Chapter 25
25
“Carole! I was looking everywhere for you,” Tom said when he reached her.
“I was looking for you, too,” Carole said, giving a breezy laugh to cover her mounting nerves.
“It’s busy in there.” He nodded back towards the marquee. “We must’ve kept passing each other without realising it.”
“Are you heading home?”
Tom nodded again and they fell into step together but had barely made it a few metres before he paused once more.
“Wait,” he said. “There’s something I need to say, and if I don’t say it right now…”
He trailed off, his expression an odd mix of anticipation and… fear?
As she looked at him, she felt a whoosh of déjà vu hit her again, the same thing she’d felt right before they’d walked out onto the runway together for the vintage fashion show.
And, just as before, it made her think not of the past but of the future, and of some version of herself that might be waiting out there in that mysterious future.
Waiting for her and for the choice she was about to make in this moment, right now.
None of those thoughts made any sense, but they raced through her head in a split second, filling her mind with… dazzling possibilities she could scarcely understand.
“Carole,” Tom said. “I can’t stop thinking about us. I can’t stop thinking about our kiss last weekend. And about how much I want to kiss you again.”
Carole’s breath caught at his words and the way his gaze held hers. All signs of nerves or fear had now vanished from his face.
“I know you said that kiss was a mistake. But it wasn’t. I know it wasn’t. And I think you know it, too.”
“Tom, listen…” She had no idea what she wanted to say, only that she wanted to say something , had to say something in response to his words that had left her completely undone.
But before she could assemble something approximating rational thought, Tom had held up his hands and was talking again.
“Please, let me just say this, because I need to say it.” He blew out a long breath. “I know you said you aren’t interested in getting involved with someone because you’ve just come out of a long relationship. I get that. And I totally get why you don’t want to become involved with the guy who lives next door because if things go bad, it’d be awkward.”
His expression shifted as hope filled his eyes.
“But maybe things wouldn’t go bad,” he said. “Maybe things would be… amazing.”
Yes , Carole thought, maybe they would be amazing .
She tried to say the words, not just think them, but her brain was frozen in the face of Tom’s intensity.
“So, here’s what I was thinking,” he continued. “We should… date each other. Just date each other and see what happens. We’re grown-ups and we’re both sensible people, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll promise not to be jerks to each other.”
“Tom—”
“And if it turns out that it doesn’t work out and it also turns out that we’re not the sensible grown-ups I think we are, then… I’ll move.”
Carole stared for a long beat, trying to process what he’d just said. “ What? ”
“I’ll move. I’ll move away from Foxglove Street. I’ll move away from Hamblehurst, if that’s what’s needed. I’ll move, so you won’t have to be stuck living next-door to someone you don’t want to see.”
She searched his face and realised he was completely serious. He’d thought about this, thought about how to deal with her objections to them getting together, thought about how to convince her to set those objections aside.
“You’re joking, right?” she said, because those were the only words she could find.
“I’m completely serious. If that’s what it takes to convince you to go out with me and give us a chance, then, yes, I’m completely serious. I promise I’ll move if we break up and you decide you hate me and can’t bear the sight of me anymore. I’ll pack my bags and sell my house and walk off into the sunset and that will be that.”
“But that’s… insane!”
“If insanity is what’s needed to convince you to give us a chance, then I’m happy to be completely and totally bonkers.”
His expression, so serious until now, finally betrayed a flicker of amusement as his lips lifted in a smile.
A smile that stole Carole’s heart and caused that crazy whoosh of déjà vu to sweep through her once more.
Only this time, the fuzzy lenses of past and future crystalised into one bright, sharp image—and image of her and Tom, together, happy… and in love.
I’m not in love with him , she told herself.
But I will be. Very soon.
And I can’t wait for that moment to come.
“Tom,” she said, hearing the lightness in her voice that matched the lightness in her heart. “The fact that you’d even suggest such a mad idea makes me realise there’s an awful lot about you I don’t know.”
His expression filled with surprise when Carole closed the distance between them and stepped into his arms.
“And it makes me realise that it’s time we got to know each other a lot better.”
She laughed at the look on his face, a mix of relief and happiness. People passed by on the market square, and she was aware of the glances they were drawing, the two of them clasped in one another’s arms as they gazed at each other.
Maybe the middle of Hamblehurst market square wasn’t the perfect place for this heart-to-heart.
Then again, the sun was shining down, the trees around the square were rustling in the summer breeze, and music was drifting from the marquee on the other side and filling the space with happy vibes, so maybe this was the perfect place after all.
Tom’s arms around her and his eyes searching hers felt like a perfect moment.
When he dipped his mouth to hers and kissed her, the perfect moment turned into something spectacular.
There might have been a few whoops and cheers from passersby, amused by the impromptu show of affection in the middle of the square, but if there were, Carole hardly heard them.
The earth-shattering kiss blocked out almost everything except the sensation of Tom’s lips on hers.
When they came up for air, the world was spinning and Carole’s heart was racing double-time. Tom brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and let out a low laugh.
“Wow,” he said.
“Exactly, wow.”
They laughed together, and Carole saw in Tom’s expression the same things she was feeling—exhilarated, shy, pleased with herself, and already wanting more.
“What are you doing for the rest of today?” Tom asked, his hands still around her waist.
She thought about it for precisely half a second. “Getting to know my next-door neighbour better.”
Tom grinned. “That’s what I hoped you’d say.” Releasing her from his embrace, he held out his hand. “Your place or mine?”
She laughed, amused at the question considering they lived next door to each other. “Let’s decide when we reach our front gates.”
Hand-in-hand, they left the market square behind and began the walk back to Foxglove Street, the bright sunshine lighting up the exciting and unexpected twist in the road that now lay ahead of them.