Raindrops And Roses

By Christiane France

The day before Drew McEvoy is to fly home following a temporary work assignment in London, he trips going down the stairs to a teashop and is saved from injury by the quick thinking of Englishman, Michael Dawson. Michael sees Drew is a little shaken up by the incident, so he invites Drew to sit at his table to catch his breath and offers to buy him a cup of tea.

The chemistry is there from the word "go." Drew doesn’t know if it’s a momentary thing, or if it could turn into something more, and there’s not enough time for him to find out before he leaves. All he can do is hold onto the moment and stretch it out to the very last drop.

They leave the teashop and Michael surprises Drew by inviting him to have a drink at his flat, and then go somewhere for dinner. Drew knows the most they can have is a few hours together. This time tomorrow they’ll be thousands of miles apart. But there’s no point in him telling Michael that. After all, they’re just ships passing in the night, right?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christiane France
• Release date: Sep 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533781390

Book preview

Raindrops And Roses

London, September 30

I’ve always found something infinitely sad about a wet day, and watching the raindrops slide down the window of my London hotel room only made it worse. For me, rain goes hand-in-hand with sad events like funerals, lost chances and empty dreams. Today, it signified the end of a brief affair I wished could last a lifetime. A cosmic cleaning service to wash away the memories and drown out any hope that, just maybe, tomorrow things would be better.

Except tomorrow wouldn’t be any better than today. Or the day after that, or the next one, or any other day in the next hundred years.

If... A tiny two-letter word that had the power to change the world.

If I hadn’t been between projects at work, I wouldn’t even be here in the U.K.. And if I hadn’t decided to check out that cute basement teashop, I wouldn’t have tripped on my way down the stairs. Of course, if I hadn’t tripped, I wouldn’t have been saved from possible injury and certain embarrassment by a stranger’s quick thinking and outstretched arms. And if none of that had happened, I wouldn’t be standing here now feeling as if my life was over.

I’d known the moment Michael touched me and our eyes met I was heading for heartbreak rather than love everlasting. My assignment in London had finished yesterday and today I would be leaving. All that was left for me to do was finish my packing and get through the last few hours. Knowing that, I should have thanked him politely and made a quick escape. Instead, I’d lingered. We’d had lunch together and chatted the afternoon away. I have no idea what we talked about, just meaningless chitchat to hold onto the moment. Then, when the teashop closed, instead of going our separate ways, we’d gone to his place and listened to music.

Later, we walked to Soho and dined at a tiny, very romantic Italian restaurant he knew about. We ordered the house special, spaghetti Bolognese, or spag-bol as Michael called it, and a bottle of Chianti, then spent last night together.

By this morning, I was in so deep I didn’t want to leave.

Hey, Drew, what time did you say your flight goes? Michael gave me a hug, along with another unnecessary and painful reminder our time together was all but over. Is it two or two-thirty?

Two-thirty. Another hour, and I’ll call the front desk to have someone collect my luggage and find us a cab.

We’d agreed not to make stupid promises to keep in touch. If we were meant to be, then it would happen. But we both knew a long distance affair would never work; we lived too far apart. And I shouldn’t have prolonged the agony by agreeing to let Michael see me off, but he’d insisted, and I hadn’t had the heart to say no.

Goodbyes are a total bitch and I could already see this one playing out in my mind: After I check in with the airline, the two of us will have a drink or two at the bar. Then,