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She was gone.

The cottage was empty.

Silence surrounded him.

David welcomed the despair that settled over him like a dark shroud.

It was for the best. Megan had her own life and her own future. He had his success and his life and his privacy with no worries about anyone in the Caymans. He leaned forward in the chair, dangling his hands between his knees. He had songs to write and music to record. His life would be full. So why did he feel so fucking empty?

It was for the best. He had to convince himself of that. Rubbing his hand though his hair, he stood, picked up his guitar, and opened the front door. He stared at Violet Cottage as the rays of the setting sun highlighted the yellow roses spilling over the fence between the two homes. If he closed his eyes he could still see her wandering though the garden.

He pushed open the gate to Alice’s place and smiled as a whiff of sandalwood brushed by him. He’d just sit over here for a while and play some music.

As the sun dropped below the horizon and the sounds of night surrounded him, David closed his eyes and began to sing. He let the words come from his heart and the music soothed him.

The song flowed and he faced the truth as the night passed. He had to learn to open his heart. Now he’d found Megan. He’d fought falling for her, trying to use the time barrier as an excuse, but as he sat on Alice’s patio, trying to be close to Megan, he admitted the truth.

I love her. And I need her in my life.

At midnight he put the guitar aside and stood, looking out over the dark garden. An owl hooted, breaking the silence, and he smiled.

Megan was responsible for herself, and she had known what she wanted. The connection between them was meant to be…and he had let her go.

“I know you’re gone, Alice, but maybe you were right?” he whispered into the still night.

Maybe I can find happiness?

So all I have to do is bring her back to me.

It was time to write the words that would bring Megan back to him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Well done, Megan.” Tony hugged her before they left the small office outside the vice-chancellor’s suite. Miss Robinson, the vice-chancellor’s secretary, pursed her lips in disapproval and Megan was tempted to blow a raspberry at the old cow. Instead, she smiled sweetly but got a rude grunt in reply.

The hearing had been rescheduled to allow her enough time to fly back from England, and she’d left the cottage as soon as the festival was over. Winning her case after only one meeting with the disciplinary committee was a huge victory, and she grasped the written letter of apology from the vice-chancellor between her fingers. Greg Cannon had been dismissed for making false allegations and hacking her password, and Megan had been totally cleared of any wrongdoing. The police record had been the key; Greg Cannon was a false name and he’d falsified the documents and qualifications to get the job at the university. His computer hacking skills had been tracked on an audit trail, and he’d been charged with numerous offences.

Megan’s trip back to London on the train, and then the flight back to Australia were a blur. And now, not only had she got her job back, with a good shot at the permanent promotion she also had the excitement of getting her notes out and working on her thesis with the wealth of material she’d picked up in Glastonbury.

Life would be good.

“Celebratory drink?” Tony glanced down at his watch. “Kathy and Beth should be at the pub by now. Kathy’s looking forward to finally hearing all about your trip.”

“I don’t know, Tony.” Megan smiled at him apologetically when he opened the glass door at the end of the corridor leading to the parking garage. “I think I’d prefer to go straight home. I’m really keen to get to work on my thesis.”

“Come on, Megan, you’ve been home three weeks and you’ve been avoiding us like the plague. Kathy’s been trying to get you over for dinner for the past two weekends. She’s upset that you haven’t even asked how the pregnancy is going.”

The last thing Megan wanted to do was talk about the trip to Glastonbury. While she hugged the thought and the memory of Davy to herself, he stayed real to her. For some strange reason, she felt that if she talked about her experiences at Glastonbury, she would wake up and realise it had all been a dream. For the time being, she didn’t want to share it with anyone. On her living room wall, she’d put up a huge poster of Davy and had spent hours looking at it since she’d come home. His smouldering dark eyes followed her around her apartment.

Now that she’d won her appeal, and knowing she still had a job, maybe she’d get back to normal.

And forget him. It had been a pleasant visit and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that she couldn’t tell anyone about…

Maybe spending time with her sister would help.

“Okay, just one drink.”

The Oaks Hotel at Neutral Bay was crowded and Megan was greeted by a few friends as Tony led her out to the small bar at the back. Kathy was sitting with Beth at a table by an artificial-log fire and she jumped up when Megan and Tony entered the room.