The conversation was one he would never share with anyone. Instead he simply said, ‘I was with her at the end and I am glad of that.’
‘I’m glad of that for both of you,’ Ava said, her voice gentle. ‘And I’m sorry, Liam, sorry her life was taken so soon and the whole life you could have had together is gone.’ She looked away from him, at the sky touched by the orange rays of the setting sun. ‘Would you like another drink?’
‘Thank you.’
‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
* * *
As Ava walked down the winding stairs past the vintage sewing machines sadness touched her, for Jess’s life snuffed out so tragically early, but also for Liam. The haunted look in his eyes as he’d spoken of his marriage and his wife’s death had been all too apparent, and underlined the fact that Liam had not got over Jess and most likely never would. The knowledge added an extra layer to her sadness, made her wish she could help him, made her wish...wish what?
That he weren’t a man weighed with grief, that somehow this were a real date, an attraction that could be pursued in the hope of the possibility of a future. That way lay madness. Ava would not even set a toe on that path of delusion, take a single step on the way to one-sided love ever again. That would be nothing short of utter foolishness. She might as well put a target on her heart saying: Break me now.
So from now on she had to focus on the fact that this was fake, that the attraction between them couldn’t be acted upon or built upon or go anywhere. Full stop. So she would go back upstairs and concentrate on maki
ng this the best fake relationship she could, paying her father’s debt to the best of her ability.
With a smile of thanks to the bartender she headed back to the terrace, handed Liam his glass and sat back opposite him.
‘Thank you.’ He smiled at her. ‘For this and for being such a good listener.’
‘No problem. As I said, I am truly sorry you had to talk about it and I’m sorry that there will be intrusive questions from the press.’
‘It’s their job, I guess. Any ideas what they may come up with?’
Ava sipped her wine, ran through the possible scenarios in her mind. ‘I suppose one question may be, “What was it about Ava that made you re-enter the relationship arena after the tragic death of your wife?”’ She gazed at the darkening sky now only tinged with the very last of the sun’s rays. ‘Obviously that will be somewhat awkward and I’ll do my best to turn the conversation.’
‘How?’
Ava thought for a moment. ‘I’ll say something like, “Hey, guys, much as I would love to hear my virtues extolled, Jess’s death was tragic and I’d much prefer to take the opportunity to highlight what readers can do to help with research for the terrible disease that took her.”’
Liam stared at her in evident admiration. ‘That’s a brilliant answer.’
‘Thank you very much. It comes from practice. I’ve been in the public eye for as long as I can remember.’
‘Did you enjoy it?’
‘I got used to it, because it’s all I’ve ever known. And hopefully it will come in handy now. I will do my very best to deflect questions about Jess where I can.’
‘I appreciate that.’
Ava sipped her wine, glanced at Liam and without her even meaning them to the words spilled from her lips. ‘Do you think you ever will have a relationship? A real one, I mean?’ Once said, the words seemed to hover in the air and she shook her head. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.’
‘It’s OK. It’s a fair question in the situation and easy enough to answer. No. I won’t. I’ve built my life on my own and I like it that way. I don’t want to rock the boat with a relationship.’
How could she blame him? ‘I totally get that.’ The fervency in her voice was too much and Liam raised his eyebrows.
‘So you’re not looking for a relationship either?’
‘Nope. For now I’ve given up dating completely. Like you, I am genuinely happy on my own. Why would I want to complicate that with a relationship?’
‘Because you want the traditional happy ever after, kids, family life?’
All the things he must have once been looking forward to and had had taken from him.
‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly. ‘I do want that but only with the right person and I don’t know how to figure out who that is.’ She’d got it wrong once and she’d seen the unhappiness that could be generated by a bad marriage. ‘Getting it wrong is not a risk I want to take.’
‘But how will you ever work out who Mr Right is if you don’t give anyone a chance?’