One Perfect Summer

hear Joe saying firmly through the open door.
    ‘Are you telling me your fight scenes aren’t all digitally enhanced?’ Lukas snipes.
    ‘You really don’t want to find out, buddy.’
    ‘Stop it!’ I shout, falling into the kitchen.
    ‘Alice!’ Lukas exclaims, rushing towards me.
    I take a step away from this stranger and glance at Joe. Lukas halts in his steps. He looks behind him at Joe and then back at me. Pain contorts his features. He takes another step towards me. I step backwards. ‘How did you find me?’ I ask.
    ‘Your parents. You asked them about this cottage. We were all worried.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    I know there’s nowhere near enough remorse in my voice to cover all of this .
    ‘Alice?’ Joe asks tentatively.
    ‘Do you mind?’ Lukas snaps. ‘I’d like some time alone with my wife .’
    I glance at Joe and nod. He turns and walks into the living room.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Lukas asks in not much more than a whisper.
    ‘I’m not sure,’ I tell him honestly.
    ‘Perhaps it was wrong of me to stop you from seeking some sort of resolution years ago. Is that what this is about? Finding answers?’
    I can hardly bear to look at him. I nod.
    ‘Did you find them?’ He sounds desperate.
    ‘I don’t know,’ I say in a small voice. ‘I’m so confused.’
    He takes another step towards me. I can’t go any further backwards – I’m pressed up against the kitchen counter.
    He walks the rest of the way to me and puts his hand on my hip. ‘I think you should come home with me now,’ he says in a low voice.
    I shake my head. ‘I’m not ready. Not yet.’
    He nods. Then, quick as a flash, he grabs my wrist and drags me out of there.
    ‘NO!’ I scream.
    Joe appears before Lukas reaches the car.
    ‘LET HER GO!’
    I’ve never seen Joe so full of rage as he stands with his fists raised, ready to strike, wanting to strike.
    Lukas flings my wrist away, and the look he gives me . . . I feel like a knife has pierced my heart. I know he will never, ever forgive me for this. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll never forgive myself, either.
    Joe steps in front of me and puts his hand on my stomach, gently pushing me behind him. But there’s no need to protect me anymore. Lukas is already in his car. He flashes the two of us a venomous look before roaring away down the track, creating a dust cloud in his wake.
    ‘That’s kind of put a dampener on our secret little hideaway,’ Joe says. I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but I’m in no mood for jokes. I run inside and up the stairs. He follows me.
    ‘Are you okay?’ he asks.
    ‘ What have I done? What have I done? ’ I yank open the top drawer of my bedside table and pull out my engagement and wedding rings.
    Clear as day I see Lukas kneeling before me on the crisp white snow at the top of an Austrian mountain. ‘ When you said Rosalinde was my first love . . . You were wrong. ’ His eyes brim with tears as he fervently promises me , ‘You’re my first love. I love you . ’
    Oh, Lukas. My husband. He may have his faults, but he doesn’t deserve this. I stare down at the rings with despair. ‘What have I done?’
    Joe sits down on the bed beside me and takes my hand, closing my fist with my rings inside.
    ‘You’ve made a decision.’
    ‘I didn’t make a decision! Lukas has made one for both of us.’
    ‘No, Alice,’ he says, calmly and firmly. ‘You made the decision when you agreed to come here with me. You knew this would happen. In your heart, you knew.’
    I look up at him and my eyes fill with tears. ‘What now?’
    ‘Now we start our new life together.’ He gently opens each of my fingers and takes the rings from my palm, then he puts them back in the drawer and closes it. ‘Do you think you can handle it?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    He tilts my chin up to look at him. ‘I do.’
    I pull away. ‘No. No. This is all wrong.’
    ‘It’s not!’ he exclaims.
    ‘No. We can’t start off like this. I have to go back. I have to sort things out.’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Yes. I have to. This isn’t right. It’s so wrong. We’ve been living in a dream world and I have to go back and face up to my responsibilities. I have to talk to Lukas. I owe it to him to explain, at the very least. I need to talk to my parents. And Lizzy’s going to do her nut in . . .’
    ‘No.’ He shakes his head. ‘No.’
    ‘Joe, you have to let me go. You have to let me do this.’
    ‘I can’t. What if he takes you