‘Of course you can ask. You want the whole story?’ She waited for him to settle down with his coffee. ‘Nick was my first proper boyfriend. His family moved to Carranford . . . God, must have been eight years ago now. I was twenty, Nick was nineteen. We met in the pub one night and it was just . . . wow. Lust at first sight.’ Hallie smiled at the memory of that long hot summer; she didn’t have to explain to Luke that her lungs hadn’t been as bad then as they were now. The limitations on physical activities had been far fewer and the spark between her and Nick had been mutual and instantaneous. ‘He was so carefree and enthusiastic about everything. We fell in love. We didn’t actually have too much in common, but who cared about that?’ She paused and pulled a face. ‘Well, apart from Nick’s family and my mum. They didn’t want their perfect son getting himself involved with someone in my situation. And my mum just knew I was the one who’d end up getting hurt. She was desperate to protect me. Except I was twenty, so obviously I wasn’t going to listen to her. As far as Nick and I were concerned, we were Romeo and Juliet. Everyone was trying to split us up, which just made us that much more determined to make it work. Nick’s mum was terrified I was going to get pregnant and trap him that way. She couldn’t understand why he would want to be tied down with someone with CF when there were so many completely normal girls to choose from.’
Luke didn’t bother with the usual platitudes. ‘And how long did you stay together?’
‘Two years. Then the novelty began to wear off, I suppose. Nick was at Bath University, being a student and doing all the normal student things. He was sporty, he wanted to travel . . . I’m guessing it began to sink in that I was never going to miraculously get better. Then after his degree his parents paid for him to take a year off and go travelling around the world. Well, that was pretty much it. Travelling was what he wanted to do and I couldn’t stop him. That was when we broke up. And a few weeks after he left, his parents put their house up for sale and moved to Manchester.’
Luke whistled. ‘To make sure you two didn’t get back together when he came home?’
‘Who knows? Everyone in Carranford felt really sorry for me, anyway.’ Hallie’s dark eyes gleamed with mischief. ‘And we were all delighted when they had to sell the house for twenty grand less than they’d paid for it.’
‘And how did you cope?’
‘What, once Nick was gone? I wasn’t brave, if that’s what you’re asking. Made a right show of myself for a while. Drank too much, cried a lot, even slept with one of Nick’s friends, just to punish him. Except it didn’t help and I still felt like a bit of old rubbish.’ Reaching for her coffee and shrugging, Hallie said, ‘So I decided life would be easier if I didn’t get involved with anyone else. Basically, it wasn’t worth the hassle. I’d be better off staying single.’
Luke frowned slightly. ‘And you still think that?’
‘It’s not so difficult. I’m hardly the catch of the year.’ Hallie shook her head dismissively; it was time to change the subject. ‘Go on then, enough about me. Your turn now. Why aren’t you settled down?’
He looked amused. ‘I’m busy. I put in a lot of hours.’
‘Is that why you and Christina broke up?’ Wow, listen to me, asking the question I’ve wanted to know the answer to for months. But here in Luke’s cottage, at this time of night, it somehow seemed OK. Belatedly Hallie added, ‘You don’t have to say if you don’t want to. I’m just nosy.’
Because he was looking a bit embarrassed now. God, how awful if there’d been some humiliating sexual reason for the break-up.
‘It’s fine. There’s no big secret. We got together because we liked each other and everyone told us what a great couple we made. And life was easy and we never argued, and it was all just fine.’ Luke shrugged. ‘But it needs to be more than fine, doesn’t it? It wasn’t the . . . you know, the love affair of the century. We weren’t Romeo and Juliet.’
‘It just wasn’t enough,’ said Hallie.
‘Pretty much.’ He paused. ‘And then there were the snakes.’
‘You what?’
‘Well, quite.’ Luke smiled briefly at the expression on her face. ‘She kept them as pets. A Burmese python, a royal python and two corn snakes. The spare room was full of vivariums. And Christina loved them. Probably far more than she loved me.’ His tone was wry. ‘Basically, it was hard to relax in that house. I’m not terrified of snakes, but I was never going to like them. Never understood the appeal.’