Chapter 32
Nick’s phone, clasped in her hands, went DDDRRINNGGGG , and this time they both jumped. Brought back down to earth with a thud, Nella saw the name on the screen and said, ‘It’s Hugo.’
‘Mate!’ Hugo cried when Nick picked up. ‘I’m outside your house and you’re not answering the door. Where are you?’
Had they been so wrapped up in the moment that neither of them had heard him knocking? Still flustered, Nella took another gulp of her drink and miraculously this time managed not to dribble it down her chin.
Progress.
‘I’m next door,’ said Nick.
‘What, at Dora Catchpole’s?’ He sounded incredulous; this was the thing about Hugo – he was intelligent but sometimes jumped to unlikely conclusions.
‘Other side. I’m with Nella.’ Nick’s smile was wry.
Two seconds later, Hugo appeared at the front window, beaming at them both as he made a knocking-back-a-pint gesture with his right hand.
‘Damn, I forgot,’ Nick murmured. ‘He said something yesterday about meeting up for a drink at the Angel this evening. Completely went out of my head.’
Uncrossing her legs – honestly, why did she always sit like this when it sent her feet to sleep? – Nella almost lost her balance and had to be steadied by Nick. And there was that squiggly sensation in her chest again. Lowering her back onto the sofa, he said, ‘Stay where you are. I’ll get the door.’
‘I saw that,’ Hugo crowed when Nick let him in. ‘Taking advantage of your employees, it’s a disgrace, man! Shouldn’t be allowed.’ He gave Nella an enthusiastic hug. ‘Been getting you hammered, has he? How many have you had?’
‘None at all, it’s just my feet have gone numb and—’
‘Whoa, look at these!’ Hugo spotted the photos scattered across the coffee table and seized upon them with delight. ‘I remember that Hallowe’en! Bloody hell, what do I look like? And to think I spent the whole evening chasing after Lucy Johnson, waiting for her to be bowled over by my stunning good looks and charisma.’
‘And?’ said Nick. ‘Was she?’
‘For some reason she completely ignored me all night. Saw her being bowled over by bloody Joss Cardew instead. Can’t imagine why she preferred him.’
‘No taste,’ Nella said consolingly.
‘I know!’ Hugo pulled a face to mimic the Hallowe’en photo. ‘Look at me. Irresistible. I just hope she’s spent the last twenty years dreaming of me and bitterly regretting her terrible decision.’
‘I’m sure she has.’ Nella patted his arm, then straightened his shirt collar, which was sticking out on one side.
‘So are we off to the Angel?’ Hugo looked at Nick eagerly. ‘There’s something I want to talk to you about.’ Belatedly he turned to Nella and added, ‘You’re welcome to join us, of course, if you want to.’
She smiled, because there was clearly something he wanted to discuss with Nick alone. ‘No, it’s fine, you two head off. I have stuff to do, and I was planning an early night anyway.’ And I’m not even going to think about who that early night might have been spent with if you hadn’t turned up.
Hugo looked relieved. ‘Are you sure?’ Then, before she had time to change her mind, he said, ‘Well, another time,’ before turning to Nick. ‘Come on, let’s go. Last one to the bar buys all the drinks!’
As he made his way home three hours later, Nick ran through the various topics of conversation they’d covered at the Angel. They’d discussed the business first, and he’d brought Hugo up to date with the details of the planning application for the next property due to be added to the portfolio. The likelihood of it going through at the first submission was very low indeed, but with amendments it would happen in due course. He’d also casually brought up the contents of Nella’s memory box and the fact that she had no photos and few memories of her father. Hugo had agreed that it was sad and hard for them to understand, but commendable that Nella had come through it all so well.
Finally, evidently having needed a couple of pints down him in order to build up to the reason he’d so urgently needed to see Nick tonight, Hugo had lowered his voice and confided his own situation. He’d developed feelings for Cami and was wondering if there was a chance they might be reciprocated.
To put it bluntly, ouch .
Nodding and listening as the whole story came tumbling out, Nick wondered how in God’s name Hugo managed to sabotage his own life over and over again. It sometimes seemed as if he did it on purpose.
‘So,’ Hugo said finally, his hair sticking out at angles where he’d kept nervously rubbing his head, ‘that’s it. What do you think?’
They’d been friends for so many years. Hugo was one of the nicest people he had ever known and he truly didn’t want to upset him. But this had to be one of the worst ideas yet.
‘Honestly?’ Nick raised his eyebrows questioningly.
Hugo nodded vigorously. ‘Honestly.’
‘No. Really, don’t.’
‘Why not?’ It was agonising to see the puppyish disappointment in his friend’s eyes.
‘Because it wouldn’t work. And you know it.’
Silence. Then Hugo took a swallow of lager and said with a sigh of resignation, ‘I suppose I kind of knew you were going to say that.’
This had all happened an hour or so ago, following which they’d given up on the discussion and headed outside to join in with the floodlit boules tournament taking place in the Angel’s back garden. To add insult to injury, Hugo’s side had lost that too.
Now a deflated Hugo was on his way back to Starbourne Manor, whilst Nick was heading home along the high street. He wondered how the evening might have panned out if his friend hadn’t turned up and dragged him off for that heart-to-heart in the pub.
At least he knew he’d done the right thing and saved Hugo from yet more pain, awkwardness and surely inevitable heartbreak.
He reached his own front door then stepped out into the road to take a look at Nella’s cottage. All the curtains were drawn. There were no lights on, upstairs or down. True to her word, she’d evidently gone for an early night and was now fast asleep in bed, conserving her energy for the busy weekend ahead.
Her bedroom window was open, though. It might not be right to phone her or chuck tiny stones up at the glass, but . . . what if a small amount of noise did accidentally happen to wake her up? Taking out his keys, Nick jangled them. Not loud enough. He coughed. Then coughed once more, for luck.
An approaching car caught him in its headlights and he moved back onto the pavement, but the driver – yes, of course it was Tristan – tooted his horn anyway as he shot past. Which meant, for once, that he might actually be doing Nick a favour. If Nella were to push her bedroom window wide open and peer down to see what was going on, he would have Hugo’s spoilt younger brother to thank.
Except it wasn’t happening. Nella was either unrousable or entirely uninterested. After waiting for another thirty seconds, Nick gave up and let himself into his own cottage next door. He knew his feelings for Nella were steadily growing, but he still had no idea how she felt about him. In situations like this in the past he’d always been able to tell, but now, for the first time in his life, he was terrifyingly unsure.
And it mattered too much to risk getting it wrong.
Leaving it for now was clearly for the best.
Next door, Nella had been dreaming about Colin. Colin was Trish’s cat, who’d actually died of old age in Manchester a couple of years ago, but in her dream he was alive once more and living here in her cottage, currently busy coughing up a furball in the hallway. Hearing the ominously familiar sound, Nella launched herself at the front door and pulled it open, simultaneously shooing Colin out so he wouldn’t throw up on the rug, but as she did so, a car blasted its horn and— Oh no, oh God!
Jerking upright in bed, her eyes snapped open in horror and she gazed wildly around the bedroom, on the verge of screaming out loud because Colin was surely dead and how on earth was she going to explain this to Trish?
Then came the realisation that it had been a dream and oh, the relief. No more horror, no more panic, Colin wasn’t dead. Well, he was , of course, but Trish already knew that, and he’d passed away peacefully in her lap at the grand old age of seventeen.
Dreams. They were so weird. Thank goodness this one wasn’t real.
Maybe the next one could feature Nick, who was probably still at the Angel, discussing whatever it was that Hugo had been so eager to talk to him about.
By the time her heart rate had returned to normal, she was once more fast asleep.