Chapter Eleven
Jamie
“What the fuck are cheese sauce granules?” I muttered to myself as I walked around the large Tesco on the outskirts of Heather Bay, clutching my basket in my hand like it might try to bite me if it got loose.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d set foot in a supermarket that wasn’t the Little Waitrose down the road from my flat, and even then, it was only when I had a dire emergency.
Michael bought all my food for me, and anything else I needed was acquired by the housekeeper. So why I’d thought it was a brilliant idea to turn up at Will’s this evening with dinner was beyond me.
Will had invited me for another hook-up, nothing more, but that still hadn’t stopped me from spending all day traipsing up and down the beach deep in thought.
I’d never gone to this much effort for a fuck buddy, and I was trying not to look too closely at my reasons for wanting to do something for Will.
I tried to reason with myself that he was likely to be tired and stressed, especially because of the bad weather, and me bringing him dinner would be a nice gesture before I took him to bed and fucked him senseless.
Although, given my hideous lack of cooking skills, he might prefer it if we went straight to the latter.
Giving up on the idea of making something from scratch, I wandered across a few more aisles in search of something more suitable.
“Okay, this will do,” I said, stumbling across a bay that had some sort of dinner-for-two deal. The choices weren’t terrible, so I picked up a main, a side dish, a pudding, and one of the bottles of red wine they had on a nearby rack.
I wondered if I should also get something for a starter, so I continued perusing the aisles until I’d added a couple of bits to make a charcuterie plate, which I didn’t think would be too hard to throw together. And if all else failed, we could just eat things out of the packets.
I grabbed another bottle of red wine too, just in case, then stuck a bottle of white in for good measure and in case Will preferred white over red.
I’d seen him drinking beer in the pub, and I hadn’t bothered to ask much about his likes and dislikes outside of sex.
In fact, we hadn’t really talked about much at all.
That realisation pulled me up short just as I was shoving things into a newly acquired bag at the checkout.
Despite the fact this had only been an invitation for sex, I was turning it into a date.
I looked at the cashier, who was scanning my second bottle of red wine, as the blood drained from my face. Was it too late to put everything back and pretend this had never happened?
It wasn’t that I didn’t do dates. I just hadn’t done one in a while.
I very rarely had long-term boyfriends, and most of the men I hooked up with didn’t care if I bought them a drink or dinner first. When I did do dates, they were always firmly on my terms—nice restaurant with good wine, then back to my flat where I could easily turf them out in the morning.
But this… this was completely different, and what made it worse was that I’d done all of it without a second thought. There’d been no consideration about what I’d get out of it, only that it might make Will happy.
Fuck me. What the hell was this place doing to me?
I know I’d said I’d wanted to get away to do some soul-searching, but I’d never expected it to actually happen. Not like this anyway.
In a daze, I paid for my purchases and headed out to the hire car.
At some point overnight, it had stopped snowing, but it hadn’t warmed up enough during the day to get rid of what had settled.
I’d been nervous about driving in it, but I figured as long as I went slowly, I’d be all right, especially because the roads were likely to be gritted.
I’d driven a little bit in France in the snow when we’d gone skiing in the past, so it wasn’t like I was a complete beginner when it came to difficult road conditions.
Although, I wasn’t going to say that out loud because it would probably make me sound like a prat.
Will said the farm wasn’t too far out of town but that the road got quite narrow, and the turn could be quite easy to miss.
I’d been adamant that I’d be fine and turned down his numerous offers to come to the hotel, mostly because I was nosy about the farm but also because a tiny, rarely used part of my brain had quietly suggested that it was selfish of me to expect Will to finish working, get cleaned up, drive to me, then drive back again when all I’d done today was walk up and down the beach and eat room service while sprawled out on my bed.
I entered his postcode into the car’s SatNav, remembering what he’d said about it only getting me in vaguely the right place, and headed out onto the road.
The sky was a cold, leaden grey and thick with clouds, and the car dashboard said it was barely above freezing.
I was glad the farm wasn’t far because for all my bravado, it wasn’t fun driving up the narrow roads.
The roads in Heather Bay had been fairly clear, but the farther out I got, the more snow was left on the roads.
“Is that it?” I said, bringing the car to a gentle stop as I stared at a gateway between two low stone walls.
There was a name-plaque on one side, but the snow had covered half of it.
I saw a small cottage a bit farther down the road, and Will had mentioned his parents lived nearby, so I could only assume I was in the right place.
If not, hopefully someone here could redirect me.
“It’s an adventure,” I muttered to myself, carefully turning the car onto the snow-covered drive. It at least had tire tracks for me to follow, so there had to be something here. “God, this is a new one for me. Since when have I ever been this desperate?”
The car bumped along the track, occasionally hitting potholes I hadn’t even realised were there while I cursed myself for ever leaving London. Nothing like this ever happened in Chelsea.
Eventually, after what felt like forever, I rounded the corner to see a low, stone farmhouse with smoke drifting out of a chimney and light illuminating the windows.
There was a Land Rover parked outside it, which I assumed was Will’s, so I slipped my little hire car in next to it.
There were a couple of outbuildings close to the farmhouse, but when I got out, I saw that the road continued round, presumably to the rest of the farm.
I grabbed the Tesco bag off the back seat and then jumped out of my skin when loud barking erupted behind me. “Shit!” I spun on the spot, nearly losing my footing on the icy stone as I spotted two collies bouncing up and down in a nearby stable.
A door in the farmhouse opened, and a warm, familiar voice drifted out of it. “What are you two barking about?”
“It’s just me!” I said, trying to appear vaguely dignified as I walked around the car, hoping I didn’t lose my footing and end up on my ass.
“I thought it might be,” Will said, standing in the doorway and giving me a gruff smile. He looked more relaxed than I’d seen him before, dressed in a thick jumper, old jeans, and woolly socks, but as I got closer, I could feel the exhaustion radiating off him. “What’s with the bag?”
“I brought dinner.” I grinned at him. “And wine.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I wanted to.” I stepped up into the doorway and pressed a kiss to his lips. They were chapped and cold, but somehow, I’d never found a pair sweeter. “I thought you might be tired, and this would mean you ate something. You’ll need at least a little energy for later.”
“Thanks,” he said, gazing down at me with the most beautiful deep-chestnut eyes.
There were dark circles underneath them that I could’ve sworn were more prominent than they had been before.
Either that or I was horrifically unobservant, but I couldn’t be blamed for that since the last time I’d seen him my eyes had gone straight to his cock.
“You’re welcome. Can I come in now? It’s fucking freezing out here.”
Will chuckled and moved to the side so I could slide past him into a surprisingly modern country kitchen.
It had a flagstone floor and cream walls with wooden countertops and grey-blue cabinet doors.
There was a large, old-looking table in the middle, and beyond that, through a stone archway where two rooms had clearly been knocked together, I saw a small sitting room with a cast-iron log burner whose core was glowing like the inside of the sun.
There was a coat and boot rack on the other side of the door, so I toed my shoes off and hung my coat on top of one of Will’s.
It stood out starkly against his well-used gear, practically screaming city boy.
If I ever came back to the countryside in winter, I’d have to invest in some more appropriate clothing.
“What did you get?” Will asked, finally closing the door and turning to look at me as I put the Tesco bag on the counter.
“Nothing super special, just one of those Tesco Finest dine-in things, so I don’t know how good it’ll be, but it’s better than my cooking.
” I pulled out the lasagne and the side of peas with pancetta that I’d grabbed along with the pack of chocolate and orange cheesecake slices.
“They didn’t do a starter with it, and I wasn’t sure if that would be enough food, so I grabbed us a couple of salami and prosciutto selections, some olives, and some cheese.
I don’t know how good the burrata will be, but I’m sure we’ll manage.
I got a couple of bottles of red too, one came with the meal deal, and then I got us another.
I got white too since I wasn’t sure if you drank red. ”
I looked up at Will, who was giving me a wry smile. “What?” I asked as I emptied the rest of the bag. “Is it too much? Not enough? Oh my God, please don’t tell me you’d have preferred a rosé.”
“It’s great,” he said, stepping forward and drawing me into a gentle kiss. “I didn’t expect you to go to all this trouble.”
“I mean, you did make me step foot in an actual supermarket for the first time in years. It was horrible.”
Will snorted. “Seriously? Do you just live off takeaway and dinners out?”
“No, I actually have a housekeeper and a personal chef,” I said.
“I’m a terrible cook, and this way, I actually eat things that are good for me.
Although, I do still go out a couple of times a week just for fun.
I have so many favourites, and there’s always somewhere new to try.
” I picked up the package for the lasagne and turned it over.
“How do you cook this? Do you just have to stick it in the oven?”
“Yeah,” Will said, leaning over my shoulder and pointing to a set of instructions.
“See? Thirty-five to forty minutes at one-seventy.” He plucked it out of my hand and walked over to the large range cooker that sat in the centre of the short wall to my left.
“I can’t even remember the last time I had dinner out.
I mean, sometimes we’ll grab a few bits in the pub, but not like a proper dinner. ”
“Really? Why not?” The idea of not going out regularly baffled me. “Do you just not have good restaurants around here? Surely you must have a few.”
“There are some great places round here,” Will said.
“But even if they’re not expensive, I can’t afford to drop money on meals out two or three times a week, not when I’ve got food here.
I’ll get a takeaway every so often, and sometimes a couple of us will go and grab some food, but it’s not something we do regularly. I just can’t afford it.”
He said it matter-of-factly without any hint of condescension or patronisation, and that almost made me feel worse.
He wasn’t challenging me or snapping at me just quietly pulling me up and reminding me that not everyone had the same lifestyle I did.
I spent so much time in my own world that I forgot sometimes that very few people actually lived like me and that the real world was utterly different from my diamond-encrusted bubble.
“Maybe… maybe if we have time, we could go to one of them?” I asked casually, watching as Will twisted one of the dials on the oven. “I’m here until Saturday… but only if you’re not busy. I guess with all the snow you’re rather swamped.”
Will turned to look at me, his mouth curved into a soft smile that made my heart race. “I’d like that.”
“Cool,” I said, trying not to focus on the way my face was burning. “Cool. You can show me where’s good.” I swallowed and looked at the bottles of wine on the counter. “Do you want a drink?”