Chapter 5 #2
‘Sorry. Where was I? I was in the centre of the village and began drawing the Christmas tree on the green, only I got distracted and walked backwards into…’ Scarlett looked up as Jackson appeared in the doorway, her breath catching in the back of her throat as she realised who was walking in with him.
The burgundy apron had been replaced with a bright blue jumper emblazoned with red and yellow Christmas crackers, but she’d recognise those deep brown eyes anywhere.
She lowered her voice as she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. ‘…his coffee cart.’
‘What was that?’ Laura leaned in towards her before pulling away again as she noticed Jackson and their visitor. Standing up, she walked towards them. ‘Hi, Rowan. Does your visit mean what I think it does?’
Rowan, so that was his name. Scarlett looked from Laura to Jackson to Rowan and back again. They clearly knew each other.
Rowan cleared his throat before raising his voice towards Scarlett. ‘Hello again.’
‘Hi.’ Placing her mug carefully down, she held her hand up in a small wave.
She had hoped she’d be able to avoid him for the rest of her time down here.
She had already photographed the Christmas tree on the green, and she had the bare basics of the sketch she’d made in her sketchbook so…
Her sketchbook! What had she done with that?
She didn’t remember putting it back in her bag after the incident with the coffee cart.
With her heart pounding, she pulled her bag across the table and began rummaging inside, glad she’d left it in the kitchen when she’d first come round.
Where was it? She pulled out a wad of tissues, the small bag of mint leaves and the peppers she’d bought from the grocery store, scattering them across the table as she searched.
It wasn’t in here. She’d lost it. It had all of her most recent work in, and it would take her hours to sketch all the scenes out again.
Not that she would be visiting half the places she’d sketched again.
‘Is this what you’re looking for?’ Rowan stepped forward.
Jerking her head up to look at him, she realised he was holding her beloved sketchbook out towards her. Scarlett reached out and took it from his grasp. ‘Thank you, thank you. A million thank yous!’
‘You’re welcome.’ Rowan grinned. ‘You must have dropped it when…’
‘Scarlett, the coffee cart?’ Laura looked at Scarlett, an expression of realisation crossing her face. ‘That’s what you were telling me, wasn’t it? You knocked into Rowan’s coffee cart?’
‘Yep, that’s it.’ Scarlett grimaced before turning her attention back to Rowan. ‘Sorry again, I really am. And thank you so much for rescuing this.’
‘I feel as though I’m missing something here.’ Jackson chuckled.
‘Just me being my clumsy old self, that’s all.’ Scarlett forced a laugh and looked around the kitchen, trying to find inspiration to change the subject matter of the conversation. Failing, she was grateful when she heard Rowan’s voice again.
‘So, I have your coffee samples.’ Pulling a rucksack from his back, Rowan pulled out four small bags of ground coffee and held them out towards Laura.
‘Ooh, fantastic. I can’t tell you how excited I am to try these.’ Taking them, Laura placed the bags on the table before opening each in turn and sniffing them. ‘They smell so good.’
‘Well, hopefully you’ll think they’ll taste even better.’ Rowan checked his watch before signalling to the door. ‘I’d better get going, but let me know what you think, won’t you?’
‘We certainly will. And thanks again, mate.’ Jackson led the way out into the hall.
Making sure she’d secured the bags of ground coffee, Laura then slipped onto the bench beside Scarlett and nudged her with her elbow. ‘You know the lovely Rowan, then?’
‘I wouldn’t say I know him, no.’ Scarlett ran the palm of her hand down the front of her sketchbook and scratched a smidge of coffee grounds from it. ‘I knocked into his coffee cart and broke about a million coffee cups, that’s all.’
Laura laughed. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but talk about a meet-cute!’
‘A what?’ Scarlett frowned as she tucked her sketchbook into her bag. Now she had it, she was excited to get back to the camper and fill out the details of the Christmas tree with the photo she’d taken.
‘A meet-cute. Come on, you must know what that means?’ Laura’s eyes shone with mischief.
Scrunching up her nose, Scarlett had the distinct feeling she didn’t want to know what it meant.
‘You need to come to the book club that meets here.’ Laura twisted on the bench so she was facing her. ‘You actually should come. The next meeting is tomorrow. Will you?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of prep to do before the craft fair I’m booked in for at the weekend.
’ Scarlett shook her head. She had no intention of joining Laura for her book club meet-up.
She’d never been that great in group environments, always preferring to keep herself to herself, so why would she voluntarily join a group of people she didn’t know, who she most likely had absolutely nothing in common with, particularly when she hadn’t even read the book they would be discussing? ‘So what’s this meet-cute then?’
‘It’s when a woman’ – Laura pointed towards her before pointing in the direction of the hallway – ‘meets a man and they fall in love. It’s called a meet-cute because they both think the other one is cute.’
Raising her eyebrows, Scarlett opened her mouth to speak before Laura quickly continued.
‘No, that’s not right because it’s still called a meet-cute when the characters hate each other at first.’ She shook her head. ‘But anyway, that’s what a meet-cute is.’
‘You think I’m going to fall in love with Rowan?’ Scarlett couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
Laura shrugged. ‘Why not? You’re single. He’s single too, as far as I know, and you’ve met.’
‘Umm, I think there needs to be more to it than that.’ Scarlett shook her head and laughed. ‘Like mutual attraction, perhaps, and the desire to be in a relationship with each other?’
Laura shrugged and grinned at her. ‘Oh, I think there was enough attraction on his part, anyway. Did you see the way he looked at you?’
‘He only looked at me because he was giving me back my sketchbook. And I can assure you there’s no attraction between us.
Mutual or otherwise.’ Scarlett picked up her mug again, bringing it to her lips.
She hadn’t even thought of Rowan in that light when she’d seen him this morning at the green, or just now.
Yes, she’d noticed his eyes were kind and his short, cropped haircut suited him, but…
nope, nothing else. Why would she? There was no chance she’d be putting herself in the position to be lied to again. Ever.
‘You just keep telling yourself that.’ Laura giggled as she turned to watch Jackson walk back through the kitchen door. ‘All okay?’
‘Yep, he just said to let him know what we thought after we’d tried the coffees, no pressure to order anything.’ Jackson picked up the mug of hot chocolate Laura had filled for him. ‘Right, shall we get on with putting up the decs then?’
‘Absolutely! The sooner we get them up, the longer we get to enjoy them before we leave for Venice.’ Laura downed her hot chocolate before standing up.