In that moment, Liv knew she was letting him go. She was letting them both go. She’d never told Finn what had happened that night under the water in the canal. Perhaps she feared that he wouldn’t believe her. Now, she tugged on his arm, felt him, rather than heard him mumble, but he rose blearily from his sleep. Wordlessly, she pointed across at the couple and she knew he knew.

The silence that stretched tight and reverential in that moment felt as if it extended far beyond the little patch they sat on beneath the shady oak. It resonated across the path, across the city, perhaps across the entire universe, as if God’s law was holding its breath for just one sacred second to let them know that everything was exactly as it was meant to be.

And then, as she watched, Liv saw Rachel raise her hand. It was hello. It was goodbye. It was thank you and yes, she knew, it was I love you. ‘I love you too,’ Liv whispered, because maybe wrapped up in all the other emotions and worries of the last few years, it was the one thing she’d missed saying. ‘I love you, Rachel.’ And then, as the couple turned towards a copse of trees, disappearing out of sight, Liv felt a small tear race down her cheek. She knew this time, it really was goodbye.

Later, when they’d both tried to digest what they had seen, Finn turned to Liv and asked, ‘Did I dream that?’

‘No, I don’t think you did. I don’t think we could both have dreamed exactly the same thing, do you?’

‘No.’ He shook his head, because Finn was at heart much too practical to ever really believe in anything that wasn’t a fact he could prove or work to disprove. ‘They looked happy,’ he said a little wistfully.

‘We look happy.’ Liv leant towards him, kissed him gently on his lips. ‘And I think that’s the whole point, don’t you?’ She smiled, because now, everything really did feel as if it had slipped into place. Just as it was always meant to; quite perfectly.

Author’s Note

Like every Christmas, there just weren’t enough days in the holidays to squeeze this story into. So, because I’m in charge of everything in Ballycove, for once, I’m extending the Christmas holidays and if you are the sort of reader to meticulously go through each day, you will be right in thinking that there are a few extra days thrown in for good measure. Two, to be exact. Really, it just means that Ballycove is an even nicer place to live than it was before!

With that in mind, I do hope you’ll come back next year to stay in The Guest House…

Acknowledgements