Chapter 15
Mattie’s head was full of Nell. Sexy, drop-dead-gorgeous Nell, who she’d be seeing in about three hours’ time for dinner and hopefully bed and breakfast. It was Nell she’d thought about while she bought provisions from the supermarket, and then drove to the village to find the cottage she’d booked last minute.
Blink, and she would’ve missed the place.
It was quintessentially English: a village green, an ancient church with a steeple, a pub, and a small grocery shop that doubled up as a post office and was almost certainly closed more often than it was open.
It continued to be Nell that Mattie thought of as she explored the cottage.
Like many of its age, it opened directly into the living space.
The rental listing called it cosy, but clearly, that was code for tiny.
There was a reason why the place had been available for a last-minute booking, and this was it.
The living room only had space for a wooden table with two chairs and a two-seater sofa facing a modest stone fireplace.
More than two people in this room, and it’d feel crammed.
The bedroom was no bigger. At least the bed was a queen, even if it did take up virtually the entire floor.
She smiled, imagining a naked Nell clinging onto the iron headboard while Mattie explored every inch of her body.
With luck, that would become a reality tonight.
Mattie dragged her suitcase into the room and one of its wheels snagged on a waffle-weave rug spread across the stone floor.
Impatient, she abandoned it and headed for the kitchen.
She laughed as she took in the room—or lack of, to be more accurate.
The fridge was full once she’d loaded it with her groceries and a bottle of French dry white.
That done, she checked the time again. It was still mid-afternoon and only twenty minutes on from the last time she’d looked.
Tonight couldn’t come too soon. The idea to extend her stay had been a whim, but finding the cottage had happened so easily that it’d felt like it was meant to be.
She frowned. What if the cold light of day had led to Nell having second thoughts?
Should she text, just to check? No, Nell wasn’t the type to blow someone off.
She’d let them know, if only in an incredibly formal way.
Having mostly quashed the flicker of doubt, Mattie tried to calm her over-excitable mind by exploring the sandy inlet below the cottage.
Stone steps had been carved into the rock to the sheltered bay, which curved like a horseshoe.
She’d have to keep an eye on the sea. The visitors’ guide at the cottage warned that it engulfed the cove at high tide and only rocks at the base of the steep cliffs were left exposed.
She didn’t want to risk being cut off from the path.
She’d written enough stories about ignorant holidaymakers needing to be rescued.
No way did she want to become one of them.
It didn’t take long to walk from one end to the other. She sat on a rock and dangled her feet in the water. Birdsong filled the air. Nell would love it, she was sure. She took out her phone to capture its beauty, and it rang just as she was opening the camera app. Nell?
“Hey you,” said Shona.
“Hi.” Mattie hoped her disappointment at the caller not being Nell wasn’t obvious.
“Can you cat-sit Juno for us next week, please?” Shona asked. “No pressure, but it’s you or the cat hotel.”
“Don’t you dare.” Cat-sitting meant staying at Shona and Lisa’s comfy, terraced house in Balham, which had a sun-trap of a garden and no upstairs neighbours stomping around at all hours. And, of course, there was an ageing feline to love. No hardship at all.
“Thanks. I’ve booked a short break in Paris as a surprise. I want Lisa all to myself before she gears up for the start of the new school year.”
“You’re such a romantic,” Mattie said in a light-hearted tone, but there were times when she felt the tiniest bit jealous.
Not of Paris, more that being devoted to her job left little time or inclination to find a partner of her own who could surprise her.
“I’ll be back in London by Tuesday afternoon. ”
“Thanks. Wait. Aren’t you on the train home right now? I know the rail service in this country is crap, but it shouldn’t take four days.”
Mattie splashed her feet in the sea. “I’m not on the train. I decided to stay here a little longer. I’m taking time to smell the roses, like you ordered me to.”
Shona squealed. “There are only two reasons why you’d extend your stay. Work or a woman. What’s her name? Wait, is it that hot chief inspector?”
Nell had been beyond hot last night. “Nell. And yes, it is.”
Shona whistled. “She must be something special if you’re taking extra time off work. Spill!”
Mattie wanted to play it cool, but words bubbled out of her as she regaled Shona with the previous day’s adventures and how she’d managed to swap her shifts with her news editor’s blessing.
She had, after all, worked on a story during her leave.
And yes, Nell was worth it. “She’s smart, witty, and incredibly hot. ”
“Just your type,” said Shona.
Mattie hesitated. The women she usually dated or enjoyed flings with were like her: ambitious, always on the move, gregarious, and sure about who and what they were.
Like Zabu, her friend with benefits, before Kenya screwed everything up.
She was a doctor working for a medical emergency response team, and was passionate and exuberant about everything she did.
Everyone knew when Zabu was in the room.
“Nell’s quieter, more perceptive. She thinks before she acts. ”
“Interesting,” said Shona. “So it’s a summer fling? Getting back on the horse, so to speak?”
“We haven’t put a label on it.” Mattie gripped the phone more tightly. “But we agreed to no strings. You know me. I’m a queen at the no-emotional-attachment gig.”
Shona made a hm sound. “Tread carefully, Mattie. Nell might not be such a queen.”
A while later, Mattie’s phone buzzed with a text notification.
Leaving office now. See you in about 30 mins.
Butterflies fluttered gently in Mattie’s stomach as she read it. They were at full pelt when she heard car tyres crunching on the gravel outside the cottage announcing Nell’s arrival. Whoa, simmer down. She opened the door and went to greet her. “You’re here. I wasn’t sure if you’d come.”
“I changed my mind four times.” Nell thrust a bottle of wine and a plastic container full of raspberries at her. “I picked them from my garden this morning. They’ve been in the fridge all day so they should still be fresh.”
Mattie took them from her. Where was her overnight bag? Maybe she wasn’t planning to stay? Mattie decided to play it cool. “Come through, and I’ll get you a drink.” In the kitchen, she gestured at the bottle of wine already in the cooler. “A glass of something cold? Or would you prefer tea?”
“Wine, please.” Nell looked around. “This place is cosy.”
“Tiny, don’t you mean?”
“Yes, that too.” Nell’s laugh was tinged with nerves. “How’s your day been?”
“Easy next to yours, I suspect. I’m not going to pretend that I’ve been slaving in the kitchen all afternoon to make us dinner.
” Mattie retrieved a box containing oven-ready lasagne from the fridge.
“Marks and Sparks’ finest. Pre-packaged food, I know, but far superior to anything I can cook.
My culinary skills are somewhat limited. ”
They wandered around the garden, which was at least three times the length of the cottage.
“That’s dogwood.” Nell pointed at a reddish-brown stemmed shrub. “And there’s jasmine, lavender, and viburnum.”
Why was Nell giving her an A-Z of garden plants? She might be dressed casually, but her posture was stiff, and she was as jumpy as a spooked cat. Mattie handed her a glass of wine. “Is everything all right?”
“My common sense and uncharacteristic desire to be spontaneous have been arguing with each other all day. This,” Nell gestured between the two of them, “may well be something you do all of the time, but I don’t. So I have to ask, what exactly is this?”
That was the second time she’d been asked in the space of a few hours, and Shona’s warning came to mind.
“It’s a chance to enjoy each other’s company and have some fun.
” She held Nell’s gaze. “I’ll be frank. We’re both way more invested in our careers than we are with relationships.
I’m monumentally crap at them even when I try.
We’ve already worked out that there’s a connection between us, and we’re great in bed together.
” When Nell’s cheeks pinked, Mattie longed to make her flush in other places too.
She tucked a lose tendril of hair behind Nell’s ear.
“Let’s not overthink this. Focus on the here and now, with neither of us expecting or wanting anything more. Does that work for you?”
Nell’s face was impassive and for a worrying moment, Mattie thought she was going to turn her down.
Nell lifted her wine glass and smiled. “I’ll get my overnight bag from the car.”
Mattie grinned. Dinner, bed, and breakfast were back on the menu.
After Nell had left her bag in the bedroom, they sat on the matching deck chairs lined with thick cushioning, which squeaked as they relaxed into them. Mattie topped up their glasses. “Are you tired?”
“A little weary, but I’ll cope.”
“You’ll have to let me fuss over you in order to replenish your energy reserves.” Mattie winked.
Nell arched her eyebrow. “It makes a change to the packet of Hobnobs, glass of calvados, and bland TV that I usually resort to.”
“How often does that happen?”
“More than is good for me.” Nell flexed her grip on the thin stem of her wine glass. “What do you crave when you’re exhausted?”