Chapter 22
22
There was no word from Sarah for the next few days and Jade was saddened, but not surprised.
Finn said no more about wanting to talk to her either, which was a relief. He too seemed to be keeping out of her way. The prospect of going out for dinner with Aiden loomed like a black cloud and she wished she could back out of it. But that would have been crueller than saying no in the first place. Why hadn’t she said no? She berated herself for being a coward.
As she got ready on Saturday night, Jade realised she hadn’t told Finn she was going out with Aiden. Not that she normally filled him in on her activities. But then she didn’t normally go anywhere. She looked at herself in the mirror critically and wondered if she’d subconsciously chosen an outfit that covered every bit of flesh. Coffee-coloured skinny cords, a cream silk shirt she’d bought for interviews and boots with no heels because she was out of practice at walking in heels and there might be a walk between car park and restaurant.
She looked smart but casual. There was no way Aiden could get the impression they were off on a hot date. She checked there was no lippie on her teeth and opened the bedroom door to meet Finn coming out of the bathroom.
‘You look nice.’ There was a mixture of surprise and appreciation on his face and she didn’t know whether to feel insulted or flattered. ‘I take it you’re going somewhere more interesting than the Red Lion?’
‘Just for a pizza with Aiden.’ She ignored the knowing look in his eyes. ‘You up to anything?’
‘I thought I might head down to the pub and see if Mike’s sold any of my paintings yet.’
‘I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.’
A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Aiden strolled into the cottage. He made a big thing about giving her a bunch of flowers and whistling his appreciation of the effort she’d gone to. She knew he was being nice, but by the time she’d got him out of the door her face was flaming. This had been a crazy idea. She was never in a million years going to be able to let Aiden down gently after tonight.
Aiden was torn between worrying about whether Jade would like the restaurant he’d chosen and a tentative delight that their long-awaited date was finally happening. The Italian had been fully booked, so he’d picked an English restaurant that hadn’t been open very long. She didn’t seem overly excited about coming out with him, but this was new territory for them both. He’d decided to drive her himself and not have anything to drink. That way he could fully enjoy the evening. Unglazed by alcohol, he could also make sure he didn’t commit any faux pas.
A waiter took their drinks orders and left them with leather-bound menus. Rather to his chagrin, Jade had asked for a Diet Coke. But nothing really mattered, Aiden thought, as he watched her scanning the menu. The main thing was that she’d chosen to be here with him for the evening. He tried to suppress the tiny flicker of satisfaction that Finn would be sitting in the Red Lion on his own. It was petty and he could afford to be gracious now.
Knowing Jade was vegetarian, Aiden had decided to forfeit his usual rare steak and go for sea bass. But the sea bass was sold out, so he’d picked guinea fowl, which seemed the most innocuous of the remaining choices, with prawns to start.
‘How’s your soup?’ he asked Jade, picking up a prawn and deftly snapping off the head.
‘It’s lovely, thank you, Aiden.’ She dabbed her mouth with her napkin and Aiden looked around for a finger bowl and saw that there wasn’t one. Unable to catch a waiter’s eye, he had to resort to wiping his fingers on his own napkin. Preoccupied with this, he didn’t notice until Jade was halfway through her soup that although they had butter on the table there was no bread.
‘Would you like some bread with that?’ he asked belatedly.
‘No, I’m fine, Aiden, thanks.’
‘Are you sure? I can get you some.’ He stood up, knocking his fork on to the floor with the edge of his jacket.
Jade bent to pick it up. Fortunately, at that moment their main courses arrived. Or at least Aiden’s did.
‘Yours will be two minutes,’ the waiter informed her.
Good manners prevented Aiden from starting without her and they talked shop while they waited. He asked her how the fund-raising was going and she told him about a woman who’d left a generous donation to them in her will.
‘She took a cat from us when we first started up,’ Jade told him. ‘She was quite elderly and so we had an agreement that Felix would come back to us if he outlived her, which of course I was fine with. I had no idea she planned to leave us a legacy if this happened.’
‘Wow.’ Aiden shook his head. ‘There are some lovely people around.’
‘There are. Only last week a jogger brought in a mallard with an injured beak…’ She broke off and glanced at his plate.
Aiden was distracted by the waiter arriving to apologise for the lateness of Jade’s meal.
Saved by the bell, Jade thought, realising she’d opened her mouth before putting her brain into gear. Talking about the duck she was currently nursing back to health, when Aiden had a guinea fowl on his plate, suddenly seemed a bit crass.
She tore her gaze away from his plate, where a piece of bone, presumably the guinea fowl’s leg, stuck out at an angle, the end of it trussed in white paper. Was the paper meant to be a disguise or decoration?
She felt a pang of sympathy for the bird, which had not only had to die, but had been made to look so undignified afterwards.
‘Please start, Aiden, don’t wait for me,’ she urged, seeing that gravy was beginning to congeal on his plate.
He ate as slowly as he could, which was sweet of him, but he was still almost finished by the time her main course arrived.
‘So sorry,’ the waiter said, putting it on the table with a flourish.
Jade thanked him absently and he swept away, his nose in the air. She wondered what Sarah would have made of all this. She’d probably have laughed. And suddenly she felt overwhelmingly sad that Sarah felt she couldn’t phone her for a chat, even if she wasn’t ready to confess all to Finn.
Even when she’d been away in Bristol, they’d always kept in close contact, more like sisters than friends. It was impossible to believe this space had come between them so swiftly .
Jade turned down Aiden’s offer of a dessert, and they drove back to the cottage in silence. A strained silence, Jade thought, or maybe it was just her. Aiden seemed OK.
She glanced at him and tried to work out the most diplomatic way of telling him that she’d had a lovely evening, but had no desire to repeat the experience. He’d refused to let her pay any of the bill, which made it all worse.
Aiden parked outside the main gates, switched off the ignition, and reached across to release her seat belt at the same moment as she pressed the button.
‘It sticks a bit sometimes,’ he said apologetically as their hands knocked against each other.
‘It seems to be all right tonight,’ she said, pulling her hand away.
Aiden leapt out of the car and came round to open the door for her.
‘Thanks.’
‘My pleasure.’ He was wondering whether he should risk a goodnight kiss. The evening hadn’t quite lived up to his expectations. Jade hadn’t seemed as relaxed with him as she usually was.
She clutched her bag to her. ‘That was a lovely evening, Aiden.’
They stood with a little gap between them below the sign for Duck Pond Rescue that Finn had made. It was a beautiful night, clear and crisp, the stars coldly bright above them. A perfect evening for romance, Aiden thought, taking a step closer to her.
She looked beautiful in the moonlight, her eyes wide and dark. He had an urge to put his arms around her, but he still wasn’t sure. Eventually, cursing himself for his shyness, he bent and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘See you tomorrow, then.’
‘OK. Goodnight and thanks again.’ She made no move to invite him in and after a moment of awkwardness, he stepped back, still looking at her, and tripped over a tree stump. He put his hands out to save himself, then overbalanced completely and fell backwards into the hedge that ran alongside the cottage.
‘Are you all right?’ Her voice was all concern and she bent to help him up, which didn’t help his ego one bit.
He scrambled to his feet, brushing dead leaves and bits of grass off his trousers and feeling like a complete idiot.
‘I hope you’re not driving in that condition.’ They both glanced up to see Finn coming round the corner, presumably on his way back from the Red Lion.
‘I’m not drunk.’ Aiden flushed. Why was Finn always around when he made an idiot of himself?
‘Hey – take it easy – I was joking.’ Finn put up his hands in mock defence. ‘You just didn’t look too steady there for a minute.’
Jade, Aiden saw to his embarrassment, was pressing her fingers to her head and looking as if she’d rather be somewhere else, anywhere else. Some romantic finale that had been, he thought bitterly. ‘I’ll be off then,’ he said, and, giving Finn a curt nod, he got into his jeep. When he looked in his rear-view mirror, Finn was saying something to Jade as he opened the gate for her. He felt a little twist of jealousy. He hated the thought of them going into the cottage and sharing coffee and perhaps a laugh at his expense.
Jade was too nice for that, he consoled himself, and she’d chosen to go out with him tonight, not Finn.
‘Nice evening?’ Finn asked, looking at Jade, eyebrows raised, as they got inside the cottage.
‘Lovely, thanks.’ It was a minor lie in the big scheme of things. ‘You?’
‘Not bad. You stopping up for coffee?’
‘I’ll just have a glass of water. I’ve got a bit of a headache.’
‘Side effect from landing on it last week, probably.’
‘Yeah, I expect you’re right,’ she said, although she knew her headache had nothing at all to do with last week, but more to do with the feeling she shouldn’t have gone out with Aiden. At the very least she should have said something, but she hadn’t been able to. Not after he’d landed in the bush in front of Finn. It would have been like kicking him when he was down.
Now it was going to be twice as difficult to persuade him she wasn’t interested in him. Water splashed over her hands as she filled up her glass and she realised Finn was still standing in the kitchen.
‘So, has Mike sold any of your paintings yet?’
‘No, I think he’s right. I’ll have to do more local landscapes.’
‘You could do more of Stonehenge. It’s beautiful in spring.’
‘Yes, maybe I will.’ As she passed him, he handed her a foil-wrapped blister of tablets. ‘Painkillers.’
‘Thanks.’
Upstairs, Jade lay in bed, feeling curiously depressed. She and Aiden had a lot in common. It would have been nice if there was some chemistry, but there was no spark, none of the electricity that flared between her and Finn and left her disconcertingly breathless at the most inappropriate moments.
She blinked away the thought. Fantasising about Finn was both stupid and painful. In a few months’ time, he’d be a distant memory because, despite what she’d told Sarah, she knew that when it came to it, her loyalty was to her best friend. If she had to choose between friendship and a crush on a man she barely knew, there was no contest.