Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alex
“What about this one?” Henry asked as he thrust his tablet under my nose, tapping the screen to indicate the house for sale that he’d found.
We were sitting at a table in Novel Tea after closing while I worked through some paperwork and Henry kept me company.
There wasn’t room for both of us in my office, so we’d just pulled the recently installed blinds down on the windows and sat ourselves in the corner with two smoothies and some leftover lemon cake.
“It’s just outside town, nice garden, plenty of space but not too much, parking, and we could get gates and a secure fence put in. It needs a bit of work, but I don’t think we’d need to totally gut it unless we wanted to.”
“It hasn’t got twelve bedrooms this time?
” I asked, remembering Henry’s first few attempts to find us somewhere to live.
I’d asked why the fuck we needed twelve bedrooms unless he was planning on starting a hotel or a cult, and if that was the case, I wasn’t running anything.
Henry had laughed and tried to say something about space, but I’d reminded him there were just two of us, three if Cas was staying, five if Lewis and Jason came to visit, and the most we needed was four or five bedrooms.
He’d finally conceded, but I wasn’t sure how much he’d actually listened or whether he was hoping I’d give in to his dreams of extravagance. As I’d thought when we’d first met, Henry didn’t do things by halves, and I’d had to learn how to compromise, especially when it came to the financial side.
It had been six weeks since Henry had made his dramatic confession in the middle of Novel Tea and life hadn’t really been the same since.
I was still getting my head around everything, but it was hard to find time to breathe considering how busy we both were.
Henry was wrapping up filming on Llewelyn and I was dealing with a coffee shop that was getting queues outside every day because not only was it the school holidays but random groups of fans and journalists kept turning up hoping to find Henry there.
Cas had helped out at first, but after a week he’d brought in a friend, who was nicknamed Siren, to help out.
Siren was six foot of muscle with long lavender hair that was undercut on one side, the most incredible set of tattoos, and a smile that had Cleo and Stephen both turning beetroot red whenever she spoke to them.
She’d started off just sitting in a corner with a laptop but had been quickly adopted by the book club, who’d refused to take Siren’s charming no for an answer.
The last time they’d been in I’d heard Ron and Judy questioning her about what happened when you stabbed someone.
I hoped Ron wasn’t getting ideas for the neighbourhood watch.
I didn’t know how long Siren would be sticking around for, but Henry was happy to pay and I wasn’t going to push it.
“Nope, it’s only got six,” Henry said proudly. “I mean, technically it could have seven if we wanted to convert the random space above the garages. It’s kind of this forgotten, half-finished space at the moment. I think they ran out of money and abandoned the project.”
I frowned and tapped through the pictures before scrolling down to the details.
It needed a lot done to it and I’d want to get it surveyed as well as get Lane in to look at it since he’d worked on plenty of similar places, but there was just something about it that made me want to know more.
I looked at the map to see where it was and nodded to myself.
“I know this place. It’s up near Will and Jamie’s. That’s the edge of their farm.” I pointed to the empty space on one side of the map before scrolling across slightly. “That’s their house, and that’s where Will’s parents live.”
Henry beamed at me. “That’s perfect. You wouldn’t be on your own then. I mean, they wouldn’t exactly be next-door neighbours but they’re close enough.”
I chuckled and handed the tablet back to him. “Out on the moors, that’s about as close to neighbours as you’ll get. You can call the estate agent tomorrow. Tell them we’ll go and have a look at it.”
“You like it then?”
“Needs a fair bit of work, but it’s got promise,” I said. “As long as the bones are good and it’s not about to sink into a bog.”
Henry chuckled. “Unfortunately, I don’t think they tend to put that on the listings,” he said as he looked through the pictures again. “We’ll go and look at it first, and then if we like it, we’ll take it from there.”
“Sounds good. I spoke to the estate agents about my flat and they’re happy for us to do it on a rolling contract when the fixed term is up, so we can just pay for it month by month. I’ll have to put your name on the agreement too, but we can sort that next week.”
“Perfect,” Henry said, leaning over to kiss me. “Also, I need you to tell me what days you’re free in August so I can take you down to London to meet Angelo about your suit for the premiere.”
“Technically none because we’re still rushed off our feet, but Spencer keeps threatening to lock me out if I don’t take a day off soon, so any Monday or Tuesday, since they’re our quietest days.
” I sighed and rubbed my eyes as I looked at the order forms in front of me.
A trip to London to meet Henry’s tailor wasn’t high on my list of priorities but I knew it needed doing sooner rather than later.
“End of August, though, please, because we should have the new staff in by then. We’re interviewing on Friday, so hopefully by then they’ll have settled in. ”
With all the added foot traffic, I’d quickly realised we needed more staff, even if it was just for the summer.
As great as Stephen, Cleo, and Mina were, they couldn’t do everything and even Spencer and I needed some time off.
We’d put out an advert last week for three new members of staff, two front of house and one to help in the kitchen, and had a good selection of applicants, so I was hoping we’d be able to get people in quickly.
Spencer had kept asking me about opening another shop too, reminding me about the conversation I’d had with him and Noah way back when Henry had proposed that fucking ridiculous fake dating agreement.
I didn’t have the heart to tell Spencer I’d been lying about the takeover offer, mostly because I didn’t want to have to tell him about the fake boyfriend thing, so I’d finally told him they’d backed out as soon as I’d asked for numbers.
He’d sighed and patted my shoulder and said it was probably a good thing because the lack of transparency was a million red flags, but now he wouldn’t leave the subject of expanding alone and there were only so many times I could fondly tell him to piss off before I’d have to come up with some genuine reasons not to take a serious look at it.
I kept meaning to sit down with my spreadsheets and write him up a whole fucking list of reasons why opening another shop wouldn’t work, but every time I sat down I kept getting sidetracked—sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes on purpose.
Mostly I was afraid to consider it because I had no fucking clue if I could do it again.
Business might be booming now, but there was no guarantee it would last, even if we were getting to the stage where we were having to turn people away.
I shook my head. That was a problem for another day.
“No worries, I’ll see when Angelo can squeeze us in,” Henry said as he put his tablet down and reached for the last of his cake. “Do you think that’s something I should ask Hunter to do? I’m not good at this whole having-an-assistant thing.”
“Probably, that’s what he’s there for,” I said. “Just let him do his fucking job.”
“I know, but I’ve managed so well on my own up until now.”
“Have you?”
“Well enough, at least,” Henry said. “I’ve tried having assistants in the past and never got on with them. But maybe Hunter will be different. He’s very organised.”
Hunter was Henry’s newly acquired personal assistant, who Celeste had strongly suggested he hire since his days were getting ever fuller. I secretly wondered if her office had been organising Henry’s diary up until this point, which meant he probably didn’t realise just how much work was involved.
Henry had dragged his feet and grumbled about it until I pointed out that I wasn’t managing his calendar and we had better things to do with our evenings than answer the mountains of emails he kept getting, and he’d quickly given in.
Lewis had recommended Hunter to Henry, having met him at a convention, and when we’d first spoken to Hunter on a video chat, he’d come armed with lists, questions, and the take-no-shit-from-Henry attitude he’d need to get anything done.
He’d only been working for Henry for a week and already the calendar on Henry’s phone was colour-coded. I fucking loved it.
“That’s what you’re paying him for,” I said, clicking through the last order and then shutting my laptop. “Right, I’m done.”
“Excellent, come on.” Henry stood up and checked his watch. I frowned, suddenly suspicious.
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Obviously, we’re not staying here for the rest of the night.”
I sighed. That was the problem with Henry being a bloody good actor. He’d probably been rehearsing that shit in his head all day. “I know that. I meant where are we going now? You’re acting like we’ve got somewhere to be.”
“We do.” He grinned. “Not here.”
I rolled my eyes and walked my laptop back to my office, locking the door behind me.
When I got back into the café, Henry was already waiting by the door.
Some suspicious shit was definitely going on but I pretended not to notice as he ushered me outside.
Instead, I thought back over the past few days and tried to pin down what it might be.
Spencer had been a bit secretive lately too, and Noah had avoided giving more than a generic answer when I’d asked what his plans were for the week.
Bloody traitors.
Cas was waiting with the car on the main road and when we’d both climbed in, he set off. It only took me a minute to work out where we were going: Lane and Oliver’s.
“You’re not taking me to some fucking surprise party, are you?” I asked as we turned off towards the little road that led up to the line of cottages above the bay.
“No,” Henry said.
“Henry,” I growled.
“It’s not a surprise because technically you guessed. Anyway, it’s not just a party for you. It’s for us.”
“Then why is it a fucking surprise?”
“Because you’ve been so busy and stressed we didn’t want you to have to worry about anything,” Henry said, taking my hand. I grumbled but couldn’t really complain about that.
Cas pulled the car up outside Honeysuckle Cottage, where there were already a few other cars parked. I wondered how many people were invited to this bloody thing.
“There you are,” Noah said as soon as I set foot in the front door. He pulled me into a tight hug.
“Sorry, I’d have been here earlier if I’d known what was going on,” I said, squeezing him before turning to raise an eyebrow at Henry. Noah laughed.
“I was so tempted to message you and tell you. I know you’re not the biggest fan of surprises, but this is less surprise party and more just a casual barbecue with friends that you didn’t know about.
” He grabbed my hand and glanced at Henry, who was just behind me.
“Everyone’s waiting for you both outside.
We better go through now before everyone gets too much of the Pimms Jamie made.
I swear he’s worse than Laurie. I’ve only had half a glass and I’m not having another. ”
I snorted and followed him through the cottage and into the garden where everyone was waiting. It wasn’t just my friends but Henry’s too, and they all cheered when they saw us, which I thought was a bit fucking much but I just laughed.
Soon Henry and I both had drinks in hand and the garden was filled with the sound of laughter and the smell of sizzling food while the evening sun bathed us all in a warm golden glow.
I slotted my hand into Henry’s while he was talking to Anders and gave it a squeeze, just letting him know I was there.
It still amazed me just how much my life had changed in the last few months, and half the time I wondered if it was real or just a fancy dream.
For years I’d pretended I was fine on my own, mostly because I’d never imagined opening my heart to another man, and then Henry had strolled into my shop with his beautiful smile and bloody awful attempts at flirting.
Together, we’d patched our broken hearts and I’d be forever grateful for that. Without him, I’d still be lost and alone, angrily holding on to the fragments of a relationship that was never meant to be and too scared to consider ever falling in love again.
“Are you okay?” Henry asked as Anders went to find another drink.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
“You and the first time you came into Novel Tea.”
“God, don’t bring that up. I’ve never been so off my game,” he said with a dramatic sigh.
“You have game?”
“I do! The fact you’re here is proof of it.”
“Nah, that’s more because you’re annoying and for some reason I find it endearing,” I said and Henry grinned.
“That still counts.”
“Does it?” I tilted my head up and pretended to consider as Henry laughed.
“It does.” He kissed me softly, sweetness and sunshine on his lips.
It tasted like love.