Chapter 41
By the time Noah had cleared away the last of the leaf litter and the debris from the cuttings into the green bin, ready to be collected on Monday morning by the garden waste lorry, he felt as though he deserved a drink.
He’d been behind a desk for too long. It felt good to be out in the open air, and the observable results in the garden were very satisfying to see.
While he wouldn’t win any prizes for his panache with a pair of secateurs, he was an enthusiastic amateur.
He was finally beginning to understand why his grandfather had loved being out here, tending to the roses and the creepers, so much.
A little later on, showered and starting on his first pint in the pub, he passed the time by people watching.
He was beginning to recognise some of the faces, and he could pretend, for a while, that he was becoming a regular himself.
He smiled back when Nick Saint, popping in for a swift drink after the farm shop had closed for the evening, gave him a grin, and passed the time of day with Jen, the landlady, when she brought him his food.
‘I hear Monty’s settling back in well at home,’ Jen said as she put down a generous portion of lasagne and garlic bread.
‘He is.’ Noah smiled. ‘Bella’s looking after him really well. He’s thriving now he’s back where he belongs.’
Jen’s knowing smile in response brought Noah up short. ‘Everyone needs to find their home, don’t you think?’
‘Um, I suppose so.’ Noah wondered if they were still talking about Monty.
‘It’s good of you to let Bella stay in the cottage, too,’ Jen continued. ‘She needs a bit of stability after racketing around for so long.’
Noah’s curiosity was piqued. He wondered how much Bella had told Jen about her life prior to coming to live in Lower Brambleton. ‘She told me she’d, er, travelled around a lot. Sounds like she’s settled now, though.’
‘Oh, Bella never stays anywhere for long.’ Jen picked up the spare set of cutlery from the unoccupied place on Noah’s table. ‘She always jokes that she might just up sticks one day and be off again, but between you and me, I think she feels at home in the village.’
‘I’m sure you and Paddy have a lot to do with that.’ Noah smiled at Jen. ‘She’s always saying how much she likes working here.’
‘She’s a grafter, that one.’ Jen’s brow furrowed. ‘And working behind the bar of a country pub might not be where she thought she’d end up, but Paddy and I are glad she’s here. We’d like to keep her as long as we can.’
Noah mulled Jen’s words over for a while after she’d left him to his food.
Jen was clearly very fond of Bella, and as he watched Bella working behind the bar, he knew that he was beginning to feel that way about her, too.
There was something about her all-encompassing smile that made his heart beat a little bit faster; something about the way she seemed to know enough about the customers to make them feel at home when they ordered their drinks that suggested she listened to each and every one of them.
He realised, with a jolt, that since she’d moved into Jack’s cottage, he’d been feeling more at home there than he had since his grandfather had died.
She’d made it easier for him to tolerate being in the cottage without Jack; she’d made it feel like his home again.
Noah shook his head to himself. This was daft thinking.
The cottage needed to be sold, and it didn’t matter how sentimental he felt about it, or whether what he thought he was feeling for Bella was authentic or not.
Perhaps he was suffering from a surfeit of nostalgia.
All the same, he had no desire to go back to the cottage while Bella was on shift at the pub.
He figured he’d have another pint and then decide on a pudding.
Hopefully, by that point, Bella’s working day would be over, and he could walk her home.
It was the polite thing to do, he convinced himself.
The thought of sitting in the living room with Monty glaring at him until Bella came back was not as appealing as an evening walk with Bella herself.
He settled back in his chair and tucked into his lasagne, pulling out the Lee Child novel from his bag to at least give the illusion that he wasn’t continuously staring at Bella, and got comfortable.