Chapter 18
The pub was being locked up for the night as Nella made her way back. Tristan had walked home, leaving his flashy car parked outside. Tempting though it was to scrawl something rude in the dust on the back of it, she resisted the urge and carried on up the high street.
The lights were on in Nick’s cottage, but when she glanced casually through the uncurtained window, there was no sign of him in the living room. Nella rummaged through her bag for the keys to her own cottage, then let out a strangled squawk of panic as something dark flashed in front of her face – eurgh , what was that ?
Argh, there it was again.
Nick pulled open his front door. ‘You OK?’
Did she sound OK? On the other hand, she wasn’t a wimp. And definitely didn’t want to look like a wimp.
‘I’m fine. It’s nothing, just a bird. Caught me by surprise.’
He looked up into the darkness for a couple of seconds, then pointed. ‘Not a bird. It’s a bat. Two bats, actually. See them now?’
She did. The pair of them were darting and swooping at warp speed, just visible in the dim glow of the street lamp.
‘I’d forgotten about bats. Haven’t seen any for years.’
There was an empty tumbler in Nick’s left hand. He raised it slightly. ‘I was about to have a nightcap. Fancy joining me?’
Zzzzap went one of the bats, swooping past her field of vision once more, this time making her jump back. Amused, Nick said, ‘We can stay inside if you’d rather.’
‘I’d love a nightcap. And outside is fine.’ She wasn’t going to have him marking her down as a scaredy-cat.
In the kitchen, he poured her a large cognac over ice, and a Scotch for himself. Heading through to his back garden, they sat at the wrought-iron table. It was still warm enough to be out and the clear sky was scattered with stars.
‘Cheers.’ Nella clinked her glass against his.
‘Cheers. You’re doing a great job. How are you enjoying being back?’
‘All good.’ They’d chatted during work hours, of course, but only briefly and when other people were around. Now that it was just the two of them, the emotions she’d been working so hard to suppress were flooding back. Her body still remembered the chemistry between them. By way of distraction she took a much-needed swallow of cognac and said, ‘Can we have a little bitch about Tristan? My God, you’d think he’d have grown out of it by now, but no. That’s never going to happen.’
‘You know it, I know it.’ Nick shrugged, the right side of his face illuminated by the pool of light from the kitchen window. ‘We all know it.’
‘Didn’t take Lizzie long to figure him out, either.’ She’d been semi-wondering whether to warn Nick about Lizzie’s grand plan for him. But no, he was a grown-up – and a gorgeous one at that, according to Lizzie. He had to be perfectly capable of handling overenthusiastic women.
Or not handling them, preferably.
‘She dealt with him pretty well. You both did. Can’t have been much fun for you back then, coming to live here at such a difficult time and having to deal with someone like him.’
‘Esme told me she’d told you about my family.’
He nodded. ‘She did. Actually, I asked. I wanted to know more about you.’
‘My grandpa took me in after Mum died. It didn’t bother me that he didn’t have money to spare. I didn’t mind that we had to buy my clothes from charity shops either. But it wasn’t great, discovering who they’d belonged to.’ Nella paused, remembering how she’d longed to push Tristan into the pond when he and his school friends had mocked her. ‘I was terrified of Grandpa finding out people had been laughing at me, because he would have been so upset. He worked for Tristan’s parents; they were the landed gentry and he was one of their gardeners. He did whatever they told him to do, because he was their obedient servant. And he had no idea I’d been made fun of by their bratty son.’ The ice cubes rattled in her glass as she took another swallow of cognac. ‘Honestly, he would have been mortified. Which was why I knew from the start I could never retaliate. I had to let it wash over me, to protect him. Although now I don’t have anyone to protect, maybe I should tell Tristan exactly what I think of him.’
‘He’s the younger brother. He resents the fact that Hugo’s the one who’ll inherit the estate. It’s no secret,’ said Nick. ‘He’s been going on about it for years, just can’t accept that the place will never be his. He’s jealous and feels it’s unfair. Mind you, if he ever did inherit it, he’d sack all the estate staff on the spot and probably turn the house into a giant casino.’ His shrug was dismissive. ‘Luckily for the village, that won’t happen. Hugo will keep the estate running smoothly; he knows his stuff.’
‘You’d think Tristan would be nicer to his brother, seeing as Hugo will be in charge of the money.’
‘You would, and I’ve warned Hugo about that. But Tristan always thinks he knows best. And Constance and Henry are only in their sixties, so hopefully it won’t happen for a good while yet.’ Nick leaned back in his chair and pointed skywards. ‘There’s the International Space Station.’
Nella followed the direction of his finger and located it, currently a white dot in the darkness. She watched it progress across the sky, seemingly at a stately pace but in reality at over seventeen thousand miles per hour, orbiting the earth every ninety minutes. It was the size of a football pitch and there were seven astronauts on board. What were they doing right now?
‘Are they watching us?’
‘Unlikely. But you never know.’
‘Maybe they have the world’s most powerful telescope trained on us and they can see everything, like God.’
Nick laughed. ‘Now I’m picturing God peering through a telescope.’
‘He’d be pretty bored, watching us.’ She tilted her head back as the space station passed directly overhead. ‘So would they. If they’ve been up there for months, I suppose they’ll have seen everything there is to see.’
Nick indicated the tumbler in her hand. ‘You’ve nearly finished that one. Ready for a top-up?’
Was she? Her first drink of the evening had spread like warm honey through her veins, creating the sensation of a golden glow around her body. She was feeling simultaneously relaxed and buzzing, and not tired at all. Quite the opposite, in fact; her senses had perked right up and were now busily taking in every last detail of Nick Callaghan, from the faint scent of his aftershave to the timbre of his voice and the shadows enhancing the bone structure of his face. What would he look like naked? What would his body feel like?
Of course she wanted another drink, but whether it would be a good idea to say yes was another matter.
Go on , urged the naughty voice in her head. What’s the matter with you? Just say yes .
But look what could happen , warned the other voice, the sensible one. You really should say no .
As Nella opened her mouth to say yes, her phone began to ring loudly in her bag. Luckily the cottage to the left of Nick’s was occupied by Dora, who was ninety-three and extremely deaf, whilst the one on the right was . . . well, her own.
Oh God, though, was it Lizzie calling to chat some more about Nick? Or had she somehow worked out what was currently going on in his back garden and was determined to put a stop to any more drinks or potential funny business?
Fumbling in her bag, she lifted out her phone. Phew, not Lizzie after all.
‘Oh Nella, ish that you? I know it’sh a bit late but we put the tall wine glasses in the dishmachine thingy and when we opened the door they all snapped off and now there’s glass all over the floor and in the dishmachinewasher and we don’t know how to clean it up . . .’
The slurry voice belonged to either George or his twin brother Harry, the current occupants of the Cedars, along with a group of their friends. Charming and thirsty, they’d arrived two days ago and had been celebrating their fortieth birthday in riotous fashion ever since.
Men and dishwashers were hardly ever a good combination, even when alcohol wasn’t involved. Nella said, ‘OK, no problem, I’m on my way over. Don’t try and clear it up yourselves, we don’t want you getting hurt. I’ll be there in five minutes.’
She hung up, stood up. Saved by the bell. Well, by Harry and George and their calamitous dishwasher skills.
‘Off I go,’ she said to Nick, who probably wasn’t even remotely attracted to her anyway. ‘Thanks for the drink.’
‘My pleasure,’ he replied.