they’ve been sharing a lot of laughter. It makes up for the fact that precious little laughter is happening at our
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Ah, another Easter Egg of couples from other Morton books. I love it when she does this!
But I’m resolved not to feel bad about my admission. I’d said how I felt. Something I always try to do. I want to be honest in my relationships because I’ve had years of people lying to try and make things better. And I don’t blame Teo for not saying it back. It would have been worse if he’d said it, and I’d known he didn’t mean it.
💔
She’s hanging on the arm of a slim and very pouty young man wearing head-to-toe velvet. Not something easily managed unless you’re a toy rabbit.
😆
I look back at Teo’s sleeping figure and finally let my hopes die away. They weren’t big or grandiose. I just wanted someone who would be my best friend and never abandon me. I wanted it to be Teo because I love him deeply, but that is also why I must leave. Look at what my love has brought him—brawling outside a club that will likely be splashed over the front pages of gossip magazines. I think of his family’s sneers, and I groan. It seems they were right all along. Even Leandro was right. I am a bauble on Teo’s tree, and he feels protective towards me. He will defend me and look after me,
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💔😭
“No, it’s a thank you for everything, Teo. You’ve shown me things I’ve never known, and I’m not talking about Majorca or Venice.” “Then what are you talking about?” I grab his hand and squeeze it, feeling his skin warm against mine for the last time. “You’ve given me so much you’ll never understand, and I want you to know in your soul how grateful I am and that I’ll never regret meeting you and having this wild adventure. Always remember that.”
💔😭
I’m only taking the clothes that I brought with me. The things he gave me I’ve left hanging in his dressing room. It will hurt him, but I can’t help that. I want to leave his life taking only what I brought with me, and in the future, I can console myself with that. I’m not one of his other men. The only exceptions to that are the little cuckoo packed securely in tissue paper in my bag and my wrist band. I touch the leather strands as reverently as if they were a holy object and then put the envelope with Teo’s name on it on the table in his dressing room.
I spent a lot of time staring at a blank piece of paper in the early hours of the morning, but in the end, once I started writing, the words came quickly. It’s another sign that I’m doing the right thing. I touch his name on the envelope gently with the tip of my finger, and then, with one last look at the apartment to fix it in my mind, I close the door behind me and make my way downstairs.
The house is quiet, with no signs of life, and I’ve nearly made it to the door when I hear a throat clear behind me. I spin around and find Teo’s grandfather watching me. His gaze is steady and knowing, and I sigh. Somehow the sound makes his lips twitch with amusement. “Ah,” he says. “We have a bird escaping the nest, I think, Antonio.” His manservant come...
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I don’t regret my love. The only thing I regret is that it’s made you uncomfortable, and I hate that. I don’t want you to feel guilty for not loving me because that’s not your responsibility. But I know you will because you wear responsibility like a hair shirt. I hope you do fall in love one day, even if it isn’t with me. I want you to have someone at your back protecting you the way you do everyone else. I would love to see you happy and fulfilled with the realisation that love isn’t always chaos, and if it is, then it’s the best sort of chaos that always brings brilliant things into your
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This last part of the letter is a killer. I’m sobbing, taking off my glasses to wipe tears and blow my nose, aching sore throat kind of sobbing!💔💔💔💔💔
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I groan. “But even though I love him, he’s still gone. I’m not enough.” “Not the way you are at the moment, Mateo,” he says plainly. “You think to compartmentalise him in your life. A shiny possession that you keep packed away and bring out to admire. He’s not that and can never be so. You cannot stop the world from hurting Wren. He’s a warm and curious young man, and people will be unkind to him. It’s human nature for some people to see something shiny and want to besmirch it. But you can be there for him when he comes home. You can listen, and you can hold the world at bay for a while and
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“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. He’s clever and funny, and just being with him makes me happier than I’ve ever been. You made a bit of a mistake if you don’t mind me saying, Elena.” She looks suddenly cautious. “Why?” “Because that young man is going to hold the purse strings when I take over. I’m going to put him in charge of family financing.” She goes as pale as a sheet, and I laugh and race out of the house to find my future and hopefully persuade him to take me back.
I love this!
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