Chapter 32
William
“Mr Topham is here, my lord.”
My heart burst out of my chest and punched Bramley in the face.
“Well, show him in, man!”
“He’s waiting in the drawing room, my lord.”
“But I’m in the drawing room, man.”
“Mr Topham is in the West Drawing Room, my lord. This appears to be the East Drawing Room.”
“Bramley, you blind me with science. If you’d brought him to the East Drawing Room, it seems we could have saved ourselves a great deal of trouble.”
“Apologies, my lord. Given recent… sensitivities… and given the fact Mr Topham has arrived with his travelling cases, I thought perhaps—”
“Cases?”
I bolted out of the room and through the Great Hall, skating across the chequerboard tiles and bursting through the doors into the West Drawing Room, startling my quarry.
Petey stood upright, staring at me, face like a kid caught with his mitts in the biscuit tin.
He was as beautiful and as tall and as bleached blond as ever.
Suddenly, I was frozen to the spot. Petey was six feet away, but I couldn’t move my legs.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi.”
“Well, that year absolutely flew by.” My hand was still in my pocket, fingers strangling whatever was left of Petey’s note.
He winced, face sheepish. “Bit awkward, to be honest.”
“Not at all. I’m thrilled to see you.”
“Thrilled?” Petey said. “I thought you’d be mad at me.”
I shook my head, perhaps a little too fiercely, given the room started to spin.
“Surprised, yes. Delighted, of course. But mad? Absolutely not. I don’t think I could ever be mad with you.”
Petey laughed. “Give it time. You’ll get there. I promise.”
I pointed to his bags.
“Are… you staying?” The hope must have been written across my face.
“That’s the awkward part.”
I grimaced. “Tea. Would tea help?”
Petey nodded, and I hollered for Bramley.
“No, don’t bother Bramley.”
“But I’ve already called him.”
“I’m happy with the gas ring up in the folly,” he said. “Actually, I’d prefer it. If that’s OK with you?”
I smiled. Bramley would be shuffling towards us at pace on his two-hundred-year-old hips. I could hear the squeak getting closer by the second.
“Of course,” I said. “I can’t wait to see Bramley’s face when you tell him you prefer my tea to his.”
In the folly, I sent Petey Boy straight upstairs to the study while I boiled the kettle and made the tea.
It meant I had a good ten minutes to gather my thoughts.
It also meant Petey had time to do what I knew he would do, and snoop.
After five minutes, I heard the unmistakable thwunk of my father’s secret drawer being opened.
My heart was thumping like a jackrabbit having a wank.
I knew Petey would be reading a note that said: If you’re reading this, then you came back.
Welcome home. I’m so glad you’re here. x.
It was on Buckford letterhead and dated with today’s date.
The cuckoo clock announced four o’clock as I climbed the stairs with the tea. Petey was sitting in his usual armchair with my note open in his hands.
“I might not have found this for a whole year,” he said as I put his tea down in front of him.
“I know.”
“But you knew you’d be happy to see me?”
“Yes.”
His face had crumpled like a tissue, but he was refusing to cry. I didn’t like seeing him so distressed. I reached across and grabbed his hand.
“Why do you have so much faith in me?”
I fished Petey’s note out of my pocket. It was battered and looking worse for wear, but I carefully unfolded it and put it on the coffee table between us.
“You said you’d be back. You gave me your word.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, his hand reaching across to grab mine. “I’m sorry for the silent treatment. I’m sorry for making our last days together an absolute misery.”
“It’s OK. You’re here now.”
Petey seemed to cringe.
“I’m sorry too,” I said. “I meant to invite you to stay because I wasn’t ready for you to leave. I should have said that. I should have said I wanted to spend more time with you rather than trying to strong-arm you with stupid warnings about paparazzi. That was clumsy. Disrespectful.”
Petey frowned and took a deep breath.
“When you grow up with really controlling parents, you either accept it and go with it, like my brother and sister did, or you rebel and become hyper-independent. So, yeah, you saying you wanted to protect me was kind of triggering.”
“I’m sorry.”
Petey shook his head. “It’s not your fault.
I think I was also a little scared, if I’m honest. I don’t normally let people get close to me.
I have friends, obviously, and my gran. But, William, I’ve never had a boyfriend.
I’ve never wanted a boyfriend. I’ve let you get closer than anyone else.
You’re gorgeous and hilarious, and you’re literally the first man who ever wanted to spend time with me for my mind and my personality, not just my body. ”
“To be clear, I am also very taken with your body.”
“Noted. Thank you. The point is, when you suggested I stay, I think it freaked me out. So I started treating you like shit to make myself feel like I was still me. The old me, the me who doesn’t get attached.
Even when I was being a prick, I think I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’m so sorry.”
I leant closer to him. “But you came back.”
Petey looked down at the note on the table. “I wrote that so you’d know I wanted to come back, if the show came back. It was pretty cowardly, really.”
I brushed it away. “It gave me so much hope. What made you come back now?”
Petey got to his feet and started pacing.
“Well, this is the awkward bit.”
“Is this where you tell me you’ve only popped back because you forgot your butt plug?”
“Oh shit, yes. I should probably grab that. I lent it to Bramley.”
I laughed. My God, it felt good to laugh.
It felt good to be making jokes with Petey again.
So it rather worried me when his face turned serious.
That’s when he told me Indira was going to be recuperating for a couple of weeks at Aunty Karma’s retreat, and she’d insisted he oversee the edit of The Love Manor from Buckford Hall.
“But that’s wonderful news! She clearly trusts you.”
“Yes, but don’t you see, that’s the reason I’m here.”
Ah. Yes, I did see.
“But I want you to know, I really, really did want to come back here,” he said. “I guess I needed fate to give me a little nudge. The courage. The excuse, maybe.”
“Fate?” I said. “Why would it make sense for you to edit the show from here?”
My mind was in full Sherlock Holmes mode now—which must have been pretty impressive stuff for Petey to witness.
“The retreat is only thirty minutes up the road. So I guess it’s not far for me to pop up there? But the equipment is still here, so…”
The old noodle was really whirring now, putting two and two together. “Seems a bit of a coincidence Indira’s going to Aunty Karma’s retreat, doesn’t it?”
Petey frowned. “Well, no. Buckford is paying for it. I assumed it was your idea.”
“My idea? I know nothing about it.”
“But I saw your mother leaving the hospital.”
I should have detected my mother’s hand from the start. “We’ve been played,” I said.
“We have?”
“Still, mustn’t be upset. Mum comes from a very long line of meddling mamas. We didn’t really stand a chance.”
Realisation dawned across Petey’s face. I nodded. He smiled.
“You’re not angry with me, then?” he asked. I reached out and grabbed his hands. Part of me wondered if he would have come back without my mother’s scheming, and whether I really would have had to wait a year to see him again. But he was standing here in front of me, and that counted for something.
“You’re here. That’s all I wanted.”
“You don’t mind if I stay?”
“Mind? I’d be delighted.” I pulled him towards me and wrapped my arms around him, his eyes meeting mine. “I do have a favour to ask, though.”
“Anything.”
“If you’re going to be sticking around for another few weeks, would you mind if we kept up the fake-engagement act a little longer?
Only it’s the Newton Bardon village fair next weekend, and I have to go.
I can’t bear the thought of everyone treating me like I’ve been jilted at the altar.
I’d rather not spend the whole day being pulled aside for deep and meaningfuls and pretending to be heartbroken.
Would you come along and play at being Lady Buckford for me? ”
Petey smiled. “Of course! Do I get to judge jams or something?”
“There will be no shortage of things for you to judge. You’re going to shake a lot of hands, and you’re going to hand out a lot of little trophies.”
Petey laughed, and his eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait.”
The thought of presenting ourselves to the entire Buckford community as a real, unified duo made my heart leap. I wove a hand up into Petey’s hair and pulled him down to me until my lips were on his and the heat of his mouth was in mine.