Secrets of a Chalet Girl by Lorraine Wilson

forget.
    “Yes…I think I do…now, that is. See what found its way into my timeline yesterday.” She handed him her mobile phone, grimacing.
    Zac scrolled down to the Facebook link and clicked it, seeing Flora’s name mentioned. It linked to a local newspaper article in England.
    ‘ Tragedy Strikes Local Community’ – Earlier this year we reported the heart attack of the chairman of the Parish Council, Mr Paxton, at a community fundraising gathering. Further tragedy struck the Paxton household when his son Tom was jilted at the altar. The runaway bride left the family with mounting bills for a lavish wedding. With regret we report that on hearing the news Mr Paxton went on to have a second heart attack from which he failed to recover. The family blame the cancellation of the wedding and his son’s distress for putting Mr Paxton under stress. Mrs. Paxton said…’
    Zac stopped reading and raised his eyes to meet Flora’s. “You know this is a load of crap don’t you?”
    She met his eye. “Until I read that article I couldn’t shake the guilt but that, that…so-called newspaper gets all its facts wrong. I didn’t leave them in any debt; we had wedding insurance and I hardly left Tom at the altar. They got the order of events completely wrong and…I’m bloody angry. It’s woken me up to how unfair this is. I think the Paxton’s have friends at the local newspaper, it’s a deliberate smear and I refuse to let it get to me.”
    “You could complain? Try to get Facebook to take the link down, or make an official press complaint in England?”
    “I don’t want to do anything.” She shook her head. “If I do I’ll get sucked in and I want to leave it all behind me.”
    He supposed he could understand that point of view. After all hadn’t that been the way he always dealt with problems?
    “Did you never talk to his family about why you were leaving?” he asked.
    “I tried to.” She sighed, shaking her head. “His sister and I were close but I…couldn’t tell them how he made me feel. I tried but his sister accused me of making stuff up to make myself look better.”
    “How bad was it Flora?” He stroked her arms, soothing and cajoling her, the action feeling instinctive.
    Somehow he knew it had been
bad.
    He wasn’t sure how he knew it. But he knew.
    And he wanted to knock the living daylights out of Flora’s ex, anger swelling up on her behalf, so strongly that the muscles in his hands tensed and his body felt rigid.
    “Pretty bad,” she whispered, eyes wide, imploring him to understand. Or did she just want him to shut up and stop asking questions?
    He pulled her closer towards him and she pressed her head against his chest, eyes screwed shut.
    “It’s hard to talk about, you know?”
    “I know,” he replied, stroking the length of her back. “But it’s over now. And you did the right thing. You had to leave. No one should have to put up with bullying of any kind.”
    His mouth tightened as he thought of his mother and her refusal of all his offers of help.
    Her
refusal to leave.
    It baffled him. Maybe Flora would be able to explain to him why his mum still put up with his dad because he as sure as hell couldn’t fathom it!
    Can I tell Flora?
    He didn’t share his family stuff with anyone. It had certainly never occurred to him to share it with the girls he dated. Nick knew things weren’t right at home but they never talked about it. It simply wasn’t their way of doing things…
    He was about to say something when Flora turned her face up to his and kissed him, the kiss was long and deep and passionate, stirring him on every level. Opening Pandora’s box could wait until another day.
    Who wanted to talk about sad stuff when you could be enjoying life and living it to the full?
    Focusing on the positives, that’s what I need to do.
    And what Flora was doing with her hands most definitely fell into the enjoying life category. She trailed kisses down his chest and surprised him