No, last night had taught her something far more important than the fact he’d tried to kiss her once. It had taught her that they still had history, and friendship, even with Adem gone. Sadie wanted Dylan to stay part of her life—and part of Finn’s. She wanted her son to learn about his father from the people who had loved him most—and that had to include Dylan.
Another reason, if she’d needed one, why she couldn’t risk anything more with him. She knew him, too well perhaps. One night in his bed and he’d hit the road, not coming back until he was good and certain that she wasn’t getting any ideas about things between them going anywhere.
Better to keep things simple. Maybe they couldn’t be just business—but they could definitely be just friends.
Now she just needed a way to get that across to Dylan.
Lying back against her cool sheets with the covers off, she let the breeze from the open window caress her skin as she considered her options. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with him while she was wearing a bikini. She needed to stall a little before they got to the beach. Then he could sunbathe, nap, explore, ignore her the rest of the day, whatever he wanted. As long as he understood how things were going to be.
Sadie smiled to herself as the perfect solution presented itself. And it might just solve both of their hangovers, too.
* * *
It was hard to tell what Sadie was thinking or feeling when Dylan met her in the lobby. Her eyes were hidden behind oversized dark glasses, her hair pulled back from her face, and she wore a light skirt and tee shirt. From the large straw bag she carried, with towels peeking out the top and a bottle of suntan lotion in the front pocket, he assumed they were still on for the beach. Beyond that, he had no idea how the day might play out—and she didn’t seem inclined to tell him.
‘Ready to go?’ she asked, the moment he approached. When he nodded, she spun on her heel and headed out, slipping behind the wheel of her car and waiting for him to join her.
They drove in silence for about ten minutes, while Dylan thought up a dozen conversation starters in his head. But every time he turned to use one of them Sadie’s cool indifference to his presence stopped him.
He had to let her go first.
The first rumblings of doubt started in his mind when Sadie pulled in at a tumbledown farmhouse on the side of the road. There was no sign of anyone else around, but she jumped out of the car all the same and waited for him to follow.
A terrace sat outside the house itself, covered with vines and greenery, right next to the road. Sadie climbed the rickety wooden steps up to it and, after a moment, Dylan did the same.
‘Um, did we add something to today’s itinerary?’ he asked, as they stood alone on the terrace.
‘Trust me,’ Sadie replied. ‘We need this.’
What he really needed was a few more hours of sleep and some mega-painkillers, but she’d asked for his trust, so he’d give it to her.
After a moment the door to the farmhouse opened and a man walked out, smiling widely at Sadie, hands open in welcome. Sadie grinned back, and the two of them spoke in Turkish for a moment or two. Dylan didn’t even try to guess what they were saying.
The man motioned to a nearby table, bare wood with benches to match, right at the edge of the terrace with a great view of the passing cars and the dusty fields beyond. But Sadie sat without question, so Dylan did the same.
‘So this is...?’ he asked.
Before Sadie could answer, a woman in an apron appeared, her dark hair coiled at the back of her head, and placed a strange metal pot, two glass teacups and a basket of bread on the table.
‘Breakfast,’ Sadie answered, reaching for the bread. ‘Told you we needed it.’
Dylan started to relax. Maybe the woman had a point after all. He hadn’t managed to make it down to the restaurant that morning, and his stomach definitely needed food.
The dishes kept coming, carried out by the man and the woman while Sadie explained about Turkish tea and waited for it to brew before pouring it. Dylan salivated at the sight of sweet, thick honey for the bread, bowls of olives, scrambled eggs with chorizo, chunks of salty feta cheese and a huge fruit platter. It might not be the full English he’d usually rely on to finish off a hangover, but Dylan had a feeling it would be more than up to the task.
They ate mostly in silence, Dylan savouring every mouthful of the delicious and obviously freshly cooked food. And as they ate, Dylan’s hangover wasn’t the only thing that started to recede. Somehow, without talking about it or even acknowledging it was there, the tension that had been pulled tight between them since they’d met in the lobby that morning started to loosen, just enough for him to relax.
The powers of good food truly were transformative.
As Sadie mopped up the last of the chorizo and eggs with the end of the bread, Dylan poured out the final dregs of the tea, knowing that things were about to change.
It was time for The Talk.
God, he hated The Talk.
Steeling himself, he waited for her to begin.
‘Okay. So, I thought we needed that before we could deal with...’ Sadie trailed off.
‘Last night,’ Dylan finished for her. No point beating around the bush now. ‘Good call.’
Sadie picked up her paper napkin and began twisting it between her fingers. ‘Here’s the thing. I figure you wanted to go out last night to remind me that we’re not just business. We have history.’
‘I guess, a bit. Perhaps.’ It hadn’t been much of a plan, but it still discomfited Dylan a bit to have it seen through so easily.
‘And you’re right,’ Sadie went on, apparently unconcerned by his manipulations. ‘I get it. We’re friends—and I don’t want to lose that.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Ah, so this was the way it was. She was actually giving him the old ‘I don’t want to ruin our friendship with sex’ talk. He’d never been on this side of it before.
It kind of sucked.
But her friendship mattered to him—no, just having her in his life mattered to him. Any way that worked for her. So he’d go along with it, despite the stinging pain that had taken up residence in his chest. Because what else did he have to offer her, really?
‘I want you to be part of Finn’s life.’ She leant across the table, shifting plates and bowls out of her way. Dylan rescued the remains of the honey, which were perilously close to her elbow. ‘I want him to know about his dad from the people who really knew and loved him—and that includes you.’
She sounded so earnest, so determined that he couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad or frustrated. Because, of course, it was all about Adem in the end. He should never have imagined that it could be otherwise.
‘But as for the rest of it,’ Sadie said, sitting back again, the distance between them yawning open, ‘there’s no point dwelling on the past. Right?’
‘I’ve always tried not to,’ he said mildly. Tried not to think about how different his life might have been if his father hadn’t walked out and left them, if he hadn’t spent his youth protecting his mother and sister, taking care of them, finding the money for the household bills each week. How different he might be. Life was what it was—no point pretending otherwise.
Except, of course, that was exactly what he was doing every time he thought about Sadie and imagined what could have been, maybe. What they could have had if he’d been the one she’d run into with a full cup of coffee one rainy Oxford day instead of Adem.
Stupid, really. It wouldn’t have made any difference. They’d have flirted perhaps. Maybe even dated for a bit. But if she thought he wasn’t the settling-down sort now, it was nothing compared to how he’d been at twenty-one. He’d have sabotaged things within a month—and Sadie would probably have cried on Adem’s shoulder, and they’d have fallen in love anyway.
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Just the way it was supposed to be.
‘I’m ready to face the future now, I think.’ Bravery shone out of Sadie’s face, and Dylan tried to shake away his melancholy thoughts and listen. ‘I’m really ready to build a new future out here for me and my son—not just keep living Adem’s dream and his plan.’
Did she really think that counted as moving on? She’d still be here, in the place Adem had chosen for them. She might think this was a big step forward, but to Dylan it still looked like clinging to the past.
The past was all well and good, but living there wasn’t going to help Sadie find her spark again. For that, she needed to move on to her own dreams. And he was there to help her do that.
‘So, what does that mean?’ he asked.
‘It means I’m ready to listen to your plans, instead of insisting on following Adem’s,’ Sadie said. ‘You tell me what we need to do at the Azure, and we’ll do it. Whatever it takes to save this place for Finn.’