Chapter 5 #3
They collapsed into a fit of giggles. It was lovely just to laugh and muck about.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like that.
Suddenly, they went quiet as they paused to stare at each other for a momentous second.
His eyes drew her in, and Will moved to gently kiss her gooey nose, and then he tasted the buttery mix, drawing his tongue in a glide along the top of her lip.
The air between them felt charged. What had happened to taking things slow?
She shifted to meet him full-on with her lips …
and oh, her hips. It’d be a damned shame to waste the moment, she mused.
The uncooked crumble was not the best of flavours to be honest, but the kiss beneath it was warm and tender, and very sensual indeed.
brRING. With that the doorbell went.
Dammit.
They pinged apart like they’d been stung.
‘Oh … I’d better go see …’
‘Yeah … suppose you had …’
As she stepped away and turned to head for the door, she spotted Will’s eyes trailing after her longingly. Oh my.
Cath brushed herself down in the hallway, checking for crumb mixture on her clothes. Oh, might there still be mix on her nose? She swiped the end of it with the back of her hand, and then licked her lips, which still tasted of Will.
She opened the front door, feeling flushed indeed, to find Nikki there on the step. ‘Oh, hi.’ Cath tried her best to sound normal.
‘Hello, lovely. You okay?’
‘Ah … yep … fine.’ The colour was rushing to her cheeks, up her neck. Will was there in her kitchen. Of course, that in itself wasn’t too bad but the kiss they’d just shared felt like it was so obvious.
‘I’ve just finished work. Thought I’d bring the fizz around for tonight. Thought it might be nice to get it chilled and ready in your fridge.’ She held aloft two bottles of Prosecco. ‘It’s been a hectic week. Figured we deserve this.’
‘Aw, that’s kind of you.’ Cath was still trying to land back down on earth.
Nikki was hovering on the step. ‘Well, can I come in?’
‘Ah, yep, yeah. ’Course.’
‘You sure you’re okay?’ Nikki frowned.
‘Absolutely.’ Cath opened the door wide, to let Nikki past.
Her friend swept in ahead of Cath, reaching the kitchen first; she must have been angling for a brew, or maybe something stronger. Perhaps she was hoping to find out all the latest goss. Well, she wouldn’t have to look far …
‘Oh, well, look who’s here. Hi, Will. You’re a tad early for supper.’ Nikki’s voice had a cheeky lilt.
‘Hi, Nikki.’ He looked up with a quirky expression. ‘And, believe it or not, I was actually helping to make it.’
Bless him, while she’d answered the door, he’d taken the remaining crumble mix, and was spooning it over the sliced apples and blackberries in the dish that Cath had prepared beforehand.
He looked a dab hand. Actually, oops, there was still the sugar to add, she realised.
Oh well, she’d sprinkle plenty over the top, and give it a quick fork-through for good measure.
‘One I made earlier.’ He deadpanned as he gave Cath a surreptitious wink.
There was a trace of dough across his cheek, which made her grin.
‘Ooh, well, look who’s come over all Mary Berry then,’ Nikki teased. ‘I thought cooking wasn’t your thing, Will?’
‘Exactly … I’m having lessons.’
At that, Nikki merely raised an eyebrow with a smirk. ‘Well, I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.’
They both answered ‘No’ far too quickly.
Nikki’s eyebrows went up a notch.
‘We were just doing some prep for this evening,’ Cath added. All the while thinking, what the hell were we just prepping for? And getting a weird fuzzy feeling inside as her imagination let loose.
‘I see …’ Their friend had definitely sussed something was going on between them. ‘And you’re on the wine already? Like your style, guys.’
‘Chef’s prerogative,’ Cath quipped back.
Nikki joined them, taking a seat at the small kitchen table, as Cath fetched a further glass for her.
‘Well, I’ve had a right couple of days of it.’ Nikki sighed. ‘Can’t wait to chill out a bit here this evening …’
Cath guessed Nikki had popped around early to offload a little.
‘I cook, I clean, as well as work all day, and I know Kev works too, but honestly trying to get anyone to lift a hand to help at home, well, that’d be a bloomin’ miracle.
Just last night, I’d done a deep clean at the Kirkton Café as well as my usual four house cleans.
And bless him, one of my regulars, old Henry, was in a bit of a state, needed a hand with putting some washing on.
He must have had a bit of an accident with the bedsheets, I reckon, so of course I helped him.
Well, by the time I got in, with my grubby work clothes on, I was straight up to the shower and there’s Hamish asking, “How long ’til tea?
” Well, I gave him one of my looks, handed him the potato peeler and Angus a tea towel, with young Scott still holed up in his room.
Well, you’d think I’d asked them to clean the bloody loo with their own toothbrushes.
Shock horror – an eleven-year-old asked to wipe up, and a teenager to peel a potato. ’
Cath and Will chortled whilst giving supportive smiles. They were used to Nikki’s rants on the joys of having a house full of boys.
She took a large glug of wine. ‘Ah, I love them to bits really, but sometimes … honestly. It’s like you have to prise them away from their phones and the Xbox to do anything useful.
Kev’s as bad, too. “Had a hard day, love,” he grumbles as he sits in his chair watching the football.
Well, what the hell does he think I’ve been doing?
’ Nikki shook her head, looking as though she might growl.
‘Argh, there’s far too much testosterone going round.
How did I land with a house full of boys? ’
‘Well, we were all girls in our house bar me. That took some handling at times too.’ Will softly chuckled, then a sadness dulled his eyes. The grief always there, lurking just below the surface. My, how he must long for those tricky moments with his houseful of girls to be back.
‘Ah, we shouldn’t moan, should we? It’s just family life in all its glory. The good, the bad, and the stroppy,’ Nikki conceded, empathising with Will’s loss.
Cath took a slow breath, feeling for this gorgeous, grieving man. How had he felt kissing her, just before? Was she the first person he’d kissed since Jane? Was it strange? A relief? Filled with guilt? An escape from the gloom?
‘Well, I’d better get back up the road. Get myself changed into something a little smarter for this evening.’ Will suddenly stood up. ‘I’ll leave you ladies to it.’
‘Oh, and remember we’re up in the shed,’ said Cath, picking up on the matter of clothing, and letting them off the emotional hook for now at least. ‘So a warm fleece or jumper might come in handy.’
‘Oh, are we?’ Nikki chipped in. ‘Back in the summerhouse, hey. I loved it up there. Glad you mentioned that. I’ll let Lily know. Might put on my jumper dress and boots then, and I’ll bring a cosy scarf.’
‘Yep, final fling for the autumn … then I’ll shut down the shed until the longer days reappear with the warmer weather, next spring.’
‘Sounds a plan.’
‘Well, thanks for the cooking lesson, Cath.’ Will was popping on his jacket, ready to leave.
‘My pleasure.’
They shared a knowing smile, and despite his evident grief, he had clearly enjoyed the chance to flirt, the chance to forget just for a little while. Of course, they were still working on this being ‘more than friends’, one step at a time. But that had seemed a pretty big step today.
‘See you later, Nikki,’ Will added, politely.
‘You too. Bye, hon.’
Cath followed him to the door, where she gave him a small hug. ‘See you later.’ She wiped a small smudge of dough from his cheek.
‘Looking forward to trying the crumble,’ he added, giving her a cheeky wink as he stepped out of the door.
‘Me too.’
She’d never be able to look at a crumble in the same way again.
*
As Cath returned to the kitchen, Nikki was on the case. ‘Ooh, well, you two don’t seem to be wasting any time. Cosy cooking lessons, is it? Not just the oven getting hot?’
Hah, well if she’d arrived five minutes earlier, Nikki may well have seen exactly what had been going on for herself. Spicy cooking lessons was more like it.
‘Hmm, perhaps …’ Cath wasn’t ready to give much away. Whilst she and Will had enjoyed some flirty fun just now, it was all too early, too vulnerable, too unknown, to be shared as gossip.
‘So, it’s going well, then?’ After the supper club set-up to get them alone together, Nikki was keen to find out more.
‘Pretty good, but honestly there’s not much to tell …’ Cath felt her cheeks flare with the white lie.
‘Ooh, but you’re hoping there will be, yeah?’ Nikki was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
‘Maybe …’ Cath smiled cautiously. ‘Look Niks, I really do like Will, and he seems to like me, I think. But it’s very soon for us both.
I can see how hard it is for him; he’s still so obviously missing his wife, and no wonder – losing his life partner like that.
’ She paused. ‘And well, I’ve not exactly had the best of experiences myself, have I?
What with my dickhead ex-husband. Maybe it’s just too soon. ’
Right people, wrong time, yet again. Was history about to repeat itself? That thought made her stomach sink.
Did she confess the truth of their youthful romance to Nikki? But surely, it was only fair that she and Will decided on when, or if, to share that together. For now, her lips stayed sealed.
‘It’s got to be worth taking the plunge, though? Nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ said Nikki. ‘And let’s be honest, he’s such a dish.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Cath continued, ‘part of me would like to get to know Will more. But you know what, in all honesty, another part of me is terrified. What if we start developing real feelings for each other? And then it all goes tits up again? I don’t think I’m ready to put myself through all that again.
I came here to Tilldale, to my lovely little cottage, to get away from all that messy relationship stuff.
And the village, it’s so small; there’d be no avoiding each other.
I can’t move, uproot myself again …’ She puffed out a sigh.
But somewhere deep in her heart, she knew it was already too late. She was already falling, had bloody well fallen for him all over again. Should she take a step back, hand herself a safety net right now? Before it all went too far? Before going back to being friends was no longer possible?
‘Aw, I can understand that fear, hon. But you know what, life’s too short.
Isn’t getting hurt a risk we all take in relationships?
It’s got to be better than being bloody lonely, surely?
Or living to regret that you never gave it a chance?
’ Nikki looked up at her and then gave a grin.
‘Or having to look at that damned athletic body, wishing you’d given it a try.
If I wasn’t married to Kev, I wouldn’t be wasting time dithering, I can tell you. ’
Cath shook her head as she laughed. It had been lovely, Will helping her in the kitchen earlier, and that crumble-fuelled kiss, which was way better than crumble itself, and she loved crumble, but where did they go from here?
Seeing how things went with their get-together tonight might just help her decide.