Charles was in his new state of the art minimalist office sitting forward on his wide leather swivel chair facing a 50" interactive projection screen placed on his large desk instead of a standard keyboard where he could work with various screens at once by using fluid hand movements to project graphics of car parts and other work he was dealing with. It took a bit of getting used to, getting to know this new and ultra-modern piece of equipment but he thought he shouldn't feel surprised seeing as his new workplace was ahead of the times being the world's number one sports car manufacturing company. He would laugh to himself and think what Molly would say if she saw him. "You look like Tom Cruise out of that futuristic robot film."

He sat back in his seat and took a minute to look around him. The colour scheme along the walls was gun metal grey and black with a huge "L" shaped black leather settee situated alongside one wall and a 20 seater conference table was positioned at the other side of his office next to an all glass wall overlooking the beautiful Berlin skyline.

Working in this city came as a huge surprise for Charles. Being offered the promotion 6 months ago and a move to the company head office was a shock to him. He was enormously flattered to be picked for this opportunity. His CEO informed him that as he was one of the best car designers in the world, it made sense for him to be part of the cutting edge design team at head office. His new role meant that he would be on hand and therefore be in the perfect position to have the overall say on all vehicles should any important changes be needed, before the cars were assembled by hand as they were so bespoke. The company would also pay for Charles to live in one of the new apartment complexes in the city.

It took a few days for Charles to think about what he should do. Molly had already left Harpenden for Scotland. He decided that he was still of the opinion that he would give her time to let herself get settled in her own new job and didn't want to cause her unnecessary upset especially as she was chasing her dreams. The words in the letter that she had wrote to him "enjoy the rest of your life and know because of you I will never let a man get close to me again." still ran through his mind late at night when he was winding down after a long day. The words cut through him like a knife. He couldn't believe how a misunderstanding had caused such pain to both him and Molly. Deep down, he knew, his heart was broken and it had a Molly shaped hole in it. He decided he would accept this new position as hopefully time and distance would be good for them both and when the time was right, hopefully he could make her believe that he desperately wanted to be with her. If any doubts crept into his mind, he kept telling himself he was doing this was for the greater good for them both.

Charles was called from his musings by his secretary who knocked at his door. He knew it would be for his 10.00 meeting. He stood up and took his suit jacket off the back of his chair.

"Come in."

"Excuse me, Sir. Your ten o'clock is here."

"Thank you. I'll be right along."

He shut down his projection screen and opened the top drawer of his desk and took out some paperwork that his clients needed to see. Just as he was closing it, he caught sight of a dried flower tucked into the front page of his diary. He lightly touched the brittle flat petals with the purple colouring faded a long time ago and since turned into a pale brown shade. It was picked when Charles and Molly had their date on the lake after they had danced together. A wide smile spread across his lips at the beautiful memory. He closed the drawer slowly and quietly.

***** OG *****

Molly was sitting on a painting stool putting the finishing touches to one of her latest creations. She was wearing her old long denim shirt that she would wear whenever she was working and it didn't matter how much paint she got on herself. Her glossy brown hair tied up in a loose pony tail.

She sat in a light, airy room partitioned off from the main foyer of the art gallery. This room was classed as a small relaxation area. The small number of staff that worked at the gallery would come here for their breaks or lunches and look out through the glass patio doors at a large stretch of greenery leading onto the busy town high street.

Molly was at her most relaxed while expressing the picture in her mind's eye through strokes on put on paper. In fact, her move up to Scotland was relatively stress-free. This surprised Molly considering she didn't know anyone, the area or gallery she would be working in and she would be displaying her work to complete strangers. People's love or criticism of her paintings would test Molly's inner confidence, she thought.

The gallery was a fairly busy one. Molly was one of two artists displaying their work at the same time. The other artist was a 30 year old lady called Maisie whose painting style was plainer and wasn't given to using too many colours favouring a more black and white look. She lived away and only visited the gallery once a week. Visitors who came were either tourists visiting the local area or people from the nearest towns who all had heard about the new exhibitions that were taking place presenting young talent from both Scotland and the UK who had no way to advertise their work. More often than not, any potential customers wanted to speak to the artists themselves while looking at their work. Wanting to know the background or idea why the artist chose a certain theme or what was their thinking when it came to certain colours or textures that had been used rather than just looking at a small information board on a wall.

Molly didn't think she would like the talking part as she found it hard to express her thoughts when it came to her work. There was sometimes no rhyme or reason to it but she still found it incredulous that people were very interested in her. She laughed to herself when one man had asked enthusiastically, "How do you make those textures come out like that, it's like the clouds in this one's gonna jump out at me," stretching his arms right out excitedly with a wide smile on his face, while she thought to herself "Calm down, mate, it's just a painting, you'll give yourself a Julius seizure in a minute."

Molly felt incredibly settled. She had rented a small cottage only a mile from the town. It was a very similar style to where she lived in Harpenden with it being a 2 bedroomed property however the main difference was that it backed onto a large lake that ran along the town and past Molly's house up to the foothills of the mountains in the distance. Her most favourite place to sit was outside on the grass and paint with the sun beaming its rays onto Molly's canvas, giving her the most natural light to express herself by. Mostly, the only noise being the wind catching in the sails of small boats that would go past. The area was surprisingly quiet given its fairly close proximity into town.

Molly named the cottage "Painters Paradise". After careful consideration, it seemed very apt as that was how she saw the place where she lived and they were the same words Charles used to say whenever he walked into her house and her canvases caught his eye.

Recently Molly had a couple of commission requests from America and Italy which stunned her. They originated from people looking on the internet and reading about her talent. She truly felt like she was living her dream and showing the world what she could do. Every time she felt like that, the first thing she would think of was Charles and what he would say if he was with her and how proud he would be of her.

She found herself thinking about Charles in her daily life more and more. She could still feel his arms around her, snuggling into her from behind and nuzzling gently behind her ear and kissing her earlobes which made her melt in his arms. Thinking about her fingers plunging into and playing with his gorgeous curls, her hands running down his face and feeling his solid frame against the softness of her palm. Thinking about him resting his head on her shoulder while he quietly watched her paint, the feeling of his breath on the back of her neck and the smell of his expensive aftershave mingling with the sweet smell of paint was something she couldn't let herself think about too much as she was able to start building up a wall to keep those feelings and memories at bay. They were too painful to relive at a time when she was trying to be brilliant.

She felt as if sometimes she was on a merry-go-round regarding her feelings for Charles. During the day, she would wear a mask of confidence and self-belief, but then she would be reminded of Charles and how he helped her believe in herself when her spirit was ebbing and that he should be a part of this new life she had.

Then at night, she would spend hours thinking of him and how complete and happy her life felt with him and then the pain would start, believing that he hadn't got over separating from Rebecca and when Molly saw them in town, if not already, they were rekindling what they had for the previous 9 years.

But she couldn't hate him, she knew deep down she still loved him and always would. Molly knew that she never gave him a chance to explain himself. Instead of being a coward involving writing a very scathing letter to him and running away to Joanna and David's, she should have sat down in the same room as him and somehow laid everything out as adults and tried to keep anger and hurt at bay.

But she knew it was too late. When she changed jobs, she was given a new mobile. It was at a time when she was hurting so badly and never thought her heart would ever heal again. This could be her chance to start over. Wipe the slate clean and any traces of contact numbers she had for Charles were quickly deleted. She didn't have a great memory for telephone numbers anyway.

She kept in touch with Mr Tebbutt. He was like an adopted grandfather to her. There was no way she would never have him in her life. He still looked out for her even though she was hundreds of miles away. He reminded her continually of the finer points of house security and ensured that every night, she did her checks. It could be classed as annoying but Molly knew that he was worried about her and doing it out of love. Mr Tebbutt also said that Charles visited him a couple of times after Molly had moved away. They would sit drinking wine in the garden and talk of their favourite classical music composer. Molly loved that even with everything that had happened with her and Charles, he still visited their old friend.

Mr Tebbutt didn't tell Molly that Charles had accepted a promotion and a move to Berlin. He didn't want to add further hurt or pain to Molly and thought if Molly and Charles were meant to be, they would get in contact with each other wherever they were in the world.

Joanna and David rang most evenings too, updating her on their daily lives. Matthew's school football team had won their Under 10's league. Emily had started ballet lessons and couldn't wait to show Molly her new costume especially her tiara. Joanna had changed her hours at work so she was at home more. She wouldn't entertain the idea of getting another nanny. Molly was the best and was part of the family. No-one else would ever come close.

David still fantasised about the supercars that Charles would pull up in outside their house and decided that he would definitely get one by the time he was 40. Joanna reminded him that he only had a year to go and would say "good luck with that one, mate." David laughed jokingly saying that he would ask Charles for mates rates at which his wife would say "don't you bloody dare."

They still liked Charles but hoped that he hadn't done anything to hurt Molly and that somehow she could have been mistaken in what she saw. They tried to persuade her to go back home that afternoon as they would be sure Charles was waiting for her and to sort things but looking at Molly breaking her heart in Joanna's arms, and the letter that she had left Charles, there seemed no turning back in this situation. The next day, Molly's mind-set was all about Scotland and the new phase in her life.

***** OG *****

As Molly stood up from her painting stool and washed her brushes in her pot of warm water while having a last look at any touch ups she could do before she classed this picture as finished, the gallery owner walked into the room. Amanda was in her thirties, slim with long blonde hair. She had a vast knowledge of art and loved the idea of meeting these new up and coming artists displaying their work. She had a great sense of humour and had become a good friend to Molly. Having a friend like Amanda was one of the reasons why Molly adapted so well to moving to the new area.

"Hey Molly. How you doing? You finished? I'm gonna lock up in a bit. We've had a bit of a slow afternoon."

"Yeah, Mandy just about. I think this is probably a record for me. It only took a week. Normally takes a good 3-4." Molly put her hand at the bottom of her back and stretched herself gently.

"No rush, Molls. I've said before 'good things come to those who wait."

"Good job my work's all good then." Molly laughed, taking her denim shirt off revealing a plain black t-shirt and jeans underneath.

Amanda laughed too and walked round to the front of the canvas, trying to get a look at this latest creation but Molly stopped her.

"Eh and what do you think you're doing, missus? You know my rules, only when the picture goes on the wall that you're allowed to see it for the first time."

"Still into the big reveal idea are you? Well I'll be good for now but tonight I'm out for a friends' birthday and I promise after a few prosecco's I won't be able to count for my actions then. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"I'm sure. I need a hot bath and an early night." Molly sat down on one of the settees and pulled the bobble out of her hair and ran her hands through her soft waves so it hung loosely over her shoulders.

"Sounds wild. Watch what you're doing for God's sake." Amanda laughed. "Oh by the way, I forgot to say earlier, we've got a charity auction at the end of the month up in Glasgow. We pick a couple of pieces from the young artists that we know and sell them with the proceeds going to a charity of the gallery's choice."

"That sound great. Have you done one before?"

"Yeah, we've done a couple and they've always been a great success. Great turnout too at most of them. Quite a few art collectors came last time to one we did in London. A few galleries are involved in displaying with this. All the details are up on the website if you want to have a look."

"If there's a free bar, I might try and get myself a ticket. I've never been to Glasgow either so a chance for a bit of sightseeing."

"Better try and keep on my good side then. Although I won't be picking the pictures that could be sold. It's some art teacher from some art school somewhere."

"Mm. Oh well something to look forward too then." Molly thought to herself, she must tell Joanna and David about the event. It would be a great opportunity to have a good catch up.

***** OG *****

Charles was about to go back to his apartment at the end of a long day of meetings with overseas clients, developers and suppliers. He sat down on one of the leather settees drinking his last coffee for the day whilst he had a last look at a few things on the internet using his tablet. He loaded one of the websites that he checked regularly and his heart leapt.

He sat forward, his hands starting to shake and he felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness as he tried to take control of himself and work out what to do next. He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck and drew his hand through the curls that were there. This situation had to be thought through expertly yet delicately. As someone who has to take executive decisions daily, this should be a fairly easy assignment but it could also cost him dearly.

A/N: Sorry, it's taken so long to write this chapter. A busy RL recently and a huge bout of writers block is to blame. Hopefully this one reads well. Thanks so much for the reviews for last chapter.