Chapter 21
Hannah was tidying up in the kitchen with Lily after dinner but still feeling low, which she was putting down to her hangover.
‘I’m shattered,’ she told Lily. ‘I’m going to have an early night tonight.’
‘Me too,’ said Lily, as she stacked the dishwasher. ‘By the way, one of our guests was telling me how much she’s enjoying the cakes on the honesty trolley. Everyone is looking forward to the Boathouse Café opening, isn’t that great?’
Hannah nodded. ‘Yup.’
Lily straightened up and looked at her friend. ‘It’ll be fine, you know.’
‘I know.’ And yet Hannah was too tired to summon up the effort to put a fake smile on her face. She blinked away the tears which suddenly appeared in her eyes. ‘Thanks, bestie.’
‘You’re welcome,’ replied Lily. ‘Come here.’
Hannah found herself drawn into a hug and relished the strength of the squeeze that Lily gave her.
They had just stepped apart when she heard someone say, ‘Is everything OK?’
They both turned around at the same time to find Alex standing in the doorway.
Hannah was still embarrassed about the kiss and had tried not to be alone with him all day. Thankfully her plan had mostly worked. But now she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks at having to face him.
‘Tell Hannah she’s amazing, won’t you?’ said Lily, switching on the dishwasher. ‘Now where did I leave that thingamy…’
As Lily quickly walked out, Hannah had a feeling that she was deliberately leaving her alone with Alex.
‘You know, Lily’s right,’ he said. ‘You are amazing. I’ll make a note to tell you every day, if you like.’
As always, he was being kind. But her flight mode kicked in and suddenly she couldn’t face him and the reality of what she had done. How everything had changed between them.
‘Well, I’m going to have an early night,’ she said quickly, going to walk past him.
But Alex stepped across to block the doorway so she couldn’t get past.
‘You OK?’ she heard him ask in a soft tone.
Hannah gulped. She couldn’t meet his eyes. All she could think of was the memory of her leaping into his arms to kiss him the previous night. So instead she gazed down at their feet.
‘I’m so sorry about last night,’ she muttered. ‘I hope I didn’t upset you.’
‘Of course not. Don’t worry about it,’ she heard him say. ‘It was just Frankie’s cocktails, as usual.’
Hannah found herself thinking that she wasn’t entirely sure that it was.
Still staring at her trainers, she jumped when she suddenly felt him take her chin with his fingers and drag her face up to look into his.
He smiled at her. ‘Maybe you just needed to let go some of your tension about opening the café,’ he said.
‘Maybe.’ She couldn’t stop her face from blushing but as she finally forced herself to look into his eyes, she saw nothing but sympathy. Or was there something else there, she found herself wondering.
‘Well, anytime you feel that stress again, you can totally use me, if you like,’ he carried on.
Was he flirting with her? Surely not. But for some reason, she found her breath catching in her chest as he let go of her chin to reach out to stroke a stray wisp of hair away from her face.
For a second they stared at each other. She so wanted to trust him. But Sean’s text the previous evening still burned in her brain. Relationships were bad, she had trained herself to think. No matter how lovely Alex was.
‘Don’t worry,’ Hannah found herself saying in an overly bright voice. ‘I’m sure I won’t get that stressed again so I’ll leave you alone from now on, I promise.’
Alex’s hand immediately dropped from holding her face.
‘Especially if I don’t indulge in one of Frankie’s cocktails again,’ she added, fixing a wide smile on her face.
‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘They are pretty lethal, aren’t they?’
But his smile didn’t reach as far as his eyes, she noted. She hoped she wasn’t upsetting him. Surely he didn’t want to take things further than just friends?
At the sound of the door opening and Walter walking into the kitchen, Alex abruptly turned away, telling Hannah that he was taking Tiny out for a walk.
Still standing in the same position, Hannah puffed out a sigh, realising she’d been holding her breath whilst he had been so close to her. Since when did she have that kind of reaction to being around Alex?
She had told him that she would never do anything like that again to embarrass him. The kiss had ruined everything between them, she felt. Because, despite her telling him otherwise, all she wanted to do in that moment was kiss him again.
And yet she knew that could never happen. It was for the best, after all.